Sporting briefs

Goals record: Samuel Eto'o is determined to break the African Nations Cup goalscoring record during the tournament in Ghana, the Cameroon striker said yesterday. Eto'o equalled the 38-year-old, 14-goal record of Ivory Coast's Laurent Pokou with a penalty in Cameroon's 5-1 rout of Zambia in their Group C match in Kumasi on Saturday. "Now my first objective is to keep scoring for my country and to make sure we get our ticket for the quarter-finals. But I also want to beat the goalscoring record in my next match," Eto'o said.

Baros: Portsmouth completed the signing of Czech forward Milan Baros from Lyon on loan until the end of the season. Baros joined Lyon from Aston Villa a year ago but has struggled there, scoring only three goals and starting only six league games. He passed his Portsmouth medical yesterday and is in line to play in their Premier League game at Manchester United on Wednesday. Portsmouth have the option to make the deal permanent. Manager Harry Redknapp said: "It's a terrific opportunity to have a look at him. He's a good player... he was the Golden Boot winner at a European championship, he's got pace and makes good runs."

Toure: Ivory Coast defender Kolo Toure has been ruled out of tomorrow's African Nations Cup match against Mali after suffering a groin strain, officials said. Toure was carried off on a stretcher on Friday just before half-time in his team's 4-1 triumph over Benin, a result that secured for the Ivorians a place in the quarter-finals. The Arsenal defender had hoped to be fit in time for the Group B match in Accra but doctors said he would need more time to recover from the injury.

Namibia: Namibia said on Saturday they had been approached to fix a match at the African Nations Cup, having been offered $30,000 per player to throw their final group game against Guinea in Sekondi today. Namibia FA president John Muinjo said he had been told of the offer by his players and had immediately informed the Confederation of African Football (CAF). It follows a similar approach to Benin coach Reinhard Fabisch before the start of the tournament by an unidentified man, purporting to represent betting interests.

Power crisis: A crippling power crisis will not affect South Africa's ability to host a successful 2010 World Cup, a senior government minister said. A wave of rolling power cuts have darkened millions of houses, shut down mines and brought businesses to a standstill in the past two weeks, raising concerns and casting a shadow over preparations for the soccer event. "For 2010, what we're talking about doing is that we ensure that by that time we have a better (electricity) reserve margin," Public Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin said.