Angola head coach Pedro Goncalves has said Friday’s quarter-final clash with Nigeria’s Super Eagles is an opportunity to show his side’s worth.
The Palancas Negras and the Eagles will meet at the AFCON for the first time.
Previous meetings between both teams had been in AFCON and World Cup qualifiers as well as the Africa Nations Championship.
While the Eagles beat Angola to the ticket to the 2004 AFCON in Tunisia, the Angolans got their revenge, as they bagged the sole ticket for the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany.
One game that always comes to mind whenever the two teams are about to square off, is the tragic death of Samuel Okwaraji during a 1990 World Cup qualifiers in 1989 in Lagos.
Also Read: AFCON 2023: How Osimhen Exposed Aguissa’s Secret Before Nigeria Vs Cameroon –Onyeka
The two countries will go into Friday’s encounter on the back of three consecutive wins.
“We will be playing a powerful team, but we forsee this meeting as an opportunity to show our worth and that we have been progressing,” Gonçalves said in his press conference on Thursday.
“We respect Nigeria a lot, and they are a powerful team with players in the Premier League and other top leagues. They have found the best formation in a tournament as the AFCON.”
Goncalves, however, stated that they will go into the game against the Eagles without fear.
“We are not afraid of any of the teams. We’ve experienced a couple of situations, but they did not stop us from meeting our target. As I said earlier, tomorrow is an opportunity.”
Angola have featured on two occasions in the quarter-finals at the AFCON, first in 2008 and in 2010 when they hosted the competition.
4 Comments
Any team playing Nigeria is always at their Sunday best.Super Eagles are professional enough to know that.
Any team play Super Eagles would like to beat it , I think SE have lost their prestige since along time , but at this tournament SE have returned their lost prestige, SE with excellent and strong performance especially versus Cameroon , they returned back their strength; veteran coach Jose Peseiro is doing excellent job for SE now with putting new stratigies and tactics for SE which have produced an excellent results in this tournament; playiny with 3-4-3 has changed totally SE shape , has produced good results till SE in quarter- final , then with this formation I think SE will be at final….
Please stop all this talk! Ah ah which kain thing be this self? Can’t you use some decorum and do less talking? Are you going to be on the pitch yourself that you are boasting back at the boaster? Have you never heard that pride goes before a fall? And do you not wait for your food to be cooked before you eat it?? Haba – make una dey use common sense abeg – If any man is boasting, just leave them abeg, nor be mouth dem dey take play football, just leave it, pray for success and hope the joys turn up on the day with passion and fight and if they do then the rest is up to God and only the best man will win – which hopefully will be Nigeria based on history and most other factors – that is good enough to be going on – please don’t jinx the boys with boasting – learn from what happened to the black stains of Ghana
There is nothing new in what you said but it is just better not to say anything until the food is cooked or as some on here will say “until the beans is soft”
Aboki was typing nonsense, this is what happens when victory deserts a team for a long time like Napoli fans last season loosing their mind. Lol make Naija just win make some emotional people no come collapse.