Former stars slate Angola over loss

Jun 12, 2013

JUST after their 1-1 draw against Senegal on Saturday, the fans turned on the players in frustration after yet another disappointing display

By Fred Kaweesi

THE Angola national football team is in some sort of disarray. And neither the fans nor the former players are helping matters.

Just after their 1-1 draw against Senegal on Saturday, the fans turned on the players in frustration after yet another disappointing display.

A group of former players also joined in, criticising the team’s head coach Gustavo Ferrin for a lack of ambition after fielding two defensive midfielders in the home fixture, where Angola should have been more offensive.

Former Angola captain Andre Macanga was quoted in the Angolan media as saying: “We played very bad, failed several passes and did not have the serenity in the attack. We missed a great opportunity of becoming first in the group and now all is much more difficult.”

The general atmosphere in Luanda has not been favourable. What the Angolan Football Federation decided to do yesterday was shift the team’s training base to Johannesburg in South Africa.

The Black Antelopes will hold their sessions there before travelling to Kampala on Thursday for the must-win fixture at Namboole Stadium.

Although Angola will miss the services of their lead striker Manucho Goncalves, there is still plenty of ammunition within the team’s attacking ranks that will trouble Cranes back-four.

The Black Antelopes will roll out Djalma Campos, who struck the opening goal against Cranes in Luanda, Brazil-based Paulo Geraldo, Mateus Galiano and Afonso Guilherme.

Guilherme scored in Angola’s 1-1 draw against Senegal and his 6’1” tall frame will offer another physical nightmare for Cranes’ two central defenders Andrew Mwesigwa and Isaac Isinde.

Although the Cranes have managed five points, one behind leaders Senegal thus far, the Promised Land is some way off. The Red Sea has been parted, but the waves can still come crashing down if Angola is not taken care of professionally.

In Luanda, then Cranes coach Bobby Williamson adopted a more cautious approach, deploying a 1-1-4- 2-2-1 formation designed to suffocate Angola through the middle of the pack and capitalise on occasional breaks forward.

Williamson’s template had a back five of Godfrey Walusimbi, Henry Kalungi, Hassan Wasswa and Simeon Masaba with team captain Andrew Mwesigwa seated behind the two central defenders Kalungi and Wasswa, in a withdrawn role.

He chose a conventional midfield of Johnson Bagoole and Patrick Ochan, where both were meant to sit back if Angola had possession and only join in attack through the wide areas when Cranes claim back possession.

It did not work and Angola dominated play. 

It was after he switched to a 4-4-2 and withdrew Ochan and Bagoole for Moses Oloya and Dan Wagaluka, later into the second half that Cranes began to impose their game.

Wasswa sat in front of the back four and took control of the game, winning all tackles and dictating play. 

He shielded the back-four well and thwarted Angola’s threat through the middle. They stayed patient and that’s where they got their joy.

Micho Sredojevic will most likely adopt his own strategy but if there are lessons to take from the previous engagements against Angola, it’s that the Black Antelopes are vulnerable against fast and incisive players in the mould of Wagaluka and Oloya.

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