Kodjovi Obilale: Togo goalkeeper reflects on World Cup dream and Cabinda tragedy

Kodjovi Obilale has spoken about the extraordinary highs and devastating events that shaped his football career, including representing Togo at the 2006 World Cup and surviving the 2010 attack on the national team’s convoy.

The former Togo international goalkeeper was speaking in an interview published in full by influential Italian newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport.

Obilale described playing at the World Cup in Germany as the realisation of a childhood ambition.

“It was a childhood dream that became reality. From a very young age, in my neighbourhood, we used to say that one day we would take part in a World Cup, and for me that dream came true,” he said.

“It was an incredible experience. For a 21-year-old footballer to find himself in a stadium filled with tens of thousands of people, surrounded by that atmosphere and those cheers, was something I had never experienced before.

“Although we were eliminated in the group stage, that World Cup represented the culmination of all the years of work and sacrifice for me. And for the country, it was an immense source of pride.”

Togo’s involvement in the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations in Angola was overshadowed by an attack on two buses carrying the delegation.

Three people were killed: the driver, the press officer and a technical assistant. The attack was claimed that same evening by FLEC, the Front for the Liberation of the Enclave.

Obilale said his initial hopes for the tournament had been to play, attract attention and earn the chance to be noticed by a bigger club.

“These are very bitter memories, and they remain painful. I went to that Africa Cup of Nations for good reasons: to take part in the competition, make a name for myself and have a chance of being spotted by a bigger club,” he said.

“Then, on 8 January 2010, we left for Cabinda. The Federation preferred not to travel by plane, so we took the bus to Angola. I felt a certain anxiety, without really knowing why. I had a feeling that something was going to happen.”

He also recalled the emotion of walking out in front of a packed stadium during Togo’s historic World Cup campaign.

“Coming out of the tunnel and stepping on to the pitch in a completely full stadium, with tens of thousands of people cheering and an overwhelming atmosphere, was something I had never experienced before,” he said.

“To be part of the first Togo national team to play at a World Cup… unforgettable.”

After undergoing treatment and three and a half years of rehabilitation, Obilale went on to undertake training.