Bahrain’s football team wondered why the Togolese team they had just beaten 3-0 last Tuesday played so poorly. Togo, after all, had been one of Africa’s representatives in the 2006 World Cup in Germany.
Well, it turns out that the reason Togo’s team did not seem very good was that they weren’t. Bahrain had played a group of imposters. Apparently a fake agent was able to sell the game to Bahrain (and the friendly appeared on FIFA’s website as well), which is in the process of preparing for the Asian championships and presumably would like to warm up with actual competition. Togo’s sports minister promises to investigate, though there is no indication that there is any wrongdoing in Togolese football circles.