Togo
skipper Emmanuel Adebayor on Sunday, June 19, mourned the "great loss to African
football" of Stephen Keshi, the former Nigerian international and coach
who died from a heart attack at the age of 54 earlier this month.
Crystal
Palace striker Adebayor was playing in an exhibition game in Lome
organised to pay homage to Keshi, who coached Togo to the 2006 World Cup
finals in Germany.
Keshi, also a former skipper of Nigeria, won the Africa Cup of Nations as a player in 1994 and coach in 2013.
"I
knew Keshi when I was very young. He taught me a lot in my career. His
death is a great loss to African football," Adebayor told AFP.
Around 8,000 fans watched Sunday's game which began with a rousing minute's applause in honour of Keshi, who died on June 8.
"Keshi
is a man I will never forget. He taught us about discipline in the
squad and he made us a force at the time," added former Togo captain
Jean-Paul Abalo Dosseh.
Keshi coached Togo to the 2006 World Cup but was sacked on the eve of the competition. He returned briefly to the job in 2010.