- Title: KENYA: SOCCER/FOOTBALL - Cameroon striker Samuel Eto'o on goal record mission
- Date: 7th January 2010
- Summary: NAIROBI, KENYA (JANUARY 06, 2009) (REUTERS) (*** SOME FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY ***) VARIOUS OF MEMBERS OF CAMEROON NATIONAL TEAM, INDOMITABLE LIONS AT NEWS CONFERENCE CAMEROON AND INTER MILAN STRIKER SAMUEL ETO'O HOLDING BALL AND WEARING NEW AFRICA KIT VARIOUS OF OTHER CAMEROON NATIONAL TEAM PLAYERS... CAMEROON TEAM COACH... ETO'O SIGNING SHIRT CAMEROON PLAYERS WALK OFF PO
- Embargoed: 22nd January 2010 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Kenya
- Country: Kenya
- Topics: Sports
- Reuters ID: LVAVEJYWYGZGSYI0ZHZ50TUAPBV
- Story Text: Cameroon's Inter Milan striker Samuel Eto'o said on Wednesday (January 6) his plan for the 27th African up of Nations in Angola is to set a new record of the highest goals by a single player at a tournament.
Eto'o, who will be captaining the Indomitable Lions in Angola as well as South Africa at the FIFA World Cup in June, already holds the record as the highest collective goal scorer, with 16 goals, in the history of the Nations Cup (CAN).
Congolese Mulamba Ndaye's nine goals in 1974 in Egypt is still the highest by a single player at the finals, followed by Ivorian Laurent Pokou's eight in 1970 in udan and Hossam Hassan and Benny McCarthy's joint seven in 1998 in Burkina Faso.
While in Nairobi, Eto'o also headlined the launch of a biodiversity campaign sponsored by Puma and the United Nations Environmental Programme, UNEP.
The project dubbed "Play for Life" will support the 2010 International Year of Biodiversity by raising awareness during worldwide football events, including the World Cup.
To raise money for the campaign Puma unveiled a "new Africa Unity Kit" designed to be worn by the 12 African football national teams that PUMA sponsors.
The Africa Unity Kit has been approved by FIFA and PUMA officials said it has been officially recognised as the Official 3rd kit to be worn by PUMA-sponsored African teams.
Eto'o told Reuters about his plans for the Africa Cup and the World Cup in an interview after the launch.
"My objective or my objectives for the Africa Cup of Nations is to take my country as far as possible, and possibly win the cup, and to increase the number of goals that I score, but most importantly to beat the record on the number of goals scored at CAN. I think that the record stands at 11 goals, if I can remember correctly. I hope that God and my team players can help me to achieve that, that's my wish and I hope that we will get there, and I think I want to look at the end of my career and know that I have achieved that," Eto'o said.
Eto'o, who moved from Barcelona to Inter Milan last July in a swap with Zlatan Ibrahimovic, won the Golden Boot for the second consecutive African Nations Cup finals in 2008 in Ghana. He also scored five goals in 2006 finals in Egypt. He was cautious about Cameroon's prospects in Angola and in South Africa for the World Cup.
"We have to take into consideration that all teams at the Africa cup of nations and the World Cup are good, even if we know we have a good team, we have to be cautious, I don't want to make any prediction but the Cameroonian team is strong," said Eto'o.
Eto'o missed his club's Serie A match against Chievo on Wednesday after his club failed to convince Cameroon to join the camp late. Eto'o said that he was happy about his move to Inter.
"It was the right move, I had other propositions at the time, but I chose Inter for many reasons, and up until now I am happy with my choice. We are currently in the second round of Champions League, we are number one in Serie A, and we are now heading for the Italian Cup. I am now settled and still score goals, so so far so good," said Eto'o.
Eto'o also defended his decision to come to Africa and play for the lions saying European clubs pay high wages and had a right to demand their players' services, but the African Nations Cup can't change its dates to fit in European clubs' programmes. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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