Angola national football team

Angola

Nickname(s)	Palancas Negras
Association	Federação Angolana de Futebol
Confederation	CAF (Africa)
Head coach	Luís Oliveira Gonçalves
Captain	Akwá
Most caps	Akwá (80)
Top scorer	Akwá (36)
Home stadium	Estádio da Cidadela
FIFA code	ANG
First colours Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current	73
Highest	45 (July 2000)
Lowest	124 (March 1994)
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
African Nations Cup
Appearances	3 (first in 1996)
Best result	Round 1, all

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. On October 8, 2005, Angola qualified for the World Cup for the first time ever.

Luís Oliveira Gonçalves took over as coach of the Angola national football team in 2003, after successful appearances with the Angola Under-20 national football team. The coach is the most successful in Angolan history and the team managed to finish in first place of Group 42006 (qualification)]], ahead of traditional African football powers Nigeria. Group 4 was considered one of the toughest during the qualifiers.

Captain Akwá scored some crucial goals, including the winners against Rwanda in the last game, and in the game against Nigeria. Akwá is the fans' favourite having scored 30 goals in 67 international appearances. "This is the first time we are in the finals and we want to show off our football. We also want to show there is more to Angola than just war and oil," Akwá said.

Angola's best known player abroad is the striker Mantorras, who plays for the Portuguese team S.L. Benfica but was unable to participate in the World Cup due to injury.

Last and next games

• Last game: Angola 0-3 Guinea - Melun, France - 20 November, 2007. (Friendly)

• Next game: Canary Islands - Angola - Las Palmas, Spain - 1 January, 2008. (Friendly)

Key players

• Figueiredo - Östers IF
• Mantorras - SL Benfica
• Rui Marques - Leeds United
• Akwá - Pedro Atlético
• Flávio Amado - Al Ahly
• Manucho Gonçalves - Manchester United

Angola Football Achievements

COSAFA Cup :

• 3 Times Champion (1999, 2001, 2004)

Central African Games :

• 1 Time Runners-Up

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.

World Cup record

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

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 - Qualified

In 2010 the African Nations Cup will be held in Angola.

Current squad

The following players are the provisional squad for 2008 African Cup of Nations.

Goalkeepers

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
	1GK	Lamá	1 February, 1981	9	0	Petro Atletico
	1GK	Mário	1 June, 1985	1		InterClube
	1GK	Nuno	27 February, 1980			AS Aviacao

Defenders

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
	2DF	Marco Airosa	6 August, 1984	2	0	UD Leiria
	2DF	Dianbobo Balde	5 October, 1975	26	4	Celtic
	2DF	Habib Jean Balde	8 February, 1985			Stade Reims
	2DF	Alseny Camara	4 November, 1986			Rodez AF
	2DF	Ibrahima Camara	1 January, 1985	6	1	Le Mans
	2DF	Kevin Constant	15 May, 1987			Toulouse FC
	2DF	Ibrahima Diallo	26 September, 1985			RSC Charleroi
	2DF	Mamadou Alimou Diallo	2 December, 1984	5	0	Sivasspor
	2DF	Daouda Jabi	10 April, 1981	23	1	Trabzonspor
	2DF	Oumar Kalabane	8 April, 1981	3	1	Manisaspor
	2DF	Kamil Zayatte	7 March, 1985	0	0	BSC Young Boys

Midfielders

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
	3MF	Mamadou Bah	25 April, 1988			RC Strasbourg
	3MF	Ibrahima Bangoura	8 December, 1982	3	0	Troyes
	3MF	Mangue Camara	14 August, 1982	12	1	FC Rouen
	3MF	Minka Yady Camara	15 October, 1989	0	0	Le Mans
	3MF	Mohamed Cisse	10 February, 1982			Bursaspor
	3MF	Pascal Feindouno	27 February, 1981	49	15	AS Saint-Étienne
	3MF	Samuel Johnson	25 January, 1984			Ismaily
	3MF	Mohamed Sacko	5 August, 1988			Étoile Sportive du Sahel
	3MF	Ibrahima Souare	14 July, 1982	1	0	Martigues
	3MF	Naby Soumah				CS Sfaxien
	3MF	Kanfory Sylla	7 July, 1980	8	0	Sivasspor
	3MF	Larsen Toure	20 July, 1984	0	0	Lille O.S.C.
	3MF	Ibrahima Yattara	3 June, 1980	35	11	Trabzonspor

Strikers

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
	4FW	Ismael Bangoura	2 January, 1985	21	10	Dynamo Kyiv
	4FW	Mohamed Karba Bangoura		0	0	Olympique Khouribga
	4FW	Sambegou Bangoura	3 April, 1982	11	3	Boavista F.C.
	4FW	Karamoko Cisse	14 November, 1988			Hellas Verona
	4FW	Victor Correa	12 January, 1984			AS Cherbourg
	4FW	Alhassane Keita	26 June, 1983			Al-Ittihad
	4FW	Fode Mansare	3 September, 1981	24	9	Toulouse FC
	4FW	Souleymane Youla	29 November, 1981	14	7	Lille

Recent Call Ups 2007

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
	3MF	Pablo Thiam	3 January, 1974	69	13	Wolfsburg
	3MF	Mohammed Sylla	13 March, 1977	4	0	Kilmarnock
	4FW	Kaba Diawara	16 December, 1975	13	0	Gaziantepspor

2006 World Cup Squad

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Club
1	1GK	João Ricardo	7 January 1970	29	Free Agent
12	1GK	Lamá	1 February 1981	9	Petro Atletico
22	1GK	Mário	1 June 1985	1	InterClube
2	2DF	Marco Airosa	6 August 1984	2	UD Leiria
3	2DF	Jamba	10 July 1977	38	AS Aviacao
4	2DF	Lebo Lebo	29 May 1977	15	Petro Atletico
5	2DF	Kali	11 October 1978	24	FC Sion
15	2DF	Rui Marques	3 September 1977	3	Leeds United
20	2DF	Locó	25 December 1984	14	Primeiro Agosto
21	2DF	Luis Delgado	1 November 1979	20	FC Metz
23	2DF	Marco Abreu	8 December 1974	3	Portimonense
6	3MF	Miloy	27 May 1981	14	InterClube
7	3MF	Figueiredo	28 November 1972	25	Östers IF
8	3MF	André Macanga	14 May 1978	35	Kuwait SC
11	3MF	Mateus	7 March 1983	7	Boavista F.C.
13	3MF	Édson	2 March 1980	8	Pacos Ferreira
14	3MF	Mendonça	9 October 1982	37	Varzim
17	3MF	Zé Kalanga	12 October 1983	26	Boavista F.C.
9	4FW	Mantorras	18 March 1982	13	Benfica
10	4FW	Akwá	30 May 1977	80	Petro Atlético
16	4FW	Flávio	30 December 1979	47	Al Ahly
18	4FW	Love	14 March 1979	36	AS Aviação
19	4FW	André Titi Buengo	11 February 1980	2	Clermont Foot

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. Angola played Mexico to a 0-0 draw in Hannover on the 16th of June, earning their first World Cup point and later they also 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.

External links

• Angola FA
• Angola World Cup news
• http://angola.worldcupblog.org
• Team profile of the Angolan national football team, including World Cup 2006 fixtures and results from the Qualifying tournament.
• Image Gallery of the World Cup Match Angola vs. Portugal
• Angola at Weltfussball.
• Angola at National Football Teams.
• Angola at Transfermarkt.