Togo have pulled out of the African Cup of nations following the tragic events of yesterday when the team’s bus was ambushed by machine gun wielding terrorists. Two people have died; the coach driver and in the last few minutes a player has also died. The tournament will still go ahead, although Togo will play no part due to this awful tragedy.

Understandably, many players were still in shock at the events of yesterday, however Nantes striker has spoken of the attack. He said “we are still at hospital. We were attacked like dogs and had to hide for 20 minutes under the seats to avoid the bullets. We were shot, although we had two police coaches on our sides. There are two injured players and also some staff.” He went onto add that the incident happened as the team bus crossed the border from Congo to Angola – which has been the scene of a number of attacks in the past: “We had just crossed the border five minutes before, we were surrounded by police buses, one in front of us another behind. Everything was fine and then there was a powerful burst of gunfire. Everyone threw themselves under the seats and tried to protect themselves but some couldn’t escape the bullets. It lasted a good 15 minutes, the police fired back but really, it was hard to handle and it still is now. I’m shocked. When we got off the bus we were asking ourselves why us and not others? We were asking ourselves what had happened, we were crying and thanking God”

Manchester City striker Emmanuel Adebayor was understandably inconsolable but was able to speak to the BBC: “It’s a football game, it’s one of the biggest tournaments in Africa and a lot of people would love to be in our position but I don’t think anybody would be prepared to give their life. If I am alive I can still play football tomorrow and in one year maybe even another Cup of Nations but I am not ready to pass away now.”