Sports
Eto’o’s Goal Record Remains Safe
Afcon 2015 is missing
three strikers that have made impact in the last few editions.
Samuel Eto’o, Didier Drogba and Christopher Katongo are three legends in their respective countries that have made an impact in Afcon events.
Eto’o at 33 is the all time leading goal scorer in the tournament with 18 goals in 6 tournament appearances with most of the first round matches already decided. One thing that is for sure is that the former Cameroon captain after Afcon 2015 will still be the competition leading goalscorer.
Out of the players that are participating in this year’s event, the Malian captain Seydou Keita is the leading goalscorer with 6 goals to his name. Ghana skipper Asamoah Gyan comes in at number two with 5 goals to his name in past tournaments.
Gyan, out of all the players participating in the tournament, has the most international goals at 42 and his surely the pundit’s favourite to take the golden boot this time around.
The Ghana captain has never won the Golden boot in the history of the Afcon tournament.
The only player in recent years to come close to Eto’o’s record has been the recently retired Ivorian captain Drogba (36) at 11 goals.
Another striker to take note of is Katango (32) with 7 goals for Zambia but unfortunately he would not be adding to that tally after he was dropped from the Zambian team for the 2015 event.
Eto’o’s record will remain untouched for now but the question is, who will be the leading goal scorer at Afcon 2015?
Iwobi spoke to Tidesports source ahead of Nigeria’s crunch playoff semi-final against Gabon on Thursday, November 13, in Rabat, Morocco.
The 28-year-old was reacting to Nigeria’s shaky World Cup qualifying campaign that saw the Eagles finish second in Group C behind South Africa’s Bafana Bafana.
“We’ve managed to rescue ourselves from the dead,” Iwobi told Tidesports source.
We know we have the players and the abilities to compete against any other country in the world.”
The Fulham star pointed to Nigeria’s star power, highlighting African Footballer of the Year winners Ademola Lookman and Victor Osimhen as proof of the squad’s quality.
“We have last year’s African best player (Ademola Lookman), the year before that (Victor Osimhen),” he said.
“It’ll be a shame if we don’t make it, but we have a lot of confidence. We just have to prove it to ourselves.”
Nigeria’s path to the United States, Canada and Mexico has been turbulent, with two coaches departing during the early stages of qualifying before Éric Chelle steadied the ship to steer the Super Eagles into November’s CAF playoffs.
Four nations from the continent – Nigeria, Cameroon, DR Congo and Gabon – will vie for a solitary spot to compete in next March’s inter-confederation playoffs, with a view to joining the already nine qualified African nations at the Finals.
It would mark Iwobi’s second appearance at the World Cup Finals and the Super Eagles’ first since the 2018 edition of the competition.
Back then, Iwobi featured in all three games as Nigeria was knocked out in the group stage.
The Chief Executive Officer(CEO) and Publisher of the Atlantic Bell Online medium, Mr. Celestine Ogolo has advised sports writers in Nigeria to diversify in sports writing and not to concentrate on football reporting alone.
The Deputy National President of Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) Mr. Bonny Nyong has expressed commitment to support sports development and move SWAN forward.