Angola’s Keeper without a Club

January 29th, 2006 | by: WC Bob | Comments Off

Joao Ricardo is seeing plenty of action as Angola’s number one keeper during the African Nations Cup, but once the tournament is over he will be on his own, literally.

Ricardo is not currently signed with a club team, forcing him to keep in shape by working out by himself. While a lot of players are scrambling to find new teams and new playing time ahead of the World Cup, Ricardo is not worried.

“I’ve been in this situation for about six months and, during this time I’ve played a lot of national team games as well as training matches, and I’m also training every day in a club near my home to keep in shape,” he said.

“I have talked about this with the coach and I have taken on the responsibility of training every day. It’s not as intense as it would be if I were at a club but I have the coach’s word.”

It is hard to believe that Ricardo finds himself in a situation where there aren’t more teams looking for his services. Personally I think he would be better served seeing action at any level then sitting on the sidelines.

He should see plenty of action today as Angola kicks off its African Nations Cup game against Togo in about 15 minutes. The Palancas Negras have to win and hope that Cameroon defeats Congo in order to stay alive in the tournament.