Readers’ Mailbag

One of this blog’s readers Luis Carlos left some good questions as a comment. I decided it would be fun to try answering them. I’m always happy to offer my opinions on the team, although I will never claim to be an expert.

1. Who will be the players who will score the goals of Angola? How many would you expect to be a good number, and a bad one?

It depends on whether Mantorras plays or not. If he plays, he will be our leading goal scorer. But he is having a rift with the coach so he might not even go to Germany. In that case I would expect Akwa and Flavio to be the goal scorers. I think scoring will be our biggest challenge and if we can score a couple goals per game we might be able to advance. It won’t be easy since I know Mexico and Portugal play good defense.

2. You talked about a group (D) of talented midfielders, I am with you with: Christiano, Deco and Figo, but do you consider Mexico or Iran to have real good midfielders?

Iran has Ali Karimi in the midfield and I don’t think Angola has anyone with his skill, except for perhaps Gilberto who is hurt and won’t play in the World Cup. I don’t know much about Mexico’s midfield but Marquez is one of the top players in Spain, right? I think it is more of a case of Angola not being strong in the mid than the other teams being really strong – Portugal excluded.

3. After this world cup, would you expect any players to stay in Europe? ¿Who?
I would really hope so but it is hard to say. A lot of Angola players haven’t had great opportunities in Europe. They either go there and get hurt or they end up on teams that have other talented players playing ahead of them. Many are already playing in Portugal and the Middle East. It will really depend if some of the younger players get a chance to show their stuff. Teams will be more interested in 20-year-olds than players in their late 20s or early 30s.

4. What are your predictions on Angola in the World cup?
We’re going to win it! Angola fans have to be optimistic!