Angola

The Players


1	- Pereira Joao Ricardo
2	- Marcos Airosa
3	- Joao Jamba
4	- Antonio Lebo-Lebo
5	- Carlos Kali
6	- Marcos Milloy
7	- Paulo Figueiredo
8	- Andre Macanga
9	- Pedro Manuel Mantorras
10	- Fabrice Akwa
11	- Andre Mateus
12	- Joao Mamona Lama
13	- Nobre Edson
14	- Antonio Mendonca
15	- Manuel Rui Marques
16	- Amado Flavio
17	- Jose Ze Kalanga
18	- Arsenio Love
19	- Titi Buengo
20	- Manuel Loco
21	- Luis Delgado
22	- Hipolito Mario
23	- Abreu Marco

The Games

First round (Group D):

Angola vs Portugal - 11 June, 20.00 BST, Cologne

Angola vs Mexico - 16 June, 20.00 BST, Hanover

Angola vs Iran - 21 June, 15.00 BST, Leipzig

Factoids

How they got there: Sprang a major surprise by finishing top of a tough group containing Nigeria. The two teams finished level on points but Angola went through with a better record in the head-to-head games.

Qualifying star: Fabrice Akwa. Scored some crucial goals, including the winner against Nigeria and the only strike against Rwanda that clinched their qualification.

Manager: The hugely popular Luis Oliveira Goncalves. Achieved great success with the Under-20 side by leading them to the African Youth Championship and was put in charge of the senior side in 2003.

Captain: Akwa. Angola's sportsman of the year is a veteran of the national side who leads from the front and is highly respected. Not as quick as he once was but has a knack for being in the right place.

World Cup history: Have never qualified for a finals before and rarely looked like doing so. Their goal is usually to make the African Cup of Nations.

Stars of the team: Benfica striker Pedro Mantorras has yet to achieve his potential, partly due to a knee injury, but has the ability to take over from Akwa as the focal point of the side.

Strengths: Goncalves has moulded the team into a very efficient defensive unit and they will be looking to cause a major shock in Germany.

Weaknesses: The team lacks a playmaker of international class and they can sometimes struggle for goals.

Did you know? Angola almost got knocked out at the preliminary qualification stage. They lost 3-1 to African minnows Chad in their first leg, which led to the sacking of Brazilian coach Ismael Kurtz, before winning the second leg 2-0 to go through on away goals.

World ranking: 57

Wordcup Statistics

Year	Country	Placed

1930	Uruguay	-
1934	Italy	-
1938	France	-
1950	Brazil	-
1954	Switzerland	-
1958	Sweden	-
1962	Chile	-
1966	England	-
1970	Mexico	-
1974	Germany	-
1978	Argentina	-
1982	Spain	-
1986	Mexico	-
1990	Italy	-
1994	USA	-
1998	France	-
2002	Korea/Japan	-

What are the odds

Odds: 750/1

Odds supplied by William Hill.