Goncalves given his marching orders

Oliveira Goncalves has been sacked from his role as Angolan national team manager.

Goncalves transformed the Angolan national team when he took charge in 2003.
Having lost the first leg of the World Cup qualifier preliminary stage to Chad by 3-1 in 2003, the Angolan FA (FAF) appointed Goncalves in place of the Brazilian Ismael Kurtz. Goncalves was very efficient from his first match in charge by turning the result and beating Chad 2-0 in the return leg. This was followed by great results away to Algeria (a 0-0 draw) and at home to Nigeria (a 2-1 win).
The team went on to play in the 2006 World Cup and earlier this year the African Nations Cup, where they lost to eventual champions Egypt in the Quarter Finals.

From his achievements, its difficult to believe that he is not seen as a “legend” in Angola.
Having been disappointed with the national team for so long, the public believed that the team were achieving their full potential under Goncalves.
Without the help of “star” players, he managed to put together a decent team of talented but under-rated individuals.
Thanks to Goncalves the bar has now been raised and the public now expect the team to qualify for every major tournament.

After raising the public’s expectations to unbelievable limits, Goncalves then has a run of very dubious decisions and bad results.
His most dubious decision (what probably cost his job- indirectly) was leaving out defender Rui Marques out of the squad in his last game. Goncalves knew that people were making a habit out of criticising him, he knew how significant the match was for Angola to remain in the World Cup qualification process and he also knew that if his decision failed, he would potentially lose his job.

So why did he do it?
If he had selected Rui Marques, chances are that Angola would not have conceded 3 goals against Benin, because Marques and Kali had a good understanding and partnership in central defence. Had they lost the game anyway, there would not be much to criticise about as he had chosen his best available central defender. He however, opted to take a big risk by playing Loco in central defence instead. Playing Loco in central defence is not a bad decision in a less important match, but for a match so important he was more than expected to play his most reliable central defender. That was specially important because he emphasised that his tactics would be highly offensive, meaning that the defence would be exposed a lot, therefore he would be relying on his defenders to shine.

Mabi de Almeida (assistant coach) will take Goncalves’ role until a new manager is appointed later on.
The timing of the Goncalves dismissal is absolutely terrible as Angola have yet to play Niger. But his departure from the national team was only a matter of time- As I write this, some Angolan fans must be jumping with joy.

It will be interesting to see whether a different manager will be able to take the national team to a higher level. They are likely to choose an Angolan manager to succeed Goncalves.
People will surely appreciate Goncalves’ work later on in his life. We will soon be able to evaluate his work better.

Angola now has a chance to progress and explore the full potential of all its available players. If they hire the right person, they may well become a “force” in African football. However, if FAF make the wrong choice, the fans might just regret jumping and celebrating so early.

I wish the best of luck to Goncalves and hope he continues his work (the good side of it) in a good team.