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Leading from the front: Akwa

Captain central to Angola’s World Cup hopes

Africa will be represented by five nations when this year’s World Cup kicks off in Germany. This week the Voice of Sport runs the rule over Angola…

Angola, a nation of over 12 million people, is one of the African teams who will be representing the continent for the first time.

They qualified ahead of Nigeria who were widely expected to breeze through this group. Although Angola finished on the same number of points with Nigeria, they won the group on the head to head results against the Super Eagles. They beat Nigeria in Luanda 1-0 and shocked them again by snatching a draw in Kano.

GROUP

Angola, a Portuguese-speaking country, find themselves in the same group as their former colonial masters, Portugal, plus Mexico and Iran.

For Angola – nicknamed ‘Palanca Negras’ – to make any progress in this group, they will be relying heavily on their captain Akwa who plays for Al Wakra in Qatar. He was the leading scorer during the qualifiers with four goals, and scored the vital goal away in Rwanda that clinched qualification for the World Cup for the first time.

Akwa has clearly demonstrated what it means to lead from the front. He also happens to be their all-time best goal scorer with an impressive 31 goals in just 68 internationals.

Another player who has the potential to be one of their stars in Germany this summer is Mantorras who plays for Benfica in Portugal. He has been injured for the best part of two years but he is now fully fit.

However, he was not happy with his bit part role at the recently concluded African Cup of Nations where he was used mainly as a substitute. He has even threatened to retire after the World Cup at the tender age of 24 should he not be given his opportunity to show what he can do.

The man responsible for the elevation of Angola onto the global stage is 48-year-old coach Luis Oliveira Goncalves. He won the African Youth under-20 championship in 2001. It was the same year he led Intercube, Luanda’s police team, to the African Cup winners’ cup final.

Angola, a major exporter of oil and diamonds, will be expecting their ‘Palanca Negras’ to give a good account of themselves, but getting past the first round of football’s ultimate showcase would be as precious as the aforementioned commodities.

Published: 23 March 2006
Issue: 1210

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