Angola coach Goncalves content despite letting two-goal lead slip
16th January 2023
Angola coach Pedro Goncalves says he is satisfied despite surrendering a two-goal lead in their 3-3 draw with Mali at the TotalEnergies African Nations Championship (CHAN) in Oran on Monday.
With 10 minutes left to play the Palacas Negras were leading the Eagles before substitute Ousmane Coulibaly struck to equalise in a high-scoring match at the Miloud Hadefi Stadium in the Algerian city.
The six-goal thriller has already been dubbed as the best encounter at the TotalEnergies CHAN 2022 edition so far as the Angolans paid for their lapse in concentration after taking a 3-1 lead.
Goncalves said that he was pleased with how his team played on Monday against one of the favourites for the competition, insisting it was a good advertisement for the game on the continent.
“This was a great game and a perfect advert for African Football. We had a great first half and were leading but then we made one mistake and conceded. In the second half, we scored a third goal but then when we conceded the second goal, destabilized our strategy and before we could recover, we conceded a third,” Goncalves explained after the game.
“We kept pushing for a fourth goal but unfortunately, we failed to get it. This was a very tricky game. We had a couple more opportunities, but I hail my team and the Malians for a great game of football.
“We have one point from this game, and we shall build on this going into the second game against Mauritania. We have a good squad, and we shall grow in this tournament.”
Angola are competing in this continental competition for a fourth time and their best performance was in 2011 when they reached the final in Sudan.