Togo say Adebayor will play against Cameroon

Arsenal striker Emmanuel Adebayor “will be able to play” for Togo against Cameroon on Saturday, Togolese coaching staff revealed here on Wednesday.

“Adebayor hasn’t joined up with us in Lome for nothing,” a Togo official told AFP ahead of the first match of the last round of combined qualifying for the 2010 World Cup and African Nations Cup.

“He will play in the match against Cameroon,” the official added.

“He will play in his role as captain as he always has, as this is a huge match for Togo.”

Adebayor, who has not played since February 8 following a thigh injury, trained “normally” with his team-mates in front of 4,000 spectators at the municipal stadium here on Wednesday.

Togo’s Belgian coach Jean Thissen has called up 25 players for Saturday’s match.

The game is being played in the Ghanaian capital Accra because Togo are banned from playing at Lome’s Kegue stadium after violence flared during a 2-0 defeat to Mali there in October 2007.