Angola’s coach Pedro Gonçalves has revealed that his team will make their 2023 African Cup of Nations (AFCON) quarterfinal clash against Nigeria difficult to win for their opponents.
Gonçalves expressed his team’s readiness to subdue the Super Eagles’ threat, whilst admitting the calibre of players the country parades, Sapo Desporto reports.
“Nigeria is a colossus of African football, although it had some difficulties before the African championship. But, what is certain is that Nigeria is an African colossus full of talented players, many of them playing in the Premier League or reference leagues in Europe, such as the Italian League and the Portuguese League,” Gonçalves said.
“We know their formation, strengths, and also issues we’ll use to create difficulties, so we will see,” he added.
Meanwhile, the 46-year-old was also full of praise for the duo of Victor Osimhen and Ademola Lookman, highlighting their standout qualities as an advantage to Nigeria.
“I, myself, in the FIFA votes, also voted for [Victor Osimhen] as one of the best players in the world, so we will play against a selection equipped with players with a lot of talent, who have tremendous, mind-blowing playing capacity, a lot of speed, especially derived from of the two forwards, Osimhen and Lookman, who, in fact, add great vertigo to the game.
Nigeria vs Angola head-to-head
Angola and Nigeria are heading into their first-ever AFCON contest on par, as both teams are currently unbeaten (four wins and a draw apiece) so far in Côte d’Ivoire 2023.
However, both teams have met nine times outside the competition, with each claiming two victories, while five ended in a stalemate. Angola denied Nigeria a chance to qualify for the FIFA World Cup qualification in 2006 hosted in Germany.
According to different reports, Angolan bank, Banco Keve has promised the Palancas Negreras $9,600 each if they beat defeat three-time AFCON champions Nigeria. An Angolan diamond company, Social EP, has also promised the Angolan team $250,000 if they knock the Super Eagles out of AFCON 2023.
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