Angola out of World Cup despite win

Angola beat Niger on Sunday but still failed to reach the final phase of the World Cup qualification.

The match kicked-off 2 hours later than the Benin v Uganda match in Kampala. The Palancas had no chance of going through by the time their match started meaning that the match was only significant to Uganda, who could have gone through had Angola failed to win.

The players’ low morale showed in the first half of the match when they could not create any real scoring chances and Niger took full advantage of this by scoring with 20 minutes gone. In the second half they played more confidently (maybe they realised that it would be a while until they played for the national team again!) and managed to score 3 goals in 20 minutes through Gilberto and Ze Kalanga. It could have been more in the end but it would not make any difference.

The result was harsh on Uganda as they still had the chance of going through if Angola had failed to win (which just shows how crazy the Caf formula is).

Both Angola and Uganda commited grave mistakes in their qualifying campaigns. Angola failed to beat Uganda at home when all Uganda could do was defend for 90 minutes. They blamed it on the number of spectators along with then manager Goncalves. Failure to win that match is the reason why the team is out of the WC.
From Uganda’s point of view, the great result in Luanda meant that they were real contenders to go through. They wasted the hard work by losing to Niger in the following match and that sealed their fate.

Now the Angolan national team wont have any real competitive matches to play until 2010. The lack of competitive matches might mean that the team will perform poorly in the 2010 Nations Cup. The Nations Cup is their real chance of elevating their status in African football considering that they will be at home (they dont lose many at home). However, under these circumstances, the National team will need a super-manager in order to achieve their goals.

The search is on.