Among those called up, four play in Portugal, namely goalkeeper Kadu (Oliveira do Hospital), defender Kialonda Gaspar and midfielder Manuel Keliano, both from Estrela da Amadora, and also midfielder Beni Mukendi (Casa Pia).
The other highlights in Pedro Gonçalves' squad are Gelson Dala (Al Wakrah, from Qatar), Zito Luvumbo (Cagliari, from Italy), Mabululu (Ittihad Alexandria, from Egypt) and Fredy (Eyupspor, from Turkey).
The squad lists the absences of Ary Papel (Al Kadhr, from Libya), Hélder Costa (currently without a club), Gilberto (Petro from Luanda), Bastos Qissanga (Botafogo, from Brazil) and Ivan Cavaleiro (Lille, from France) , who decided to give up representing the Portuguese national team to play for Angola.
The national team gathers from January 2nd and then travels to Dubai, where it will undergo training. Before the start of the African competition, they will face Bahrain and then Egypt or the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Pedro Gonçalves, who assured that athletes who were not selected can be part of the squad list if they withdraw, expressed his desire to win game by game at CAN2023.
"We want to play positive football, respecting our opponents, especially Algeria, who are candidates for the title, but this can only empower us even more. We will want to win game by game" he said.
Angola, which is in Group D, makes its debut on January 15th, against Algeria, two days after the start of the competition. Five days later, they face Mauritania, and close the group stage against Burkina-Faso, on January 23rd.
List of players called up:
- Goalkeepers: Neblú (1.º de Agosto), Kadu (Oliveira do Hospital, Portugal) and Dominique (Etoile Corouge, Switzerland);
- Defenders: Tó Carneiro, Eddie Afonso and Quinito (Petro de Luanda), Jonathan Buatu (Valenciennes, Switzerland), Kialonda Gaspar (Estrela da Amadora, Portugal), Loide Augusto (Alanyasport, Turkey), Núrio Fortuna (Gent, Belgium);
- Midfielders: Fredy (Eyupspor, Turkey), Beni (Casa Pia, Portugal), Bruno Paz (Konaysport, Turkey), Keliano Manuel (Estrela da Amadora, Portugal), Show (Maccabi Haifa, Israel), Estrela (Erzurumsport, Turkey) ;
- Forwards: Zine (AEK Athens, Greece), Mabululu (Ittihad Alexandria, Egypt), Milson (Maccabi Tel Aviv, Israel), Gelson Dala (Al Wakrah, Qatar), Jerémi Bela (Clermont, France), Mbala Nzola (Fiorentina, Italy) and Zito Luvumbo (Cagliari, Italy).
