Legendary Togolese footballer, Emmanuel Adebayor
Legendary footballer Emmanuel Adebayor has revealed that a language barrier killed his interest in playing for Ghana at the beginning of his career.
The former Tottenham Hotspur attacker noted that he was invited to join one of the junior national teams after excelling in interschool games.
However, the former Arsenal striker indicated that when he reported to camp, most of the players were interacting in local languages, which made him unhappy in camp as he could not communicate with his colleagues.
“In interschool competitions, I was captain. We then played inter-district, and I was captain again. We played inter-region, and I was captain at the time.
“Then I got the opportunity to join the national team, and we went to camp in Accra. When I went to camp, they were speaking Twi and Ga, which I couldn’t understand,” he said, as quoted by ghanasoccernet.com.
Adebayor further disclosed that he woke up at dawn, joined a bus, and departed for Lomé, Togo, to play for the national team because he is more familiar with their culture.
“So, around 4 a.m., I packed my bag, grabbed my box, and boarded the first bus, which we call a trotro, heading towards Lomé, and I went back home,” he said.
Adebayor debuted for Togo in 2000 and established his legacy as the nation’s all-time top scorer.
His spectacular performance helped Togo qualify for their first-ever Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) World Cup in 2006.
Adebayor’s footballing exploits earned him the honor of becoming the first Togolese to win the African Footballer of the Year award in 2008.
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