Eto'o eyes goal record in Angola
Reuters - Wednesday 06 January 2010, 13:15
NAIROBI - Cameroon striker Samuel Eto'o
wants to break the individual goal record for a single African
Nations Cup at this month's finals.
"I would like to take Cameroon as far as possible, to even
win the tournament," the 29-year-old Inter Milan player told
Reuters in an interview in the Kenyan capital Nairobi on
Wednesday.
"But my first objective will be to score the highest number
of goals at a single Nations Cup," added the triple African
Footballer of the Year.
Cameroon begin their Group D campaign against Gabon on January
13. They take on Zambia four days later before meeting Tunisia
on January 21.
Eto'o, who will captain the Indomitable Lions in Angola and
at the World Cup in South Africa in June, already holds the
record as the highest overall scorer (16 goals) in the Nations
Cup.
Congolese Mulamba Ndaye's nine goals for then-Zaire in Egypt
in 1974 is the highest by a player at the finals.
Ivorian Laurent Pokou grabbed eight goals in Sudan in 1970
while Egyptian Hossam Hassan and South African Benni McCarthy
netted seven in Burkina Faso in 1998.
Eto'o, who joined Inter from Barcelona in July in a swap
with Zlatan Ibrahimovic, won the Golden Boot as top scorer for
the second consecutive Nations Cup when he notched five goals in
Ghana in 2008.
That year Cameroon lost to Egypt in the final. He also hit
five goals in Egypt in 2006.
GOOD TEAM
"Although we have a pretty good team (this year) all the
teams are equal and have a chance of winning," said Eto'o who
lifted the Nations Cup in 2000 and 2002.
"I don't want to make any predictions."
Eto'o, who missed Inter's Italian Serie A early kickoff
against Chievo on Wednesday after Cameroon turned down the
club's request to delay his Nations Cup departure, said European
teams paid big wages and had a right to demand the services of
their players.
However, he added the Nations Cup could not change dates to
fit the seasons of European teams.
"Just as they play their European Cup of Nations every four
years in the summer because it is convenient for them, the
African Nations Cup must be played in January because it is
convenient for us as there is less rain all over the continent,"
said Eto'o.