Angola: An outsider that turned a dream into reality

It took a long time for them to believe it themselves. They had become one of the favourites in Africa. The Angolan players had previously rated group opponents Nigeria much higher. But then the dream of appearing at the FIFA World Cup 2006 gradually turned into reality. October 8 2005 – an historical date in African football because of the surprising results in the continent wide pursuit of a World Cup appearance. And a day that saw jubilant Angolan players and the whole of southern African country’s 11 million population accompanying them in their jubilation. After the 1-0 win in Rwanda, Angolatook top place in Group 4, won the duel with Nigeria and secured a ticket to Germany for the FIFA World Cup 2006. Angola had succeeded in qualifying for the World Cup finals for the first time in six attempts.

Here you can find information about the star of the team ...

“Qualifying is unique. We still can’t really believe everything we’ve experienced,” said national coach Luis De Oliveira Goncalves after the win over Rwanda in the Amahoro de Kigali Stadium. In summer 1984 the country, which in earlier times was under Portuguese rule, entered the World Cup fray for the first time in the preliminaries leading up to the FIFA World Cup 1986 in Mexico. The team were regularly eliminated and basically had no realistic chance at all. But, over the past two years Angolan football has put itself into the limelight for a lasting spell and one that lasted right up to the day of the triumph. “The fans celebrated as if we’d won the World Cup itself,” explained De Oliveira Goncalves after it was certain that his team would be competing at the World Cup in Germany. Winning the duel against the Super Eagles from Nigeria, the 2000 Olympic Champions and multiple World Cup participants, was probably the biggest sporting achievement for a nation crippled up to only recently by a merciless 30 year long civil war.

The Angolans reacted quite low key after the World Cup qualifying groups were drawn. For them targeting top spot in a group containing Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, Gabon and Algeria appeared too ambitious. They only got through the two-legged pre-preliminary round against Chad by the skin of their teeth. They lost the away leg in N'Djamena 3-1 in November 2003 and the Brazilian national coach Ismael Kurtz was given the sack. A 2-0 home win – the first match with De Oliveira Goncalves in charge, meant that they were able to reach the group phase after all. “When we embarked on the qualifying campaign, our principal objective was to secure a place at the World Cup in Germany. But we also had to be realistic and first try to qualify for the African Cup of Nations,”said De Oliveira Goncalves.

That the coach and his team achieved more than they themselves even thought possible is proof of just how important nurturing young players is in football and of the kind of success youth coaching schemes can lead to. “Angola’s success does not appear to be just luck: names such as Mantorras, Gilberto, Lama and Mendonca, who already played under De Oliveira Goncalves at the 2001 World Youth Championships were members of the team that wrote a new chapter in the history of football in Kigali,” as quoted on the World Football Federation’s (FIFA) World Cup website – www.fifaworldcup.com . Four years ago the Angolans, whose senior team was only able to reach the finals of the Africa Cup on two occasions (1996 and 1998), won the continental championships with the youth team.

Angola became contenders for the group win on 18 June 2005 when they gained a 1-1 draw in Nigeria, the supposed favourites. The Angolans had put in good performances in their home games right from the very start of World Cup qualifying. Ultimately five home wins in the five games played in the “La Cidadela” Stadium together with the draw in Nigeria paved the way for them to be represented amongst the world’s top 32 teams in summer 2006. The team and their strong striker Akwa only lost in Zimbabwe. At the final count Angola went through ahead of equal on points Nigeria. Though the latter had a better goal difference, the team coached by De Oliveira Goncalves had their noses in front as a result of having the better of the matches played against each other.

The captain Akwa, who once turned out for Benfica and in the meantime plays in Qatar, scored the decisive goals on the road to the 2006 World Cup. He hit the back of the net for the all important goals in their 1-0 wins against Nigeriaand then in the final game in Rwanda. In addition to Akwa, other players standing out in the highly disciplined and compact team are Mantorras, a strong striker form Benfica, Flavio from Al Ahli Cairo, Figueirido, Joao Pereira, Love, Maurito and Zé Kalanga. The team members playing in their domestic league are mainly part-timers. Only a few Angolans have ever successfully made the step up to the European leagues – with the exception of Portugal. One of them, youngster Nando Rafael (Hertha Berlin), decided recently to play for Germany and its youth team.

“We aren’t a developing country as far as football is concerned,” stresses coach De Oliveira Goncalves, the man one can describe as being “the father of the World Cup qualification”. Realistically, says the experienced coach, who is highly praised by his players, his team is not yet of a standard equal to a top African team. Many Angolans previously saw the Nigerian side as being the better team and the one that would ruin their World Cup dream. In Germany, Angola would like to show – by playing happy football – the world just how good their team is, says the national coach. And a few players are hoping good performances will commend them for contracts with top European clubs.