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FOOTBALL

Eto'o stunner as Cameroon qualify

CAIRO, Egypt (Reuters) -- Samuel Eto'o followed up his hat-trick against Angola with a spectacular striker as Cameroon beat Togo 2-0 on Wednesday to reach the African Nations Cup quarterfinals in Cairo.

The Barcelona striker broke the deadlock in the 68th minute before setting up the second for substitute Albert Meyong Ze with five minutes left in the Group B tie.

World Cup finalists Togo, with striker Emmanuel Adebayor back in the side following his public spat with coach Stephen Keshi, can't qualify after losing their first two games without scoring.

Cameroon, who surprisingly missed out on a place in the World Cup finals in Germany later this year, have a maximum six points from two games.

Eto'o, again in inspirational form, was Cameroon's main threat throughout the match.

In the 19th minute, he slipped between two defenders and laid the ball off but nobody was on hand to finish.

Seven minutes later, he collected the ball in the Togo half, carried it forward and unleashed a 25-metre shot which flew narrowly over the crossbar.

And in first-half injury-time, Eto'o fired against the post from a narrow angle after Kossi Agassa blocked Rudolph Douala's run.

Eto'o was not to be denied and rifled home a loose ball with a first-time shot from 25 metres after a series of rebounds in the Togo penalty area for his fourth goal of the competition.

With five minutes to go, he cut inside from the right and found Portugal-based Meyong Ze, who cleverly flicked the ball home.

Courageous Congo

Democratic Republic of Congo earlier survived a sending off to hold out for a goalless draw against World Cup finalists Angola, also in Group B.

Thee Congolese edged closer to the quarterfinals while Angola must now win their last group game this weekend to have any chance of progressing.

Congo were on the back foot for much of the game after Tresor Mputu was dismissed for kicking out at Angolan defender Kali inside the first 20 minutes.

But even with the man advantage, Angola could not capitalise on their dominant possession with captain Akwa particularly guilty of squandering a myriad of half chances.

Desperate defending by Congo kept out a series of chances for Akwa, Edson and Mendonca after just the half hour.

In the second half, Angola kept up their persistent pressure, but the best chance fell to LuaLua, who broke free on the counter attack only to blast wide.

Angola, in their third appearance at a Nations Cup finals, now have four draws and four losses in eight outings.

They were beaten 3-1 by Cameroon in their opening game on Saturday and face Togo in their last group match on Sunday.

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