Aston Villa manager Martin O'Neill insists the club will do
everything to help Moustapha Salifou recover from the gun attack on
the Togo team.
Salifou was unhurt in the attack which is reported to have
killed three people when the Togo team bus came under machine gun
fire on Friday just after it had crossed the border from the
Democratic Republic of Congo into the Angolan enclave of Cabinda.
Togo were due to face Ghana in their opening Group B match in
the African Nations Cup tomorrow in Cabinda, but it is still
uncertain whether the Togo team will return home. O'Neill, however,
believes Salifou will be badly affected by the incident.
The Northern Irishman, interviewed on BBC Radio Five Live's
Sportsweek programme, said: "Something like that is going to live
with him for a very long time, if not for the rest of his life. It
was very, very harrowing and he is actually a very sensitive lad.
"He's very popular in the dressing room. He's very quiet.
He's got a wry sense of humour, but he's an exceptional fellow and
I think he will take this very badly indeed.
"We have a number of people at the football club who I think
can help him. Some of the players who are quite close to him will
give him as much counselling as possible but I'm hoping in time he
will be able to settle down and get back to playing."
It was confirmed on Friday night that the bus driver was
killed in the incident, while an assistant coach and a press
officer are also reported to have died from their injuries. O'Neill
added that he would prefer the players to come home if that is what
the national federation decided. Salifou spoke on the official
Villa website yesterday, describing the team's ordeal and
underlining his personal desire to leave Angola.
He said: "We all want to go home to Togo. We don't want to
compete in the tournament because our assistant manager has been
killed and also the press and communications officer. As a team, we
have made this decision.
"We must wait, however, so that we can speak to our
federation president and some people from CAF and let them know
that we don't want to play. We can't play in these circumstances
and we want to leave for home today.
"To be honest, I can't sum up how I feel at this moment. My
parents keep calling me from Togo every 30 minutes just to make
sure I am okay and to see how things are going here."
