Young Angolans have shown their mettle — Goncalves

After his team’s outstanding Hollywoodbets Cosafa Cup winning campaign, Angola head coach Pedro Goncalves believes his players are better prepared to break into the senior side.

Goncalves said this after his side’s record-breaking 5-0 win over Namibia to claim their fourth Cosafa Cup title in the final played at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on Sunday.

The sparsely attended match, which was the highest-scoring final in the history of the competition, saw a brace by Victor Pedro alongside goals from Pedro Francisco, Laurindo Aurelio and Keliano Manuel rubber stamp the victory for Angola.

Showing bags of courage and determination, Goncalves’ men outclassed the 10-man Namibia side to leave them just one tournament win behind Bafana Bafana, who have five .

“A few of them have shown they deserved more opportunities, some of them have earned caps previously, but they have worked very hard to have more opportunities to appear in the main team,” Goncalves said.

“After this tournament, many of them are more prepared for the demands required to play in my teams.”

Goncalves said winning the title would make pundits sit up and take notice of his charges.

“I have to thank my brave players who have worked hard, have kept the faith [in me] and believed in the future,” he said.

“Our journey started in 2018, some of those players are here, some are in other stages of their careers and I respect that.

“We aimed to give players the exposure they needed to equip them for the challenges of senior international football.

“It is unusual to see a score like that [in a final] but everything just went our way.

“Namibia had a strong team and worked very hard to get to the final, and I think it was the best two teams to contest the final.”

He felt it was important as a national coach to be present at the tournament, to continue to work with his players and personally oversee their development.

“I told the board that I want to be here, to work with the boys because I believe in it and enjoy it.

“Both my team coaches and I enjoyed every match, every session, because we worked hard for those moments.

“Now we will have a proper celebration, but with our feet on the ground, because tomorrow a new journey begins and we need to keep ourselves grounded.”

HeraldLIVE