Although the Indomitable Lions eventually ran out easy winners, Togo protested bitterly that Cameroon’s second goal was offside and let their opponents off the hook with two glaring misses before falling behind early in the second half.
Lucien Mettomo, starting his first match at the tournament, got the opening goal when he tapped in from close range in the 52nd minute. Samuel Eto’o and Salomon Olembe completed the scoring with two goals in the final quarter of an hour.
Olembe grabbed Cameroon’s third goal in the 89th minute as Togo lost concentration.
Results
GROUP C
In Sikasso: Cameroon 3 Togo 0
Scorers: Lucien 52, Samuel Eto’o 79, Salomon Olembe 89
In Kayes: DR Congo 3 Ivory Coast 1
Scorers:
DR Congo: Yves Yuvuladio 27, Shabani Nonda 67, Papy Kimoto 81pen
Ivory Coast: Kandia Traore 89.
Solskjaer treble: Norwegian Ole Gunnar Solskjaer struck a classy hat-trick as champions Manchester United demolished Bolton Wanderers 4-0 Tuesday to open out a four-point lead at the top of the English Premier League.
Ruud van Nistelrooy also scored at the Reebok Stadium to ensure United ended a mini-slump of two successive defeats in style.
Alex Ferguson’s side now have 48 points from 25 games. Second-placed Arsenal have 44 from 23 games, followed by Newcastle and Liverpool on 43 points and Leeds on 42.
In Tuesday’s two other matches, 10-man Middlesbrough beat local rivals Sunderland 1-0 at the Stadium of Light and struggling Derby County lost 1-0 at Charlton Athletic.
English Premier League results: Bolton Wanderers 0 Manc United 4
Charlton Athletic 1 Derby County 0
Sunderland 0 Middlesbrough 1 —Reuters