How Samuel Eto’o’s Goals Set Off an Earthquake in 2006

December 19th, 2007 | by: Daryl | View Comments

A graduate student using seismometers to trace earthquake activity in Cameroon was apparently mystified by eight unexplained squiggles on his chart in late January and early February of 2006, which occurred simultaneously around the entire country. Being a good student, Garrett Euler got his girlfriend to do some Googling and she found the mysterious squiggles coincided with Cameroon’s eight goals in the 2006 African Nations Cup. “The first thing that came up was a soccer match,” said Euler, the man with the smart girlfriend. “Every city we had a seismometer in was going crazy at a goal.” The Indomitable Lions made it to the quarter-finals of the 2006 ACN before losing 11-12 to Ivory Coast on penalties after a 1-1 draw. Don’t know if Euler’s experiment is still going on, but with Samuel Eto’o (who scored five of the eight goals in 2006) back and playing he can probably expect a few more footquakes in January and Febraury 2008.