The hosts go into the competition with one thing in mind, victory, as the other fifteen sides in the tournament will be playing in their backyard.
The Palancas Negras, or Black Antelopes have been preparing well for their home tournament with a number of matches played against a variety of opposition. They have pulled off a few impressive results along the way, including a 2-0 win over Togo, and draws with the likes of Ghana, Senegal and Cameroon.
The draw for the competition placed Angola automatically in Group A as the hosts, playing all of their group stage matches in Luanda. Angola was drawn Mali, Malawi and World Cup bound Algeria. The draw is certainly not an easy one, but avoiding the likes of Nigeria and Ghana is always a good thing.
Speaking to Al Jazeera Sport after the draw, Angola coach Manuel Jose said, "I am satisfied with the draw. It is a balanced group. It will not be easy. All our adversaries are known to be combative. Algeria with us, they are doing well currently. Mali will be a difficult competitor. We will try to get one of the first two places to qualify.”
Road To Qualification
Angola qualified automatically for the 2010 competition as hosts, not needing to go through the typical qualification that the other fifteen sides endured to make it to the continental showpiece.
The Coach
Manuel Jose
Portuguese coach, Manuel Jose is the man charged with taking the Angolans into their home tournament with the best preparation possible under their belts. The coach was highly successful with Egyptian giants Al Ahly, and he certainly knows that he has his work cut out for him as he comes up against the cream of African football in January on home soil. The coach is used to the pressure of football, and thanks to his time on the continent he is experienced in African football matters.
A fine run in front of their fans will partly atone for their failure to repeat the feat of qualifying for the World Cup, which they first achieved, ahead of a highly fancied Nigeria, four years ago in Germany. Jose has kept faith with the core of the team from the last World Cup and so the likes of striker Flavio Amado and Ahly ace Gilberto are still fixtures in the national team, while the highly-rated Manucho will be a fan favourite during the tournament.
Star Player
Manucho (Real Valladolid)
Manucho, or Mateus Alberto Contreiras Gonçalves is one of the few stars of Angolan football who has been in the limelight over the past few seasons due to his potential and the clubs interested in his services. He currently plays for Real Valladolid in La Liga.
He moved from Petro Atletico, to Manchester United in January 2008, but before playing a game for United he was loaned out to Greek side Panathinaikos for the remainder of the 2007/08 season, due to issues with his UK work permit.
Manucho received a work permit soon after returning to Manchester United for pre-season training in July 2008, and made his debut for the club in the League Cup against Middlesbrough on 23 September 2008. Struggling to find first team opportunities at Old Trafford, at the beginning of 2009 he joined Hull City on loan until the end of the season. Having failed to break into the Manchester United first team, Manucho joined Real Valladolid in July 2009.
The talented striker is strong and fast, able to hold the ball up well while not afraid to run at defenders and try his luck with shots on goal from distance. He was recently in the news due to trouble between himself and the coach, but the Angolan fans will hope that the situation is sorted out so the attacker can do his best to impress in front of his home support.
Young Gun
Djalma Campos
The 22-year-old attacker is part of the new generation of Angolan players who are looking to displace the likes of Flavio and Love in the national team, two players who have been with the side for some time.
The young talent plays for Maritimo in Portugal, and his goal scoring has allowed him to impress coach Manuel Jose, and it will be interesting to see if he will feature prominently in the Nations Cup. He debuted for Angola in 2008 and has already scored a goal in only six appearances for the national team.
Objective
The pressure is on the Palancas Negras to improve on their quarter-final placing at the last African Cup of Nations in Ghana when they host the tournament in January. As the home side they will want to go for the trophy, but a quarter-final place will be successful in the eyes of many fans.
Prediction
Angola will have home support to count on in January, and this will be a big advantage, perhaps allowing them to displace Mali or Algeria in the group before being knocked out in the quarter-finals of the tournament.
