Previous Encounters:
Angola and Portugal have met twice before; both friendly matches in Lisbon. Portugal won
both of the encounters against their former colony: (6:0) on 29th March, 1989 and (5:1) on
14th November, 2001.
The Match:
Angola's Fabrice Akwa said before the game that he wouldn't sign a contract for a draw
against former colonial rulers, Portugal if it was on the table and insists that Angola
will be looking to cause what would be considered a major upset, of Senegal vs
France proportions, and aim for all three points.
Portugal, determined not to let that happen, attacked from the
kick-off, with Pauleta almost scoring on 14 seconds; the ball just going wide of the far
post.
In the 4th minute he did get on the scoresheet though, latching onto a
cut-back from Luis Figo; who had made the run down the left.
Ze Kalanga and Fabrice Akwa tried to get Angola back into the game,
before Portugal opened the floodgates.
On the 25th minute, the Angolan captain tried a spectacular overhead
kick from Manuel Loco's right wing cross.
With Portugal not getting the second goal, as expected, Angola started
to feel a little more confident.
Cristiano Ronaldo's header onto the bar, from Luis Figo's corner just
after the half-hour, reminded the Africans that the threat was still there.
Andre Macanga forced Joao Ricardo to push his fierce drive away for a
corner, three minutes from half-time. And soon after, Ronaldo was again frustrated as
Alexandre Ricardo saved another first-time shot; after Portugal worked the ball elegantly
down the right wing.
Angola could go into the break feeling respectable.
Half-time: (0-1).
After an hour without another goal, some sections of the crowd
starting whistling their disapproval.
Maniche tried to fire Teamgeist home in the last minute but it was a
futile attempt to double the score, which on their second-half performance they wouldn't
have really deserved.
Like England, an early goal was enough for Portugal to get the three
points on the board but it's going to need a lot more to convince neutrals that Portugal
are World Champion material.
Final Score:
Angola 0 - Portugal 1
Goalscorers:
0:1 Pedro Pauleta (4)
Our Man of The Match:
Luis Figo.
Teams
Angola: (Captain Fabrice Akwa/Paulo
Figueiredo)
1 Joao Ricardo; 3 Joao Jamba, 5 Carlos Kali, 20 Manuel Loco,
21 Luis Delgado; 7 Paulo Figueiredo, 8 Andre Macanga, 14 Antonio
Mendonca, 17 Jose Ze Kalanga; 10 Fabrice Akwa, 11 Andre Mateus.
Portugal: (Captain Luis Figo)
1 Alexandre Ricardo; 5 Fernando Meira, 13 Luis Miguel, 14 Nuno Valente, 16 Ricardo
Carvalho; 7 Luis Figo, 8 Armando Petit, 11 Sabrosa Simao, 17 Cristiano Ronaldo, 19 Cardoso
Tiago; 9 Pedro Pauleta.
Substitutions:
59 Mins (Angola) - 9 Pedro Mantorras in for 10 Fabrice Akwa
60 Mins (Portugal) - 6 Costinha in for 17 Cristiano Ronaldo
70 Mins (Angola) - 13 Nobre Edson in for 17 Jose Ze Kalanga
72 Mins (Portugal) - 18 Nuno Maniche in for 8 Armando Petit
80 Mins (Angola) - 6 Marcos Milloy in for 7 Paulo Figueiredo
82 Mins (Portugal) - 10 Hugo Viana in for 19 Cardoso Tiago
5 Yellow
Cards:
26 Mins - Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal)
28 Mins - Joao Jamba (Angola)
45 Mins - Manuel Loco (Angola)
52 Mins - Andre Macanga (Angola)
79 Mins - Nuno Valente (Portugal)
