Toure brothers to stay on at World Cup

SALVADOR, Brazil, (Reuters) - Kolo and Yaya Toure will be staying at the World Cup in Brazil despite the death of their younger brother in England on Thursday, Ivory Coast officials said on Saturday.

The pair trained with the rest of the squad on Friday soon after learning of the death of 28-year-old Ibrahim Toure in a Manchester hospital and were due to practise again on Saturday at their base at Aguas de Lindoia, a football federation spokesman told reporters.

There are no plans for the pair to leave Brazil to be with family in England, where they both play.

Ivory Coast play Greece in Group C on Tuesday and if they win they will advance to the next round. They failed to get past the first stage at the last two World Cups.

Ibrahim Toure was long in the shadow of his more illustrious siblings, having had a journeyman career in Ukraine, France, Egypt and Lebanon. He was on the books of Ligue 1 club Nice for a year but never made a first-team appearance and last played at Safa, where he scored six goals in 10 games this season as they finished second in the Lebanese league.

Messages of condolence have come from FIFA and the Confederation of African Football plus English champions Manchester City, where Yaya Toure plays, and Kolo’s club Liverpool.

(Reporting by Mark Gleeson; Editing by Ed Osmond; [e-mail]; [phone]; Reuters Messaging: [e-mail]; To sign up for our Global Sports Forum chatroom, click on https://forms.thomsonreuters.com/global_sports_forum)