The African nation has been ravaged by tragedy twice in the last five years - a plane crash in 2006 killed 20 members of its delegation, including the country's sports minister, and last year there was the deplorable, senseless attack on the team bus at the African Cup of Nations by gunmen from a separatist militia that killed three. As a result of that attack star striker Emmanuel Adebayor, the country's best player, retired from international football.
Unfortunately, this poor country is in the news again for the wrong reason. Thankfully, this one isn't a matter of life and death, but it's nonetheless pathetic.
This past week, there was a friendly between Bahrain and Togo. Bahrain won, 3-0. One problem: As it turns out, it was NOT officially Togo. The governing body of soccer in Togo announced a fake team had played in the match, a fixture they weren't aware of in the first place.
An investigation is under way by FIFA, and early indications are Bahrain was led astray by a FIFA-approved booking agent. No one is sure who these players are, or if they're even from Togo.
It's easy to have fun in several respects with this story, of course, except for the fact it involves Togo. Haven't they been through enough already? Was it really necessary to embarrass this nation in particular?
Togo made its lone World Cup appearance in 2006 and pulled out of the last African Nations Cup as a result of the aforementioned tragedy.
Here's to hoping better days are ahead for them, because they deserve it.
- Chris Lillstrung
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