Time for bad boy Adebayor to go that step further

Togolese forward Emmanuel Adebayor answers questions after a training session in Wangen. Togolese football is in a right old mess but they will be looking for Adebayor to shake off his bad boy tag and inspire them to a respectable result against 2002 World Cup semi-finalists South Korea.

Togolese football is in a right old mess but they will be looking to their only real star Emmanuel Adebayor to at last shake off his bad boy tag and inspire them to a respectable result against 2002 World Cup semi-finalists South Korea.

The 22-year-old's form off the pitch this year for his national side hardly augurs well and rumours that he was about to walk out on the squad, while denied, have a ring of truth about them.

The Arsenal forward's histrionics and tantrums at the African Nations Cup all but destroyed the morale in the Sparrowhawks camp.

While then coach Stephen Keshi played his role in the split with Adebayor, his indolent performance as a substitute in the opening defeat by Democratic Republic of Congo reflected what was to come.

The duo had to be separated by members of the squad on the team bus afterwards with Keshi coming up with a memorable description of the former Monaco forward, who had deemed signing for the Gunners more important than joining up with the squad for a pre-training camp.

"He (Adebayor) does not adhere to the discipline of the squad. He is a cry baby," said Keshi.

"If he really is a star then he should behave like one.

"He should behave like (Didier) Drogba with the Ivory Coast and (Samuel) Eto'o with Cameroon," added Keshi, who appeared for Nigeria in the final of three African Nations Cups.

And while Keshi was to receive support from several of the squad when he was sacked, there was little or none for Adebayor from his team-mates over his behaviour.

"He can go," said Jean Claude Abalo, who earns far less than Adebayor playing for lowly French club Dunkirk.

"He didn't just betray his team, he betrayed the Togolese people. Everyone was mad at him for what he did on Saturday (his tantrum over being started on the bench)."

Adebayor, though, has shown that he can lead from the front quite literally.

He scored 11 of their 23 goals in the qualifiers and was main factor behind their stunning qualification ahead of 2002 quarter-finalists Senegal.

Now he is intent on setting aside all the past history, including the sudden departure of veteran German coach Otto Pfister on Friday over the ongoing dispute over player bonuses.

"I want to forget all that now," said Adebayor, who was a surprise buy by Arsenal as he had just scored once in 13 appearances for Monaco last season when he was snapped up by Arsene Wenger in January.

"I want to give my best."

The trouble is that as Adebayor has got richer he has grown more distant from his team-mates.

While they recognise that he is their only hope of getting something from the matches, he appears to have forgotten the average Togolese footballer is miles away from the professionalism he encountered at Monaco and now at Arsenal.

"We have been in Germany for two weeks and several of our players haven't woken up to the fact that we are at the World Cup finals," said Adebayor.

Togo will be hoping that he gives them the much-needed wake up call on Tuesday in Frankfurt - and this time in the positive sense.