Angola squad to face Niger

Mabi de Almeida has made his first selection since taking over from Oliveira Goncalves. Here is a list of the selected players:

Goalkeepers: Capoco (Recreativo Libolo), Lama (Petro Atletico)

Defenders: Jamuana (Petro Atletico), Jamba (Aviacao), Kali (Sion, Switzerland), Loco (Primeiro Agosto), Machado (Recreativo Libolo), Marco Airosa (Nacional), Yamba Asha (Petro Atletico)

Midfielders: Amaro (Benfica Luanda), Andre (Kuwait SC), Dede (Pacos Ferreira), Gilberto (Al Ahly), Job (Petro Atletico), Minguito (InterClube), Nelo (Petro Atletico), Ze Kalanga (Dinamo Bucharest)

Forwards: Flavio (Al Ahly), Love (Primeiro Agosto), Manucho (Manchester United), Mateus (Nacional), Paz (Santos), Santana (Petro Atletico), Vado (Benfica Luanda).

The good news is that Manucho is back to the squad and has promised to score goals on Sunday. The bad news is that there is no Rui Marques and no Loco in defense (which leaves us with Jamba in central defense). Defense is going to be a cause for concern in the match V Niger.

The Palancas played Benfica Luanda in a training match yesterday which they won 4-2.
Mabi de Almeida was quick to point out that the defense was his biggest worry, conceding two goals in the space of 8 minutes.
Another cause for concern was the teamwork and overall team plays. The players were either all trying to score or trying to “entertain” the fans with dribbling moves (Job and Ze Kalanga are the culprits in this case). As a result, Manucho and Flavio were not “fed” any balls in the first half of the match. The team attempted to improve the teamwork in the second half which led to more scoring opportunities (Manucho hit the post) the only “team goal” scored by Flavio. The other goals came from Andre, Airosa and Love .

Angola is not playing at their best at the moment. Although a win is expected against Niger, the team still has a long way to go in order to make the best use of their available players and good use of their qualities.