Samuel Eto'o became the all-time record goalscorer at the Africa Cup of Nations on Wednesday when he fired Cameroon into the quarter-finals, where Egypt will also feature despite Zambia holding the defending champions to a 1-1 draw.
Eto'o's first-half penalty and end-of-time second sandwiched between defender Mohamed Khiber's own goal fired Cameroon to a 3-0 win over Sudan to bag the Group C runners-up spot on six points.
Over in Kumasi, where the attendance figure barely touched 5,000, Egypt were held by Zambia with a point sufficient to make them the group leaders.
PHOTO: AP
Egypt are in a quest here for a record sixth title.
The Pharaohs and the handful of fans had to contend with a smoky stadium as sawdust bonfires were lit outside in a local tradition to ward off mosquitoes, flouting local authority laws.
Wednesday's quarter-final new recruits join already qualified Ivory Coast, hosts Ghana, Guinea and Nigeria.
PHOTO: AP
Wednesday's two losing sides, Sudan and Zambia, joined Morocco, Benin, Mali and Namibia on the opening-round scrap heap.
The 10th day of the biennial competition undoubtedly belonged to Eto'o. The Barcelona striker was level on 14 goals with Laurent Pokou of Ivory Coast entering the final-round fixture, and took just 27 minutes to create history at Tamale Stadium before adding a second in stoppage time.
The three-time African Player of the Year celebrated reaching the milestone with extreme calm, returning to the center circle while accepting the congratulations of team-mates approaching him one at a time.
Eto'o struck his first Nations Cup goal in a 2000 group match against Ivory Coast in Accra and his tally includes one hat-trick, against Angola in Cairo two years ago.
Eto'o helped the "Indomitable Lions" win the symbol of African national team supremacy in 2000 and 2002 and this is his fifth appearance at the biennial tournament.
Cameroon coach Otto Pfister later complained of some hitches in the local organization, claiming the team -- having already lost its baggage -- had to wait two hours for their hotel rooms to be ready, and then wait for their meals.
PHOTO: AFP
It meant Cameroon failed to train as they had planned for their final group fixture.
But in the end, Pfister was walking proud after reminding everyone of his side's goalscoring record so far.
"Even after everything that happened to us, we're still the only team to have scored 10 goals. And we've got the tournament's all-time record goalscorer," said Pfister, who had special praise for his star striker.
"He [Eto'o] played his usual match, but in two or three moves he showed that he is truly world class. Our first aim was to qualify for the quarter-finals. Now, we will be fully focussed on the next round," Pfister said. "In this tournament no one is unbeatable. That's why we have to keep to our game plan. The team that keeps its concentration most is the team that will be champion."
In the other game being played simultaneously, Amr Zaky netted Egypt's goal after quarter of an hour while hard-working Zambia skipper Christopher Katongo drew his team level on 87 minutes when he shot from inside the box.
Egypt assistant coach Shawki Gharib said his team achieved their targets for this game.
"We first wanted to qualify and lead our group. We also wanted to finish the game free of any injuries and we achieved all our targets," Gharib said. "We are therefore satisfied with the result."
"Egypt played well against Sudan and Cameroon but today we gave them a good run for this draw," Zambia coach Patrick Phiri said.
"This was the Zambia that trained in Spain and played against Morocco before the tournament. It was a disaster for us against Cameroon but after this match we can go back home with some sense of satisfaction," he said.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB