Rui Marques Cleared to Play for Angola

Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet! Rui Marques has been given the go ahead to play for Angola. The Leeds defender might even be in an Angolan uniform as early as the March 1 friendly in South Korea. This, my friends, is excellent news. Rui Marques has always been a quality player and if we are able to get Pedro Emanuel to play for the Palancas Negras as well then our backline will be vastly improved over what it was during qualifying and at the African Cup of Nations.

Rui Marques lived in Angola until he was seven and has spent his life in Portugal. The guy has quite a pedigree having played at Maritimo, Benfica, Hertha Berlin and Stuttgart. I admit he is on the down side of his career, but he is still an experienced defender with a lot of talent.

The question I have is what will happen when we play Portugal. Guys like Rui Marques and Pedro Emanuel love their adopted country and I would think it will be hard for them to defeat them while wearing the Angolan uniform. These guys will also live in Portugal after the match and will face tremendous scrutiny if they hurt Portugal’s World Cup chances.

Rui Marques addresses this a bit in the BBC today: “The match isn’t a question of life and death, there are more important things. I think it will be seen as festival of football and there will be an atmosphere of joy.”

Joy is the word I would use to describe how I am feeling right now. Things are looking up for the Palancas Negras. Roll Angola!