"The general assessment I make of the participation of the Angolan team in this CAN2023, in Côte d'Ivoire, essentially had the virtue of uniting the Angolan people with the Palancas Negras again. It has been a long time since, deep down, the Angolans were a little disbelievers in the main team (...), it is certain that in recent times we have been cultivating this approach", said Pedro Gonçalves in an interview with RFI.
According to the coach, the campaign to qualify for CAN2023 "showed a different involvement and support from the public", with the stadiums "more complete", the public with "more enthusiasm, vibrant, in support of the Palancas Negras".
The coach also stated that whenever they enter "the competition the pride is immense" and they "really want Angola and the Angolans to feel represented" by the team's performances, adding: "I think this was our main virtue of participating in this CAN" .
Regarding the group stage, Pedro Gonçalves explained that in the preparation phase, which they carried out in Dubai, they analyzed their strengths and weaknesses, and from there established the objectives.
"The players were very concrete, with a great sense of what our reality is, what our weaknesses actually are, what our threats would be, but at the same time with great speed in interpreting our strengths, which is what these are our strengths, and the opportunity it was to be in this CAN", he stated, speaking to RFI.
So, the first objective, he said, was to win the first game, although they were unable to do so. "Angola had never managed to win, in its eight previous appearances, two games in the same edition of the CAN and, therefore, one of the goals we had was to win two games in this edition of the CAN, knowing that winning two games would allow us to advance to the phase out", he said.
The objective of winning two games was achieved and Angola advanced to the knockout stage, "something that only happened in the past on two occasions, this was the third".
"Then another goal, Angola had never won a game in the knockout phase before. We set ourselves goal after goal, fortunately we surpassed them", even reaching the 'quarters'. "Whoever reaches the quarter-finals seeks immortality, seeks to be champion, we cannot think of another way (...), that's how we surpassed our objectives, unfortunately we reached the 'quarter-final' games and ended up not being able to overcome the team Nigerian (...), but of course we are left with the feeling that a lot has been achieved".
Pedro Gonçalves emphasized that this was "Angola's best CAN ever", which for the first time won more than one game in the same edition, for the first time won a game in the knockout phase, among others.
"There were a set of virtues that we demonstrated, but above all the achievement of this connection with all the Angolan people and the projection of the future, because we have many quality young people and we have a fluid alignment so that the selection is also gradually renewed and that, in the future, Angola actually has the potential to develop and be among the best", he pointed out.
According to the coach, none of the games played by the team in the competition "were easy", pointing out the 'round of 16' game as "mythical", because by "losing their goalkeeper in the initial phase of the game" they had to restructure with one less element "in the face of an opponent who makes the intensity of the game, the intensity of the duels, the speed of his actions, through a more direct game, more duels, more confrontation, his characteristic", something that they managed to adapt and give "an excellent answer".
Making a final assessment of the national team's participation in CAN, the coach once again referred to the "great virtue of once again uniting the Angolan people around the Palancas Negras", being a "stimulus for progress, for development (...) and opening doors for much greater investment in various areas of sporting performance that need to be implemented in Angola".
"For me personally, it is recognition of a lot of work, of several years of dedication to Angola, to Angolan football (...)", he pointed out, in an interview with RFI.
The winner of CAN2023 is known this Sunday. Competing for the title will be the teams from Ivory Coast and Nigeria.
