Africa-Press – Angola. When it comes to football, Nigeria is undoubtedly one of the best teams in Africa, but in its journey of affirmation inside and outside the continent there is a dark moment, when Angola prevented it from participating in the 2006 World Cup in Germany.
The story dates back 20 years, but the rematch may or may not happen when both face each other at 6pm this Friday, at the Felix Houphouet-Boigny Stadium, in Abidjan, for the quarter-finals of CAN`2023, which takes place in Côte d`Ivoire.
It was the year 2004, qualifiers for the “World Cup”, Palancas Negras and Super Águias were competing for qualification in group 4 and two Angolans became the actors of the national feat by placing the country for the first and only time at the summit of world football..
Akwá was the scorer of the goal scored in Luanda (1-0), on June 20, 2004, and Figueiredo, responsible for the equalizer (1-1), in Lagos, on June 18, 2005, in the second round of the qualifications.
Since then, Nigeria has even beaten Angola more recently, on January 28, 2018, by 2-1, in group F of CHAN, a test for players who evolve in their respective countries, but the importance of both competitions makes all the difference.
In fact, it will be under this scenario that they will face each other for the 13th time, with Angola having two victories and Nigeria three.
There were seven draws, all with numbers that did not exceed two goals. The first time this happened (a 2-2 draw) was in the distant year of 1989 (group C), in the run-up to the 1990 World Cup in Italy.
Nigeria appears as the favorite, if the analysis is limited to the fact that it has already won the event in 1980, 1994 and 2013, in addition to having in its squad striker Victor Osimhen, from Naples in Italy, voted the best African player in the world. last year.
The Nigerians, with the best defense so far in CAN, with only one goal conceded and five scored in four games, have players with refined technique and experience brought from major European clubs, above all.
In the group stage, the teammates of the legendary Jay-Jay “Okocha”, one of the greatest players in history, drew with Equatorial Guinea (1-1), beat Guinea-Bissau (1-0), Côte d`Ivoire (1-0) and Cameroon (2-0), the latter in the round of 16.
Angola, in turn, not having any “stars” yet, bases its football on the collective and counts, for this, on some assets in attack and defense that contributed to reaching the quarter-finals, such as occurred in Ghana`2008 and Angola`2010.
In the two previous moments (2008 and 2010) the competition had 16 competitors and there were no round of 16, that is, after the group stage it went immediately to the quarter-finals.
The Palancas Negras, with names such as central defender Kialonda Gaspar, midfielder Fredy (Cap), wingers Gelson Dala, Mabululu, Gilberto, Zine Salvador and Zito Luvumbo, are the ones who score the most (9 goals) against (3 suffered), in four games.
Dala (Al Wakrah SC in the Qatar League), with four goals, is the second top scorer in CAN`2023, after Emílio Nsue, from Equatorial Guinea, with five, however, already out of the tournament.
To get as close to the title as never before, Angola drew with Algeria (1-1), beat Mauritania (3-2), Burkina Faso (2-0) and Namibia (3-0), the latter in the round of 16.
This match also carries the following curiosity: both representations are led by two Portuguese coaches, namely Pedro Gonçalves (Angola) and José Peseiro (Nigeria).
Quarter-final poster
Friday, February 2nd at 6pm and 9pm:
Nigeria – Angola
DRC – Guinea
Saturday, February 3rd at 6pm and 9pm
Mali – Côte d`Ivoire
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