Factbox on African Nations Cup finalists Togo: African Nations Cup record
Previous appearances in finals: 6
Best performance: First round
Coach: Frenchman Hubert Velud only took over as coach in October and has had two competitive matches in charge. The 50-year-old was a goalkeeper during his career in France's lower leagues and his coaching career has also been confined to the lesser reaches of French professional football. He won the third tier in 2002 with Clermont Foot.
Key players:
Emmanuel Adebayor (Manchester City). Age: 25. Forward The tall striker is the country's only genuine world-class player and his talent has carried the small west African nation to achievements way beyond their potential. Born to immigrant parents from Nigeria, Adebayor went to France aged 17 but his career was floundering at Monaco before he signed for London club Arsenal at the start of 2006.
Serge Gakpe (Monaco). Age: 22. Midfielder
Gakpe held out hopes of playing for France but finally agreed to overtures from Togo and debuted for the West Africans in October. It took several cajoling calls from Adebayor to convince him to throw in his international fortunes with Togo. Gakpe is proving an effective complement to the Manchester City striker when Togo are on the attack.
Alaixys Romao (Grenoble). Age: 25. Midfielder.
It has been a tough season for the defensive midfielder, given his club's nightmare start to the Ligue 1 campaign. A former French youth international, Romao is the busy engine room of the Togo side, though a little lightweight. He was a member of the squad that went to the 2006 World Cup in Germany.
FIFA world ranking Dec 2009: 71st
Prospects: Togo were among football's elite when they reached the World Cup finals four years ago, but it has since proved an anomaly. The country's limited playing resources mean they are always going to struggle through the qualifying campaigns and it was only because of the inexplicable collapse of Morocco in the group matches that Togo were able to sneak into the Nations Cup. In a tough group in Cabinda, Togo are likely to keep up their unwanted record of never having progressed to the knockout phase.
