Jose – Angola have mental strength

Angola coach Manuel Jose is confident his players have the required fortitude to deal with any mental scars left by Sunday’s opening game capitulation against Mali.

The Africa Cup of Nations’ hosts return to the fray on Thursday in their second Group A tie facing Malawi, the surprise table toppers after their defeat of World Cup qualifiers Algeria on Monday.

Angola too looked to be set for three points when with quarter of an hour remaining they led Mali by four goals to nothing in Sunday’s curtain raiser.

But then followed a collapse that was painful to watch at least if you held an Angolan passport – as Mali clawed their way back into the game and eventually snatched a draw with two injury time goals.

Another few seconds and Mali would probably have grabbed the most improbable of improbable wins.

Jose, reflecting on Sunday’s drama, told a press conference at the team hotel in Luanda on Wednesday: “We will have to be mentally very strong to survive that – I think we’ll be alright, I have a fantastic group of players.

“I said after the match that in over one thousand games I’ve never seen anything like that last 15 minutes – I still feel that now.”

He put his team’s collapse down to the fact that half his players are based with clubs in the Angolan league, and half elsewhere but not as first team regulars.

“The Angola league stopped two months ago. Our players weren’t in the same physical condition compared to Mali with 99 percent of their players based in Europe.

“On top of that there was enormous pressure as hosts playing in front of our own fans, a great responsibility.

“We will do their best not to disappoint the home fans, who were brilliant on Sunday, it was great to see the stadium full like that.

“We want to do our best for these people.”

Jose, who will be missing midfielder Dede whilst there is a doubt hanging over Gilberto, then turned to the different threat posed by highflyers Malawi.

“They play a different style to Mali, therefore we will have to adapt our style of play to take this into account.”

For Kali, the memory of Sunday’s roller coaster ride has already been filed in the team’s collective pigeon hole.

“We are motivated and we’ve already forgotten our first game when we made a number of mistakes,” said the Black Antelope’s captain.