LONDON (AP) — The gun attack on Togo’s national soccer team in Angola has again highlighted the security issues facing South Africa as it prepares to host the World Cup in five months.
Local organizers and former World Cup-winning coaches Franz Beckenbauer and Marcello Lippi remain confident that South Africa will put on a peaceful tournament.
Three days after three people were killed and two Togo players were wounded in the attack on the team, Beckenbauer says “it would be a mistake if we Europeans lumped together South Africa and Angola.”
The Togolese team was traveling by bus to Angola for the African Cup of Nations when it was attacked Friday in the host country’s volatile Cabinda region.