World Cup 2006

Angola

Nickname(s)

Palancas Negras
(The Black Antelopes)

Association

Federação Angolana
de Futebol

Confederation

CAF (Africa)

Head coach

Mabi de Almeida

Captain

Akwá

Most caps

Akwá (80)

Top scorer

Akwá (36)

Home stadium

Estádio da Cidadela

FIFA code

ANG

FIFA ranking

Highest FIFA ranking

45 (July 2000)

Lowest FIFA ranking

124 (March 1994)

Elo ranking

Highest Elo ranking

50 (Sept-Oct 2006)




Home colours




Away colours

First international

Angola 1 - 0 Cuba

(Angola; 1 June 1977)

Biggest win

Angola 7 - 1 Swaziland

(Luanda, Angola; 23 April 2000)

Biggest defeat

Portugal 6 - 0 Angola

(Lisbon, Portugal; 23 March 1989)

World Cup

Appearances

1 (First in 2006)

Best result

Round 1, 2006

Africa Nations Cup

Appearances

4 (First in 1996)

Best result

Quarterfinals, 2008

The Angola national football team, nicknamed Palancas Negras, (”The Black Antelopes“) is the national team of Angola and is controlled by the Federação Angolana de Futebol.

1 History
2 Key players
3 Angola Football Achievements
4 History
5 World Cup record
6 African Nations Cup record
7 2006 World Cup Information
8 Current Squad
- 8.1 Recent call-ups
- 8.2 Recent Call Ups
9 External links

[edit] History

On October 8, 2005, Angola qualified for the World Cup for the first time, winning their qualifying group ahead of three-time qualifiers Nigeria. They did not progress past the first round of the tournament.

Luís Oliveira Gonçalves took over as coach of the team in 2003, having previously managed the Under-20 team, and is the most successful in Angolan history, having led them into their first World Cup, and to the quarterfinals of the Africa Nations Cup for the first time. Former assistant coach Mabi de Almeida was named head coach on the 21st of October. At the time, he trained Panteras Negras (Atlético Independiente), which he will still do at least until January 2009, along with the national team. Mabi led the national squad 3-1 win over Niger on October 12 in Luanda at the “Coqueiros Stadium”, for the last qualifier for the 2010 World Cup, to occur in South Africa.

[edit] Key players

Figueiredo - Ceahlăul Piatra Neamţ
Mantorras - S.L. Benfica
Rui Marques - Leeds United
Akwá - Petro Atlético
Flávio Amado - Al Ahly
Manucho Gonçalves - Manchester United FC

[edit] Angola Football Achievements

COSAFA Cup :

3 Times Champion (1999, 2001, 2004)

Central African Games :

1 Time Runners-Up

[edit] History

Angola came to international prominence in the 1990s with appearances in two African Nations Cup tournaments.

They finished runners-up behind Cameroon in the 1998 and 2002 World Cup qualifying series, losing only one game in the process. They finally qualified for their first World Cup in 2006, and performed credibly to finish third in their group behind Portugal and Mexico.

[edit] World Cup record

1930 to 1982 - Did not enter
1986 to 2002 - Did not qualify
2006 - Round 1
2010 - Did not qualify

[edit] African Nations Cup record

1957 to 1980 - Did not enter
1982 - Did not qualify
1984 - Did not qualify
1986 - Did not enter
1988 to 1992 - Did not qualify
1994 - Did not enter
1996 - Round 1
1998 - Round 1
2000 to 2004 - Did not qualify
2006 - Round 1
2008 - Quarterfinals
2010 - Qualified automatically as host

[edit] 2006 World Cup Information

Fans of the Angolan national football team in Cologne, Germany.

When picking the squad, Gonçalves sought advice from Chelsea manager José Mourinho, whose wife was born in Angola. They lost their opening game in the World Cup to a theoretically much stronger Portuguese side. The final score was 1-0, which was a surprise for most people as Portugal dominated throughout the match, but Angola managed to hold on. Pauleta scored the only goal of the game.

With memorable saves from their keeper João Ricardo, Angola played Mexico to a 0-0 draw in Hannover on the 16th of June, earning their first World Cup point.

For their third match, the team played 1-1 against Iran. They took the lead in the last match when Flávio scored after an hour. This gave them a theoretical chance to qualify for the next round, but Iran equalized after 15 minutes, ending Angola’s hopes.

[edit] Current Squad

The following players were called for a friendly match against Venezuela on November 19, 2008.

No.	Pos.	Player	DoB (Age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1	GK	Lama	February 1, 1981			Petro Atletico
2	DF	Marco Airosa	August 6, 1984	7	0	CD Nacional
3	DF	Jamba	July 10, 1977			AS Aviacao
4	MF	Dedé	July 4, 1981			Pacos Ferreira
5	DF	Kali	October 11, 1978	35	0	FC Sion
6	DF	Yamba Asha	July 31, 1978	62	1	Petro Atletico
7	MF	Job	September 27, 1987	6	1	Petro Atletico
8	MF	André Macanga	May 14, 1978			Al-Kuwait
9	FW	Mateus	June 19, 1984			CD Nacional
10	FW	Manucho	March 7, 1983	15	6	Manchester United
12	GK	Capoco		0	0	GDR Libolo
13	DF	Jamuana				Petro Atletico
14	MF	Nelo				Sport Lubango e Benfica
15	FW	Santana	June 15, 1983			Petro Atletico
18	FW	Love	March 14, 1979			Primeiro Agosto
20	DF	Locó	December 25, 1984			Primeiro Agosto
	MF	Djalma	April 25, 1985	1	0	C.S. Marítimo
	FW	Minguito	May 15, 1983			InterClube
	DF	Amaro	November 12, 1986	1	0	Sport Luanda e Benfica

[edit] Recent call-ups

No.	Pos.	Player	DoB (Age)	Caps	Goals	Club
11	MF	Gilberto	September 21, 1982			Al-Ahly (WCQ v. Niger, 12 October)
16	FW	Flávio	December 30, 1979			Al-Ahly (WCQ v. Niger, 12 October)
17	MF	Zé Kalanga	December 10, 1983			Dinamo Bucuresti (WCQ v. Niger, 12 October)
4	DF	Luis Delgado	1 November 1979			FC Metz (WCQ v. Benin, 7 September)
12	GK	Nuno	February 27, 1980			AS Aviacao (WCQ v. Benin, 7 September)
14		Luis Mateus				(WCQ v. Benin, 7 September)
15	FW	Vado				Sport Luanda e Benfica (WCQ v. Benin, 7 September)
	MF	Xara	October 10, 1981			Petro Atletico (Friendly v. Tunisia, 20 August)
15	DF	Rui Marques	September 3, 1977	11	0	Leeds United (WCQ v. Uganda, 23 June)
14	MF	Mendonça	October 9, 1982			Estrela Amadora
9	FW	Mantorras	March 18, 1982			Benfica
20	FW	Diangi Matusiwa	December 21, 1985	1	0	FC Den Bosch
21	FW	Guilherme Afonso	November 15, 1985			BV Veendam

[edit] Recent Call Ups

The following players have been called up for the team in 2008.

Name	DOB	Club	Caps (goals)	Most Recent Call up
Goalkeepers
Mário	June 1, 1985	InterClube	1 (0)	v Niger, June 8, 2008
Defenders
Manuel Machado	December 24, 1985	Anadia F.C.	0 (0)	v Uganda, June 14, 2008
	October 11, 1978	FC Sion	32 (0)	v Uganda, June 14, 2008
	August 6, 1984	CD Fátima		v Egypt, February 4, 2008
Midfielders
Maurito	June 24, 1981	Bahrain Riffa Club	22 (4)	v Uganda, June 14, 2008
Édson	February 3, 1980	Pacos Ferreira		v Egypt, February 4, 2008
	July 4, 1981	Pacos Ferreira	3 (1)	v Senegal, January 27, 2008
Figueiredo	November 28, 1972	Ceahlăul Piatra Neamţ		v South Africa, January 23, 2008
Strikers
	May 15, 1983	InterClube		v Uganda, June 14, 2008
Diangi Matusiwa	December 21, 1985	FC Den Bosch	0 (0)	v Benin, June 1, 2008
Manucho Gonçalves	March 7, 1983	Manchester United	14 (6)	v Egypt, February 4, 2008
	June 19, 1984	Nacional		v Egypt, February 4, 2008

Pos.	Player	DoB (Age)	Caps	Goals	Club
DF	Lau	23 January 1986	0	0	Petro Atletico
DF	Eduardo	10 October 1986	0	0	InterClube
MF	Gildo	19 February 1983	0	0	InterClube
MF	Tunga	25 June 1985			Primeiro Agosto
FW	Santana	15 June 1983			Petro Atletico
MF	Mabina				Petro Atletico
MF	Nelo		0	0	Sport Lubango e Benfica
FW	Pedro Henriques				InterClube