Who thought Angola was a good place to run a tournament?

bobo the clown · Post by **bobo the clown** » Fri Jan 08, 2010 5:19 pm

The Togo team bus, including Adabayor who UK players will know, has come under sustained machine gun fire.

Sketchy reports so far, but it sounds like there may be casualties.

Verbal · Post by **Verbal** » Fri Jan 08, 2010 5:27 pm

bobo the clown wrote:The Togo team bus, including Adabayor who UK players will know, has come under sustained machine gun fire.

Sketchy reports so far, but it sounds like there may be casualties.

2 injuries, as reported by the BBC.

BWFC_Insane · Post by **BWFC_Insane** » Fri Jan 08, 2010 5:44 pm

Terrible events

Whatever people say you just can't imagine this happening here or in most of Europe.

They should probably cancel the tournament now and mitigate any risk of something like this re-occuring!

bobo the clown · Post by **bobo the clown** » Fri Jan 08, 2010 6:11 pm

Verbal wrote:
bobo the clown wrote:The Togo team bus, including Adabayor who UK players will know, has come under sustained machine gun fire.

Sketchy reports so far, but it sounds like there may be casualties.
2 injuries, as reported by the BBC.

Hopefully, but these numbers only ever rise.

mofgimmers · Post by **mofgimmers** » Fri Jan 08, 2010 6:58 pm

According to FourFourTwo's Twitterfeed, 2 might be critical.

I bet hacks have a field day slating the whole of Africa after this, despite the fact that the two countries are hugely different.

boltonboris · Post by **boltonboris** » Fri Jan 08, 2010 6:58 pm

Togo, unsurpisringly are pulling out of the tournament. I think other should follow suit. It's outrageous

Edit: The driver has been killed

mofgimmers · Post by **mofgimmers** » Fri Jan 08, 2010 7:35 pm

Damn. I've thought of a joke but it's too soon.

FD · Post by FD » Fri Jan 08, 2010 7:48 pm

Driver killed, 4 seriously injured.

Sky Sports only seem to care about the two who play in the premier league though, which I found incredibly distasteful. "EMANUAL ADEBAYOR IS NOT AMONG THE INJURED"...and they may as well have added "(HIS LIFE IS MORE IMPORTANT AS HE'S THE MOST FAMOUS ON THE BUS)"...

Seriously crazy shit though.

jaffka · Post by **jaffka** » Fri Jan 08, 2010 7:57 pm

Terrible, terrible news.

William the White · Post by **William the White** » Fri Jan 08, 2010 8:25 pm

Twenty plus years ago I applied for a job in Angola, starting to rebuild after the traumas of the war of Liberation against the Portuguese. Didn't get it - which i was sorry about, it looked like the future for a country rich in many ways was bright, with a government claiming to want redistribution of wealth, universal education etc.

The new government was supported by the Russians.

America and other Western powers supported an ethnically based opposition with money and arms, decades of civil war followed, the place was wrecked in every imaginable way.

Another horrendous tale of Africa paying the forfeit in someone else's game. It was a cold war in Europe. But a hot and bloody and destructive one in Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau as the Portuguese empire crumbled and the powers decided who their proxy armies were to be...

This is terrible news and the competition should be immediately abandoned.

Bruce Rioja · Post by **Bruce Rioja** » Fri Jan 08, 2010 8:38 pm

I've found this;

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/ja ... hed-angola

But something else I read was that the driver's dead and nine of the team have been shot.

officer_dibble · Post by **officer_dibble** » Fri Jan 08, 2010 10:49 pm

Bloody hell this is mental, RIP those dead, but surely they should call the whole thing off now. What have these footballers and their associated staff done, over than try compete in a tournament?

Verbal · Post by **Verbal** » Fri Jan 08, 2010 11:31 pm

officer_dibble wrote:Bloody hell this is mental, RIP those dead, but surely they should call the whole thing off now. What have these footballers and their associated staff done, over than try compete in a tournament?

Bollock all I imagine. The group who orchestrated attack are a secessionist group in a province of Angola which is actually geographically separate from the country. There was a ceasefire and all.

It's ridiculous.

Tombwfc · Post by **Tombwfc** » Fri Jan 08, 2010 11:51 pm

FD wrote:Driver killed, 4 seriously injured.

Sky Sports only seem to care about the two who play in the premier league though, which I found incredibly distasteful. "EMANUAL ADEBAYOR IS NOT AMONG THE INJURED"...and they may as well have added "(HIS LIFE IS MORE IMPORTANT AS HE'S THE MOST FAMOUS ON THE BUS)"...

Seriously crazy shit though.

That is just the way of the world though. Adebayor is well known and so what happens to him is of interest to a larger number of people. Unfortunate in many ways, but you can't change it.

Horrible, horrible events. As ever with these things, I don't know what I think the best course of action is. It'd be a massive shame if the whole tournament got called off. It's a brilliant spectacle and one that I imagine can inspire people in Africa like nothing else. Obviously people's safety is paramount though.

Prufrock · Post by **Prufrock** » Sat Jan 09, 2010 2:46 am

The best idea would have been to not have it in fecking Angola ffs. It's truly horrible. RIP to those dead, and a swift recovery to the luckier ones. Yet again Bill Shankley proven wrong. Call it off now. It is a shame football wise, but you cannot risk a repeat.

seanworth · Post by **seanworth** » Sat Jan 09, 2010 1:26 pm

What a lovely world we live in.

Bruno · Post by **Bruno** » Sat Jan 09, 2010 1:54 pm

Can't wait for the World Cup

FaninOz · Post by **FaninOz** » Sat Jan 09, 2010 2:34 pm

FIFA should cancel the tournament and the Premiership clubs should recall all their players.

seanworth · Post by **seanworth** » Sat Jan 09, 2010 2:35 pm

Bruno wrote:Can't wait for the World Cup

Not like that hasn't crossed anyone's mind before. At the World Cup it is more likely to happen to the fans. Should be fun.

boltonboris · Post by **boltonboris** » Sat Jan 09, 2010 2:37 pm

FaninOz wrote:FIFA should cancel the tournament and the Premiership clubs should recall all their players.

Just Premiership? Or all clubs?