[News] AFCON 2023: Game against Nigeria is an opportunity to show our worth — Angola Coach

Angola head coach, Pedro Goncalves has boasted that Friday’s quarter-final clash with Nigeria’s Super Eagles is an opportunity to show his side’s worth and capabilities.

The Palancas Negras and the Super Eagles will meet at the AFCON tournament for the first time.

Previous meetings between both sides had been in AFCON and World Cup qualifiers but not in the AFCON tournament itself.

While the Eagles beat Angola to the ticket to the 2004 AFCON in Tunisia, the Angolans got their revenge, as they bagged the sole ticket for the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany.

The two countries will go into Friday’s encounter coming off three consecutive wins.

“We will be playing a powerful team, but we foresee this meeting as an opportunity to show our worth and that we have been progressing,” Gonçalves said in his press conference on Thursday.

 

We respect Nigeria a lot, and they are a powerful team with players in the Premier League and other top leagues. They have found the best formation in a tournament as the AFCON.”

Goncalves said his team went into the game against the Eagles without fear.

“We are not afraid of any of the teams. We’ve experienced a couple of situations, but they did not stop us from meeting our target. As I said earlier, tomorrow is an opportunity.”

Angola have featured on two occasions in the quarter-finals at the AFCON, first in 2008 and in 2010 when they hosted the competition.