"With the session held this Sunday, July 27th, at Nelson Mandela Field, attached to St. Peters College, the national team's coaching staff, led by Pedro Gonçalves, reached the milestone of 300 training sessions with the Palancas Negras," reads the federation's publication, which VerAngola had access to.
The FAF notes that this endeavor began in 2019. "It should be noted that this endeavor began in November 2019, after the helmsman had a successful participation with the U-17 team in the World Cup held in Brazil," the statement reads.
It is worth noting that the next challenge for the Palancas Negras, and consequently for Pedro Gonçalves, is almost here. It is the CHAN, where Angola will debut on Sunday.
The team has already started preparing for CHAN for some time, but challenges and unforeseen events continue to arise, the most recent being Megue's absence.
"Angolan international Pedro Miguel 'Megue' returned to Luanda this Wednesday, July 30th, and everything indicates that he will head to Qatar, where he may represent a local team," the FAF reported in another statement seen by Verangola.
Megue will be replaced by Anderson Cruz. "To replace Megue, coach Pedro Gonçalves called up Petro de Luanda left-back Anderson Cruz, who returns to the group of 23 players expected to compete in the final phase of the CHAN, after being replaced by Gogoró due to a minor injury sustained during the season," the federation clarified.
In the CHAN, Angola is part of Group A, which also includes Morocco, Kenya, Zambia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
The 'Palancas Negras' debut next Sunday against Morocco. They then return and enter the scene on August 7th to play Kenya and on the 10th to play Zambia, ending the group stage with a game against the DRC scheduled for August 14th.
