Lome: Stephen Keshi was sacked as coach of Togo as a result of them losing all their matches at the African Nations Cup national radio has reported.
The Nigerian had been hailed as a hero after guiding the 'Sparrowhawks' to their first ever World Cup finals spot but the recently concluded Nations Cup was an unmitigated disaster.
They failed to garner a point and scored just twice while team morale was destroyed after a serious altercation between Keshi and star striker Emmanuel Adebayor.
While the official reason for Keshi's sacking was 'bad results' the row with Togo's one and only truly class player probably ended any hope the coach had of taking the team to the World Cup finals in June.
The two had to be separated from each other on the team bus following the 2-0 defeat by the Democratic Republic of Congo - Adebayor had refused to play after at first being told he would not be in the starting line-up before Keshi told him a few hours before the match that he would play after all.
Keshi accused Adebayor of being a 'crybaby' while the player alleged that the coach had tried to act as his agent in his 10million pound move to Premiership giants Arsenal in January.
Adebayor did come off the bench in the second-half of the DRC clash, played in the defeat to Cameroon before being listed as injured for the final match with Angola.
Keshi, who had been in charge since April 2004, had been philosophical about his future after the concluding defeat by Angola.
"There's more to life than football," said Keshi, who won the African Nations Cup as a player in 1994.
Among the names being bandied around to replace him are aging German Otto Pfister, and various Frenchmen such as the 'white witch doctor' Philippe Troussier and Noel Tosi, who would apparently be helped by Michel Hidalgo, who coached France to the Euro '84 title.
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