The reigning African highest goal scorer of all time in the nations’ cup history Samuel Eto’o Phils yesterday added yet another profile to his unassailable record after helping his country Cameroon to qualify for the quarter finals in the ongoing competition in Angola. He scored his side’s equalizer in the 1st minute of the second half after the Cartridge Eagles of Tunisia went into the lead in the first half. The match eventually ended 2-2 to ensure that the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon and the Chipolopolo of Zambia moved on into the quarter finals.

Samuel Eto’o had earlier scored in their second match against Zambia to increase his goal tally to 17, but with his goal against Tunisia yesterday he now has 18 goals. Before his emergence on the African nations’ cup scene the highest goals record stood at 14 goals which was set and held by Laurent Poko of Cote d’ivoire. But at Ghana 2008 nations’ cup this record was broken by Eto’o. I remember I did predict that he was likely to break his own record this year, and he has just done that: with 18 goals in his kitty it would remain an uphill task for anybody seeking to equal and break this record. This young man came into soccer limelight in Nigeria/Ghana 2000 nations’ cup and ever since he has not stopped scoring great and thrilling goals.

I can almost hear you ask what is so special about this guy; Let me just answer that away. He parades a very intimidating record – three time African footballer of the year award winner, 2 nations’ cup trophies (Nigeria/Ghana 2000 and Mali 2002), all time highest goal scorer in African nations’ cup history (18 goals), Olympics Gold medalist at Sydney 2000 Olympics, two time UEFA champions with FC Barcelona of Spain (2006 and 2009), UEFA Super Cup winner, several domestic and FA titles with FC Barcelona, etc. He has really achieved much as far as African football is concerned.

Age is one advantage on the side of this player and if he endures like his counterpart Roger Miller, he might just still be there in 3 or more editions of the competition; and if he does, what would that translate into? He would score more goals of course: he might just get to score 30 goals which would make it more difficult for any player to equal or break considering how long it took to break the record set by Laurent Poko. The likes of Rasheed Yekini of Nigeria and Joel Tiehi of Cote d’ivoire had tried to break this record but the highest they could do was get close to it. Eto’o has no doubt proven to be force to reckon with in Africa football whose record is yet to be equaled by any of the players from the continent. George Weah won the African footballer, European footballer and FIFA world footballer of the year awards, and also UEFA champions league but compare that with the above-listed records by Eto’o and decide for yourself who you think is Africa’s greatest footballer of all time.