Joy for Eto'o as Barca striker sets tournament scoring record

  Eto'o, who on Saturday equalled Ivory Coast's Laurent Pokou's record of 14 goals, that dates back to 1970, with a penalty in Cameroon's 5-1 win against Zambia, scored his fourth and fifth goals of the tournament in Tamale to take the new tournament record to 16.

 "Naturally, I'm delighted to have broken the record but it's much more important that the team is successful," said Eto'o.

 Born Samuel Eto'o Fils in Nkon on March 10, 1981, the young striker signed for Spanish giants Real Madrid as a 16-year-old but only ever played for the reserves.

 Loan spells at second division side Leganes and Mallorca followed and after his second year at the Primera Liga club in 2000 he was signed for a transfer fee of 4.2 million euros (6.2 million dollars).

 Eto'o stayed at Mallorca until 2004, becoming the club's all-time leading domestic scorer with 54 goals, before Barcelona fended off interest from Real Madrid to secure his signature for a transfer fee of 24 million euros.

 The 27-year-old continued to find the net, scoring 64 goals in 94 matches, winning two league titles and the 2006 Champions League in the process.

 He has been equally successful with Cameroon since winning his first cap in 1996 at the age of 15. Two years later, he was the youngest player at the 1998 World Cup finals in France and was also a member of Cameroon's gold medal winning team at the 2000 Athens Olympics.

 After the Sudan win, Cameroon's 70-year-old German coach Otto Pfister described Eto'o as "one of the best strikers in the world" but said the Indomitable Lions were already concentrating on Monday's quarter-final clash against the winners of Group D, either Tunisia or Angola who meet later Thursday in Tamale.

DPA