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Almeida Confirmed as the New Manager

November 28th, 2008 | By: kiko | 14 Comments »

Mabi de Almeida was confirmed as the permanent replacement for Oliveira Goncalves earlier this week.

His coaching staff will include Zeca Amaral (Benfica de Luanda manager- will also manage the under-23 national team) and Akwa.

Almeida has no experience as a manager, aside from the past 2 games were he took charge as interim manager (a win against Niger and a draw against Venezuela).
He was also a member of Oliveira Goncalves’ coaching staff (this will certainly mean that he will inherit the Goncalves’ haters).

So far, Almeida has stated that he intends to search for talent in Europe. This is always a good sign since new talent could strenghten the team.
He selected Djalma for the friendly against Venezuela (Djalma merited his recall). However, he also recalled Jamba, who is starting to become more unpopular with the fans with every match he plays (not such a good ideia to recall him). But again, Almeida has agreed that the defence is the national team’s biggest problem.

Almeida is definetely not the most exciting manager that could have been chosen to lead the national team. His appointment is a big gamble for a national team that dreams of making the semi-finals stage of the African Cup of Nations.
The fans are expecting him to have a similar style of tactics as Goncalves, since they worked together in the past few years. The “big change” in tactics might end up not being much of a change.

If he succeeds in his “search” for new talent, it would be credible to think that the national team would do reasonably well in the Nations Cup. It is also encouraging to see that he can spot weaknesses in the team and is willing to work on them.

Although he would not have been my choice, Let’s hope that he succeeds in his new job.

Good luck Almeida!

Tags: Angola, Group B, Mabi de Almeida, Palancas Negras

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Comments | Add your comment

By Pedro | November 29th, 2008 at 11:25 am

I am so unhappy with his appointment, I am on a hunger strike:-P, lol.
Seriously, I think this is a gamble taken too far. Clearly he was not first choice, and neither was he a second choice. Its a pity we didnt get the coach with the pedigree that we need.
I am not sure how the relationship between Mabi and Zeca is but I am not sure on the reason the FA will “force” an assistant on the coach, If they had so much confidence in him to appoint him a coach, then he should have the liberty to appoint his assistant.
In my heart I am really hoping it works out but my mind tells me otherwise.

Posted from Germany

By Kiko | December 1st, 2008 at 7:55 am

It didnt take him long to lose at home

The future really doesnt look that good for the Palancas. Worrying times

Posted from United Kingdom

By Pedro | December 2nd, 2008 at 7:19 am

I’m also not to sure about this appointment but lets give Mr. Mabi 6 months in charge to see what he can do…. for me Zico would have been the best choice but has usual Angola a country so rich in Minerals and Oil couldn’t afford to hire Zico (now coaching Azerbaijan) or Mr. Manuel Jose (Al Ahly Egipt) according to some sources either one of them would have cost + - 50 000 to 75 000 usd a month compared to 5 000 to 10 000 a month that Mr. Mabi earns. So thats the way the cookie crumbles unfortunately…

By Kiko | December 3rd, 2008 at 2:28 pm

I think that FAF (Angolan FA) does not believe in the team enough to hire a top coach.

If they were really serious about winning the Nations Cup, they would not think twice about paying any amount of money for a top coach.

I think that they would not have hired Almeida had they truly believed that the team were serious contenders.
As it stands, I dont think anyone believes that Angola could win the Nations Cup.

A few months ago I thought they had a good chance to win it- Now, I just dont see it

Posted from United Kingdom

By Joka | December 3rd, 2008 at 11:16 pm

I think they will be just fine… For now the FAF has my vote.

By Pedro | December 4th, 2008 at 8:15 am

The more I read this story, the more it has the same feeling as Sven G. Ericksson and Steven Mclaren…it simply don’t feel right.
Kiko, you mentioned something about him going to search players overseas, the problem with that is that those same players would want to be “pampered and begged” by a “world class” coach.
An example is, Just imagine Jose Mourinho coaching the national team of Angola and he asks Kivuvu to avail himself for the national team, don’t you think he would readily accept the challenge, rather than the opposite of being persuaded by Oli G or Mabi?

By Joka | December 4th, 2008 at 2:03 pm

African Team… Keep an African Coach. And as Africans we need to learn to respect one the other.

By Kiko | December 5th, 2008 at 9:36 am

Pedro,

You made a good point about players wanting to be “pampered and begged” by top coaches.
Promising players would not think twice about joining the national team if they had been approached by a top coach.

Its certainly more difficult for players to accept the invitation if the coach is Mabi de Almeida because:

1- No previous experience as manager
2- Players would not believe that the national team could achieve success
3- Players would suspect a lack of serious commitment from the FA (hired a coach with very little experience)

The result of that could lead to more players following Nando Rafael’s path.

Posted from United Kingdom

By Kiko | December 5th, 2008 at 9:39 am

Joka,

Do you prefer to see the team fail with an inexperient African coach or succeed with a top non-african coach?

Posted from United Kingdom

By Pedro | December 5th, 2008 at 12:45 pm

Quite frankly I don’t care whether the coach is from Mars or Venus, for as long he or she is competent I am ok with it.
Right now there are no angolan coach(es) that will take us to the next level of were we need to be, not even the much touted Mario Calado or Rui Teixeira, proved by the fact that the most recent Girabola top 4 teams were all coached by foreign nationals. I really think the Angolan FA botched up this decision, given the competition(s) in which we will be competing in a not so distant future.
The current coach has no business being in the position he is, for goodness sake he is a physical trainer, he has no formal educational coaching qualifications, he has no previous coaching experience except for being Oli G’s assistant, in fact he really has nothing to offer.
In many ways this whole saga reminds me of the “Prof” Necas appointment in 2006/7…and we all know how it all ended, don’t we?

By Pedro | December 5th, 2008 at 1:13 pm

Just out of curiosity, does anyone know:
1) whether an application was made to FIFA to make Dominique Kivuvu eligible to play for Angola?
2) apart from the players that we already know, what other angolan players ply their trade overseas?
Is it me alone or Angolan soccer looks and seems directionless all of a sudden?

By Kiko | December 17th, 2008 at 7:23 pm

Pedro,

I doubt FAF sent an application to FIFA for Kivuvu or there would be news about it.

Regarding your second point, there are a couple of players playing overseas such as
-Francisco Zuela (defender) who plays for Skoda Xanthi in Greece,
-Maquemba (striker) plays for Olympiakos Nicosia,
-Guilherme Afonso (striker)plays for BV Veendam

There are many more, but FAF does not do much reserch I suppose.
There are enough Angolan players overseas that would give the likes of Manucho a run for their money. But unfortunately, they seem to go unnoticed.

Posted from United Kingdom

By Joka | December 28th, 2008 at 1:19 am

Kiko

If you rush victory you set your self up for greater loses. and for the non-Angola managers they must prove them self with the domestic teams before we think of giving them control of the national team. Non-Angola managers must win african championships… Thats what I think.

Posted from United States

By Kiko | December 28th, 2008 at 9:33 am

Joka,

What you said is reasonable and understandable.

However, Mabi de Almeida has never coached a domestic team before (in fact, he has never coached any other team) and that is the issue. If they were to give the job to an Angolan coach, they should at least have chosen someone with experience.

Posted from United Kingdom