Kevin Denkey and Togo unlikely to make AFCON after back to back defeats to Algeria
Cercle Brugge’s star forward Kevin Denkey looks set to miss out on the next edition of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Morocco. The striker saw his side lose a second game of this international break as they went down 1-0 at home to Algeria. Algeria’s Ramy Bensebaini scored the only goal of the game from the penalty spot. A few days ago, Togo had lost 5-1 in Algeria despite having taken an early lead. With only two points from four games, the side sit in third place, five points behind Equatorial Guinea.
The Guinean’s beat Liberia, another side that have not won a game in qualification yet. Togo face Liberia next and will need to win and hope that Algeria beat Equatorial Guinea to give Togo any chance of qualification for the tournament. This would be the fourth tournament in a row that Togo have failed to qualify for, signs of a crisis for the national team. Since losing Emmanuel Adebayor, the national team has failed to rediscover the quality that saw them qualify for the World Cup in 2006. Their best AFCON tournament came in South Africa in 2013 when they made the quarter-finals.
Denkey has played 35 games for the Sparrowhawks, scoring eight goals.