Angola Soccer Team - Angola Soccer

General Information
Country : Angola
Capital City : Luanda
Continent : Africa
Manager : Luis Oliveira Goncalves
Captain : Fabrice Akwa

Team History
Founded 1979
Affiliated 1980

WC participations NONE
WC honours NONE
Continental Titles COSAFA Cup (1999 and 2001)

World Cup Record:
1930 to 1982 - Did not enter
1986 to 2002 - Did not qualify
2006 - Qualified

ANGOLA Football Team for 2006 FIFA World Cup

Coach:
Luis Oliveira Goncalves

Goalkeepers: Joao Ricardo, Joao Mamona Lama, Hipolito Mario

Defenders:
Luis Delgado, Joao Jamba, Carlos Kali, Antonio Lebo Lebo, Manuel Loco, Marco Abreu, Marcos Airosa, Manuel Rui Marques.

Midfielders:
Andre Macanga, Nobre Edson, Antonio Mendonca, Paulo Figueiredo, Marcos Miloy, Jose Ze Kalanga, Andre Mateus.

Forwards:
Fabrice Akwa, Andre Titi Buengo, Amado Flavio, Arsenio Love, Pedro Manuel Mantorras.

Angola statistics Participating for the First time in the World Cup Finals in Group D with Mexico, Iran, Portugal
The team is known as 'Palancas Negras'
Jersey No. Name of the Player
1 Joao Ricardo
2 Marcos Airosa
3 Joao Jamba
4 Antonio Lebo Lebo
5 Carlos Kali
6 Marcos Miloy
7 Paulo Figueiredo
8 Andre Macanga
9 Pedro Manuel Mantorras
10 Fabrice Akwa
11 Andre Mateus
12 Joao Mamona Lama
13 Nobre Edson
14 Antonio Mendonca
15 Manuel Rui Marques
16 Amado Flavio
17 Jose Ze Kalanga
18 Arsenio Love
19 Andre Titi Buengo
20 Manuel Loco
21 Luis Delgado
22 Hipolito Mario
23 Marco Abreu

Angola finally succeeded in qualifying for the FIFA World Cup Finals in its sixth attempt. The team is banking on its solid defence that that could come up as a challenge for many teams in the upcoming FIFA World Cup in Germany.

The team first competed for a place at the FIFA World Cup in 1984 in the preliminary competition for World Cup 1986 in Mexico. Since then it has been a long wait. After a span of 21 years the team has now earned its golden opportunity. Angola was a part of a very tough group comprising Nigeria and Zimbabwe. Angola narrowly succeeded in getting the ticket from football powerhouse Nigeria. Credit for that goes to the coach - Luis Oliveria Goncalves for inculcating team spirit and resilience in the Angolan team.

Unfortunately the Angolan campaign got off on an inauspicious start during their preliminary match with minnows Chad. Angola suffered a shocking 3-1 defeat in November 2003. As a result their Brazilian Coach Ismael Kurtz was dismissed. Their Captain Akwa led Angola to a 2-0 victory under the guidance of new coach Goncalves. Through this win Angola entered the Group stage. Here they were placed in Group 4 alongside Nigeria (a strong contender to qualify) as well as Algeria, Gabon, Zimbabwe and Rwanda. Along with Akwa, the players to look for in the Angolan side include Mantorras, Figueirido, Joao Pereira, Maurito and Ze Kalanga.

Seeing it's past record, initially everyone was not very confident if Angola would make it to the World Cup Finals. Two appearances at the CAF African Cup of Nations Finals, 2001 CAF African U-20 Championship triumph and participation at FIFA World Youth Championship in Argentina was all that was there in the team's performance kitty.

The point that Angola earned in Nigeria helped the underdog get into the summit of Group 4. Angola was successful in Algeria and Gabon too. Angola defeated Nigeria 1-0 in Luanda and had a 1-1 draw match in Kano.

Angola is in Group D along with Mexico, Iran and Portugal. The Angolan fans have a lot of expectations from their team.