Coach of the senior national team of Angola Pedro Gonçalves says his team were unfortunate not to defeat Nigeria in the quarter final of the recently concluded Africa Cup of Nations in Cote d’Ivoire, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.
Nigeria who went all the way to the final before losing 1-2 to the host in the final defeated Angola 1-0 in the quarter final, a defeat which Gonçalves believes are down to several factors and less to do with the quality of the Nigerian team.
He lamented the fact that Nigeria who finished second in their group didn’t have to leave Abidjan unlike his team worked against them, and injuries to key players also played a role in the defeat.
“In five games we played in three different cities and Nigeria, who didn’t even win the group, was always in Abidjan. There is a disparity because they want to value whoever wins the group, but we won and traveled through three different cities, with very different and demanding climates, with travel and accumulated fatigue”, he told the media back home in Luanda.
“Furthermore, we arrived at the game with Nigeria without Neblú [suspended] and Núrio Fortuna [injury] and with Gelson Dala and Fredy started the preparation injured. They didn’t even do all the training because they were conditioned. Keliano, and now I can reveal it, was planned to play from the start, according to the strategy we had in place, but he was injured two days before the game.
” I want to believe that, without so many problems, we could have discussed this game even more and overcame Nigeria.”
Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman
