The tournament will be an opportunity for the “girabolistas” to show their value and make a claim for a permanent spot in the national team.

But most importantly, it will be an opportunity for young players to gain experience in the national team setup. The opposition in the CHAN championship are likely to provide stiffer competition than the usual girabola team.

In fact, Tunisia has a squad full of experienced players from clubs that usually compete at the latter stages of the African Champions League.

So, do the Palancas Negras stand any chance of success?

Some of the players in the squad have already been capped by the national team, which means that they will understand the setup and at least know where the goal is. Players like Love, Ze Kalanga and Cali will guide the younger players on the field.

The problem is, Angola has a new coach- Lito Vidigal. He is the third coach in the space of a year.

Although theoretically, Vidigal is a more qualified coach than his predecessor, he has no experience in managing national teams. The constant change of personnel is unlikely to help Angola in the long term.

On a more positive note, Angola will hope to make use of the formidable skills of Job, who was voted as the best player of the girabola last season. They will have a strong midfield with the reliable Chara in the holding role and the pacey Ze Kalanga wide on the right.

The Palancas have also had a successful training camp in Brazil, where they won 2 matches and lost 1.

Overall, all will depend on how fast the less experienced members of the squad will take to adjust to playing in an international tournament.

I expect Angola to scrape through the quarter-finals, but after that, inexperience is likely to get the better of them in the latter stages of the tournament.

Rather than focusing on the reasons for the resignation, the local media focused on the timing of Renard’s announcement. His departure was heavily criticised due to the fact that it was on the verge of Angola’s second qualifying match against Guinea-Bissau. A couple of journalists went as far as vent their frustrations in their articles, implying that Renard was more interested in his salary than his project with the national team.

But, what really caught the attention of the fans, however, was the bizarre press conference by the Angolan FA (FAF). The president of the FA Justino Fernandes stated in the press conference that he was surprised by Renard’s resignation, because Renard “assured everyone that he was happy with his working conditions”. He then proceeded by stating that Renard’s salary was almost 3 months late, but that was not a good enough reason to resign.

By the time the press conference was finished, the only people still shocked or surprised by Renard’s resignation were the FAF personnel.

Most national team supporters immediately understood the reasons behind Renard’s resignation and have promptly directed their anger towards FAF.

Attempting to hire top level coaches while not keeping up with the basic contractual obligations, is nothing short of embarrassing. It would be easier to have some sort of asterisk(*) in the contract, denoting that the salary might be a couple of months late, due to the FA’s incompetence.

If FAF are serious about hiring a good coach, they need to sort out their internal problems. Until then, the best action is to hang on to interim coach Zeca Amaral.

The whole country seemed to forget that Uganda had won comfortably in 2006 and expected the team to breeze through the match. Guess what the final score was? 3-0 to Uganda!

The result left the local media and supporters gobsmacked and made a mockery of Renard’s earlier claim. In his post-match interview, Renard was forced to admit that “for a team that hoped to win comfortably away from home, the team’s display was shocking”.

So what exactly happened to Angola?

Despite the fact that the National team has a couple of young “talented” players, they are yet to click as an unit.
There is no doubt that Kivuvu, Djalma and Job are “brilliant” players that will probably go on to play critical roles for the National team’s success in the near future. However, they were hastily thrown into the National team’s starting eleven, making it more difficult for them to adapt. They simply require more time to fully understand the national team’s setup.

Considering that the National team only trains together for a week or less before each match, it should not have been a surprise that the Palancas Negras would struggle away from home, against an underrated Uganda side that deserves more respect and praise than it currently gets.

Expect Angola to improve gradually and hopefully recover early enough to reach the second phase of the AFCON qualifiers.

So, Is there really a crisis in the Angolan national team? No. At least not on current evidence.

Renard asked for the collaboration of club managers in this ambitious nationwide scheme.

This is without a doubt a step in the right direction, although Rene will have to convince the club managers first.

Appointed fairly recently, Rene is already showing signs of developing innovative approaches to the National team. Rene is contracted for two years and is also responsible for the youth set-up.

I cannot wait to see the result of his work!

Sadly, the most memorable moment related to the tournament was the attack on the Togo team bus. That particular incident received more coverage than the actual football tournament and inevitably marred the competition.

The incident also proved to be a catalyst for further issues- the Togo national team cannot participate in the next two editions of the tournament, as consequence.

The most frustrating part of the incident is the fact that it could have easily been avoided.
Were the team instructions clear enough? If so, then why did the Togo FA risk travelling by coach?

Adding to these disasters, all the information available at that point was highly questionable.

The media worldwide, reported 3 deaths: The bus driver, a spokesman and the assistant manager. In reality, only the spokesman and the assistant manager died in the attack. The bus driver survived the attack, and was interviewed by an independent newspaper.
Oddly, most sources are still unaware of this and have not retracted their earlier reports.

Contradictory reports became commonplace and there was always something new to report every hour.

Overall, the incident portrayed a bad image of the country, affected the quality of the tournament and left too many questions unanswered.

A great and joyous football tournament was suddenly turned into a political fiasco.

The Palancas Negras will be hoping to reach the Semi-finals of the African Nations Cup for the first time in its history. As hosts, they will hold a key advantage due to the support of their fans.

Flavio and Zuela are still not a 100% fit and are doubtful for the match.

Meanwhile, Ghana will be fired up after beating Burkina Faso in their last group match.

The Palancas Negras manager Manuel Jose, was quick to rubbish reports claiming that Ghana’s youthful squad is inexperienced. Manuel Jose pointed out that “Ghana’s inexperience is nothing but a good story… Just look at the teams they play for!“.

He is absolutely right in that sense. If we are to look at the teams that the Angolans represent and the Ghanaians represent, we will find that the “youths” of Ghana are in more stable teams and play in more competitive leagues.

This is not to mention that Ghana play like they are powered by engines. They are very fast and agile (probably the fastest team in the competition).
Ghana’s biggest problem is their inability to take chances. They create many chances but often dont make it count.

Angola and Ghana met 2 months ago in Portugal, with the match ending 0-0.
This time, however, Angola will have more to play for and will give it their all to come out on top of this encounter.

Ghana, on the other hand, do not lack motivation. As I write this, Ghana fans are probably boiling with anger at reports of an assault on one of their fans. According to some sources, the fan was accused of practicing voodoo or another unknown ritual, which he believed would give his team an advantage.

Whatever the reason, it is unacceptable that this is happening at all. The police assaulting an opposing fan for practicing voodoo, is as ridiculous as it could get!
If voodoo or other rituals changed the outcome of matches, countries with that culture would win World Cups!

It is also sad to see so many negative events happening at this Nations Cup.
It does not feel good to beat a team knowing that they have a ready made excuse in case of loss.

The country’s image is also taking a battering. I would not be surprised if an individual located abroad believes that Angola is a battlefield infested with pesky rebels and crazy policemen.

In reality, Angola is much better than these events portray, although the average football fan could almost be excused of thinking otherwise.

My Prediction: Tough and balanced match ending- Angola 2-1 Ghana

Goalscorers will be offered 10,000 dollars ($10k) per goal.

So far, Flavio has earned himself $30k, Manucho has earned $20k and Gilberto $10k.

$50k will be given to the team for every win and in addition, the man of the match will receive a further $10k.

In case they reach the final, they will be given $250k for the runner-up spot, and $1 million if they win the Cup.

If they reach the final, each goal will be worth $25k.

The prizes will be given by the Banco Internacional de Credito (BIC).

Not bad at all!

Flavio, Gilberto, Djalma, Zuela and Dede are all expected to miss the match against Algeria through injury while Stelvio will be suspended.

The Palancas Negras made amends for their failure to beat Mali with a composed approach to the game against Malawi.
The best chances of the first half fell to Manucho, who was denied by the Flames goalkeeper on different occasions.

In the early stages of the second half, Djalma delivered a superb cross and Flavio did not hesitate in heading in.
The fans played their part well and a few minutes later Manucho doubled the lead.

Mantorras was brought in the second half in place of the injured Flavio, sending the fans into absolute hysteria.

Angola then held on and never looked like repeating the defensive errors of the first game.

The injuries will mean that Angola will have to rely on the other members of the squad who have not adapted well to Manuel Jose’s tactical system.

For the moment, the fans are proud of their National team!

A significant improvement on the last one.

Malawi are currently in great form and the team showed just that, earning a morale boosting win against Algeria.

So far, the Nations Cup this year has proven that teamwork and good chemistry between players is far more important than having a star or two in the team.
Malawi belong to the great teamwork/good chemistry side of the debate, and they will be willing to emphasize that theory on thursday.

On the other hand, Angola are still coming to terms with the biggest let down of the decade so far. But having conceded four goals in 15 minutes in the last match, they will be more focused in keeping the ball against Malawi.

Flavio and Gilberto will still be expected to carry the team through (when they were both on, Angola led 4-0). The big worry for Manuel Jose is Dede’s injury, which is expected to keep him out of thursday’s match.

It is even more worrying to know that there is no real replacement for him, as MJ pointed out in his press conference this afternoon.

Players still to make their first appearance of the Nations Cup 2010 include, Job and Ze Kalanga.
Both are very attack minded players and would probably be used if the Palancas need to score a goal late in the match.
Job has an impressive arsenal of dribbling moves, although, he does not have a good ratio in front of goal. Ze Kalanga on the other hand, is mighty fast and is a great crosser of the ball.

The worst case scenario for Angola tomorrow, is if Malawi choose to approach the game in a defensive manner.
The Palancas need Malawi to employ the same tactics as they did against Algeria, in order to take advantage of the space on the pitch.

The odd bit is that Angola was meant to be stronger in defence than in attack, but that view went up in smoke in the first game.

The African Cup this year, has given us the most unpredictable results. One can only watch and hope for the best.

My prediction: Angola 2-0 Malawi