African Cup of Nations Moves to Quarter Finals
Eto'o breaks new record as highest goalscorer ever
by Amin George Forji (amingeorge)

deeyoo.com, friday, 01/02/08.

The 26th edition of the African Nations Cup (CAN-coupe D’ Afrique des Nations), which kicked off in the Ghanaian capital of Accra on the 20th of January is now moving to the second phase, following the last series of group matches that were played on Thursday evening. Meanwhile half of the teams that started the competition won tickets to the quarter finals, or the so-called knocked-out stage, the other half was not as lucky and would be packing their bags to return home.

A tally of the full results from the first round has vindicated the likes of Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Egypt, Ghana, Nigeria and Tunisia as the continent’s soccer giants, as all these teams have met expectations, by qualifying for the second phase of the tournament. But there have been surprises and record-breaking already. The most surprising teams that have defied conventional wisdom and spectacularly make it to the quarter finals are Guinea and Angola. Although Angola played the last World Cup, it will nevertheless be the first time they are crossing the group stage of the competition. Guinea on the other hand has crossed the first round just once in 1976, when they emerged as runners up, after losing to Morocco at the finals.

The highest surprises that could not make it to the second round are: Morocco, Mali, Senegal and South Africa, host of the 2010 World Cup. Senegal finished their last game without their main coach, Henri Kasperczak, who resigned after the team’s first two poor appearances. El-Hadji Diouf, goalkeeper Tony Sylva and Ousmane Ndoye were also dropped from the final game by the team’s assistant coach, Ndiaye, after the players were caught red-handed in a Kumasi night club on the eve of their game.

But there have also been other record-breakings, with the most notable of them being that Samuel Eto’o of Cameroon, who has scored at least a goal in every game, has now become the tournament’s highest top scorer ever with 16 goals. The previous record was held by Cote d’Ivoire’s Laurent Pokou’s 14 goals- a record he has held for past 28 years. Eto’o is also currently the top scorer at the first round with five goals.

Another record was broke by Eto’o fellow team-mate, Cameroon’s captain, Rigobert Song, who with 112 caps is the most capped player at the tournament, and the player who has played the most CAF matches at CAN.

As the knock-out stages begin on Sunday, we can expect even more surprises. Host Ghana will take on Nigeria, while Ivory Coast lock horns with Guinea. On Monday, Cameroon takes on Tunisia, while Egypt clash with Angola.
 

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