Angolan coach vows to play the first roles in the African competition

The third fixture that will oppose the Algeria squad to the Angolan side will be decisive either for passing to the next round or topping the group, since the leader will stay in Luanda while the second will move to Kabinda.

• With Portuguese jersey and backed by scores of fans:
• The Angolan side will be a serious component to the Algeria squad in the both squad’s quest to reach the quarters in this tournament. Angola are relying on their fans to do better than in Ghana 2008 when they reached the quarter and eliminated by the future champions, Egypt.
• Angola will, this time around, try to repeat the 2006 historical performance when they qualified for the first time to the World Cup and erase their failure to do it for the South African tournament.
• For that purpose, the Angolan Football Federation sealed a contract with the Portuguese coach José Manuel who has achieved many successes when he was coaching the Egyptian club, Al Ahly. The choice was not fortuitous since the coach knows the ins and outs of the Angolan football which shares a lot of similarities with the Portuguese one. Being one of the Portuguese colonies in the past, several Angolan players are expatriated to this country.
• José Manuel warns his adversaries  
•  The expert Adel Amrouche has declared that the strength of the Angolan side lies in the experienced Portuguese coach José Manuel. In this respect, this later has indicated “ Our preparation was excellent regardless of the result of the friendly matches… My aim was to test the players’ form and concentration”. He further added “ Our chances are great to go  far in this tournament and we will prove to everybody that our failure to reach the World Cup was just a setback and Angola is coming back in four years time”.
• Adel Amrouche has indicated that the coach Manuel has programmed several friendly matches with the aim to increase his team’s level and be on top during the competition.