By DPA
Kumasi (Ghana) : Samuel Eto’o became the all-time record scorer at football’s African Cup of Nations as he scored his 16th goal at the tournament, breaking the previous record mark held by Laurent Pokou by two goals.
There was more joy for the Barcelona striker Eto’o as his Cameroon side advanced to the quarterfinals of the competition with a 3-0 victory against Sudan, while Egypt went through as Group D winners despite being held to a 1-1 draw by Zambia here Wednesday.
Eto’o scored the first and third goals for Cameroon, who also benefited by an own goal by Sudanese defender Mohamed Khider, while Amr Zaki scored for Egypt before Christopher Katongo replied for Zambia late in the game.
In the other match, Zambia dominated the opening spell, but fell behind in the 15th minute as Egypt managed to score with their first shot of the game.
Midfielder Ahmed Shaaban created the goal with a fine run through the middle of the field before pushing the ball to his left side, where Sayed Moawad was on hand to play the ball back into the middle.
The ball came to Al-Zamalek striker Zaki, whose volley gave Zambian goalkeeper Kennedy Mweene no chance.
The second half continued much as the first, as the Zambian play look promising up to the Egyptian area, but then their strikers failed dismally. They were finally rewarded three minutes from the end when Katongo scored his second of the tournament.
His celebrations which included an excellent gymnastics display with several flips had the small crowd in the Kumasi stadium wildly cheering.
In Tamale, where Cameroon faced Sudan at the same time as the game between Egypt and Zambia, Eto’o took over as the tournament’s overall top scorer with his fourth and fifth goal at this competition and his 15th and 16th overall.
Sudan, who were in reality already out of the competition, fell behind in the 26th minute after Eldin Yousif pulled down Achille Emana in the area. Eto’o, who on Saturday equalled Ivory Coast’s Laurent Pokou’s record of 14 goals with a penalty in Cameroon’s 5-1 win against Zambia, made no mistake from the spot.
In the 33rd minute a series of unfortunate incidents gifted the Indomitable Lions their second as the Sudanese defence failed to clear the ball and in the end Hamouda Bashit kicked it against Khider and from his back the ball trickled into the corner of the goal. Officials erroneously gave the goal to Eto’o.
In the second half Sudan were more enterprising in their play, but Cameroon did not really allow them any real chances and instead scored a third themselves in injury time as Eto’o was sent through.
Egypt top the group on seven points, while Cameroon have six. Zambia finish on four points, while Sudan lost all three matches and failed to score.