Angola coach shuns ´disrespectful´ star Manucho

Star Angola striker Manucho Goncalves will stay out of the national side until he learns respect, coach Manuel Jose told a media conference here Friday.

The 2010 African Nations Cup hosts are due to play friendlies this month against Congo and Ghana, but Manucho from Spanish club Real Valladolid was not included in the squad after arriving late for recent training.

“He thinks he is more important than the national team. I put him out because he arrived late to training with a stupid excuse,” explained Portugual-born Jose.

“He made a mistake and I am the coach. He?s not respecting the coach and the country,” Jose added, saying that when the young striker arrived late at a session in Portugal last month he did not give an explanation nor apologise.

Manucho told the Angolan media he was delayed while waiting for a new passport to help him travel more easily in Europe.

Asked when former Manchester United squad member Manucho will be back in the side, Jose replied: “It depends on him, not me.”

Jose is hosting the first training camp in Luanda for the national team since he became coach last June after a lengthy, trophy-filled spell with Egyptian club giants Al-Ahly.

It was hoping the Ghana and Congo fixtures would be played in a new 50,000-seater Luanda stadium built for the Nations Cup, but Jose said construction delays meant the games would probably be staged at another ground in the capital.

“It’s very important that we play in Angola because until now we’ve been playing in Portugal with very small crowds,” he told AFP. “We need the warmth of the supporters and I need to evaluate how the team responds to that.”

Admitting he had been worried about the central defence when he took over, Jose said he had strengthened this area and would play a 3-5-2 or 3-4-3 system in the friendlies.

“We have a solid and united team which is growing game by game,” he said. “The team has improved so much since June … it?s a completely different team.”

After the November friendlies, Palancas Negras (Black Antelopes) will face Estonia on December 30 and Tunisia on January 3 in Portugal before returning to Angola ahead of the January 10 Nations Cup kick-off.