Emmanuel Adebayor plans to withdraw from international football

Sports News from Tuesday, March 26, 2019

Source: bbc.com

2019-03-26

Striker Emmanuel Adebayor admitted that he was now considering his international future after Togo failed to qualify for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations.

The 35-year-old scored on Sunday, while Togo lost 2-1 to Benin to finish last in Group D.

After the match, he told reporters that he would return to his Turkish club in Istanbul Basaksehir to reflect on his future.

"I'm going to think about what the near future has in store for me," he said.

"I will make sure to keep in mind the good times of today and if it is the end of all, so be it.

"I started playing for the national team in 2000 and we are now in 2019. There have been ups and downs – there have been regrets as well as unforgettable moments."

He added that he had kept his Sunday game shirt in case he acted from his last match to keep the promise made to his daughter.

"The most important thing is to have kept the jersey and the socks because I promised my eight year old daughter that the last jersey I would wear for the national team and my club would be for her, "he explained.

"She has already sent me a message asking -" Dad, where's my jersey? "And I told him that I had already kept him here.

"Now, it's not necessary to talk about the end of my career but we should rather talk about the defeat of Togo."

He reflected on a career in clubs that saw him play for clubs of stature in Monaco, Arsenal, Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur and Real Madrid.

"I trained once or twice a day when I was young, now that I get older, I realize that it is only through intensive training that we can succeed. ", did he declare.

"I have had the chance to rub shoulders with players such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Thierry Henry, Denis Bergkamp and Sol Campbell.They have all learned that in football, if we want to last in the football is only through training.

"It is true that before this match (against Benin), Togolese had said that I had become too old.

"But if I still play for a Turkish club where I am one of the highest paid players, it is because I have a quality and I also contribute to playing for this club.

"Now, I think I have to go home and remember all those beautiful memories and fly quietly with all this to Istanbul."

Adebayor has announced his retirement several times in the past, especially in 2010 after the bus attack of the Togo team just before the Africa Cup of Nations in Angola.

His international career includes the 2006 World Cup in Germany, the Nations Cups of the same year and finals in 2002, 2013 and 2017.