I guess I'm rooting for Togo now

   

http://odili.net/news/source/2005/oct/10/59.html
Keshi: Rejected at home, leads Togo to first World Cup
By Folake Olujimi and Lekan Okusan

WHEN Coach Stephen Okechukwu Keshi of Togo was telling anybody who cared to listen in May 2004 that what he hoped to achieve in Togo was to get to the 2006 World Cup and Nations Cup, many football pundits took the former Super Eagles skipper as a joker.


Keshi

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But the Delta State-born coach knew what he was saying, and pursued his ambition with a lot of tenacity and confidence. The Togo Football Federation stood behind the 43-year-old tutor in their quest to achieve the country's biggest ever sports dream.

In his first test, Keshi's Togo fell by 0-1 to the Chipolopolo of Zambia in Lusaka, but he did not panic, as his major agenda was to resolve the frosty relationship between Togo's foreign-based players and the federation.

The task of achieving the near-impossible did not bother the former Nigerian defender, when he signed a two-year deal to manage the West African side. Even the fact that Togo was his first time in charge of any national team did not bother him.

Keshi believed that Eyadema's Togo was blessed with a lot of good players that could stand 'shoulder-to-shoulder' with any team in the world. And so he set out to assemble these resources in his patient move to build a virile team.

The first task before the former Anderletch of Belgium star was to rekindle the patriotism of the country's Europe-based players, who he saw as key to any realistic chance they had of qualifying for the mundial.