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Former Cameroonian forward Samuel Eto'o has claimed that an African nation can win the FIFA World Cup.
Speaking ahead of the 2024 African Cup of Nations (AFCON), he said (via SportBible's Instagram handle):
“Africans have a lot of talent, Europeans a bit less. I don’t see why an African country will not win a World Cup. It’s one of the easiest things to do. It’s just a couple of football matches.”
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Counting the 2022 final, 22 summit clashes have been held of the FIFA World Cup. No African country has yet been able to win the elusive tournament but Eto'o definitely feels otherwise.
For the record, the former Barcelona and Chelsea striker had also backed the 2022 FIFA World Cup final to be an all-African contest. He had said then (via ESPN):
"Cameroon will win the World Cup final against Morocco."
He had added:
"Africa has always had the potential to achieve a successful World Cup, but we haven't always shown our best face up to now. During the years, African teams have acquired more and more experience, and I think they're ready not only to participate in a World Cup, but also to win it."
Eto'o has represented Cameroon in four different editions of the FIFA World Cup but has never made it past the group stages.
Samuel Eto'o's former teammates Lionel Messi led Argentina to FIFA World Cup glory in 2022
While Samuel Eto'o's national career may have been less decorated with trophies, he did win it all at the club level. The height of his club success came while at Barcelona, where he was also teammates with Lionel Messi.
The Argentine winger performed admirably in the 2022 Qatar World Cup, leading his side to victory in the tournament. He registered seven goals and three assists in seven games, winning the Golden Ball for a second time (the only player to achieve this feat in the history of the tournament).
Argentina beat Kylian Mbappe's France in the final on penalties (4-2) when the game ended 3-3 after extra-time.
