It's just a game...

Football, for all its passion and fervoured support, is only a game. It's important we remember that, and that's why I think that the national team of Togo is absolutely right to come home, choosing not to participate in the upcoming African Cup of Nations, a football tournament scheduled to start Sunday in Angola, Africa.

If you've not read about this, or seen the news, the Togo team bus suffered a deadly attack on the way to the tournament on friday. An assistant coach, press officer and the bus driver were killed; two players were also shot and injured in the attack. 

Their highest profile player Emmanuel Adebayor, team captain and Manchester City striker was on the coach, but was unharmed physically, if not emotionally. On Friday he said many of his team-mates wanted to go home.  He told BBC Afrique: "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."

The Togolese government has instructed the team to return home, abandoning the tournament; you have to wonder if other teams will follow?  Hull City Manager Phil Brown has led calls for Premier League players to return to the UK. There are 31 Premier League players in Africa for the tournament. Brown told The Sun: "I have two players on duty and I want them home."

But the question this poses for me, is just how much this incident will have prompted other national teams to reconsider their security preparations for the upcoming World Cup in South Africa this June?  I'm sure security was high on the agenda before this incident, you have to wonder now what teams like England, USA and Argentina are thinking...?   

World Cup boss Danny Jordaan says the attack will not impact South Africa's hosting of the tournament. "It's nothing to do with it and I think everybody understands it has nothing to do with South Africa," he said, countering concerns that the machine gun attack might persuade fans not to travel to the tournament.

"I don't think the world has ever asked one country to take responsibility for what happens in another country," Jordaan added. "Every country's responsibility is to safeguard the event in their country. Our World Cup is secure and we are confident because we have employed a lot of resources to safeguard the event in our country."

Let's hope so...