Togo threatened boycott of Japan friendly – reports

Togo’s national team players had threatened to boycott an away friendly match against Japan before going down 5-0 to the Blue Samurai this week, Japanese media reported Thursday.

Only 14 Togo players, missing eight teammates including Manchester City striker Emmanuel Adebayor, arrived in Japan on Tuesday after losing 3-0 to Cameroon and missing their chance to qualify for the 2010 World Cup finals.

After the defeat “all the players refused at one point to come to Japan”, the daily Asahi Shimbun said, adding that the players and the Togo Football Association had argued over “their treatment and other issues”.

The skeleton squad arrived in Japan late Tuesday after a total flight time of 40 hours ahead of Wednesday’s friendly.

The 14 players were given 3,300-5,600 dollars each in appearance money at their hotel just before the match, the Sports Hochi daily said.

But even then, some players complained over the different size of the payments, Hochi reported, quoting Togo FA officials.

Goalkeeper Dodji Obilale demanded a raise and threatened to boycott the match, it added.

“We were prepared for the unprecedented cancellation of an international match” involving Japan, an unnamed Japanese FA executive was quoted as saying by the two dailies.

Togo managed just one shot on goal against 30 for Japan, who have already qualified for their fourth straight World Cup, in the match featuring a hat-trick by J-League striker Shinji Okazaki.