Joao Ricardo is seeing plenty of action as Angola’s number one keeper during the African Nations Cup, but once the tournament is over he will be on his own, literally.

Sunday is a big night for Angola as it takes on Togo in a must win match in African Nations Cup action in Egypt.

Angola Press, required reading each day here at World Cup Blog, is reporting that the Angolan Federation of Soccer will pay for the medical expenses related to Gilberto who was injuried in a friendly against Morocco last week. The FAF wants to send Gilberto to Portugal for surgery.

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Angola was unable to take advantage of playing a man up for more than 70 minutes drawing with Congo 0-0 in African Nations Cup action.

The closest most players in Portugal’s lower divisions will ever get to World Cup is watching it on their televisions.
But that is not the case for Paulo Figueiredo, who will be proud to represent Angola in Germany this summer.

Despite already playing a game and despite appearing last in its group’s standings Angola is trying to convince itself that the African Nations Cup really starts on Wednesday when it plays Congo.
For those who keep track of the actual schedule Angola played this past weekend and was handily beaten by Cameroon 3-1. Still, Angola [...]

Bad new for fans of the Black Antelopes as it was made official today that stalwart defender Yamba Asha will not be allowed to play in the World Cup due to a nine-month doping ban.
Asha tested positive back in October following a qualifier against Rwanda and he is not on the African Nations Cup roster. [...]

Angola striker Mantorras has lived in Portugal for the last seven years and currently plays for Benfica. The irony isn’t lost on Mantorras that Angola was drawn into the same group as Portugal at the World Cup this summer. He told Reuters:
“It’s very good because I live in Portugal and my children were [...]

Heading into his team’s match against Cameroon, Angola coach Luis Oliveira Goncalves said his team fears no one. Maybe they should have been more afraid of the Lions?
After Saturday’s 3-1 loss, Goncalves told Reuters:

Angola had high expectations coming into its opening match of the African Nations Cup against Cameroon, but Samuel Eto’o quickly doused the Palancas Negras’ optimism. The Barcelona striker scored three goals to lead Cameroon to a 3-1 victory in Cairo. Flávio netted the lone goal for Angola, converting a penalty in the 31st [...]