Coach: Morten
Soubak (DEN)
Key Players: Azenaide Carlos (Right back), Juliana Machado (Right wing)
Qualification for Germany 2017: Winners – 2016 CAHB African Women’s
Championship
History in Tournament: 1957-1986: DNP, 1990: 16th, 1993: 16th, 1995:
16th, 1997: 15th, 1999: 15th, 2001: 13th, 2003: 17th, 2005: 16th, 2007: 7th,
2009: 11th, 2011: 8th, 2013: 16th, 2015: 16th
Overview
Angola mean business ahead of Germany 2017 –
and Tokyo 2020 – and that business started back in May when new coach, the Dane
Morten Soubak, was officially unveiled as the new women’s national team coach.
Soubak is fluent in Portuguese – the language
of Angola – thanks to a long coaching career in Brazil at club and national team
level where he won the 2011 Pan American Women’s Championship, 2013 IHF Women’s
World Championship in Serbia, and finished sixth at the London 2012 Olympic
Games and fifth at Rio 2016 before leaving in December 2016.
He has urged his new players to work as hard
as possible ahead of Germany for which Angola qualified after winning the
African Championships for the 12th time late last year on home soil, winning
all their games and claiming their ninth title in the past 10 editions, after
beating Tunisia 36:17 in the final.
As part of the Angolan plan looking toward
the Tokyo Olympic Games – ‘The Road to 2020’ – he has embraced the future and
moved on from the experienced and influential players Natalia Bernardo, Wuta
Dombaxe and Luisa Kiala.
With numerous new, and young, players added
to his squad, preparation for Germany 2017 has been key for Soubak and back in
June, his side participated in a Portuguese training camp, playing current IHF
Women’s World Champions Norway twice before moving on to Japan from 1-14 August
to play multiple games against the hosts and Poland in the Japanese cities of
Fukuoka and Kumamoto, as the two host cities get ready for the 2019 IHF Women’s
World Championship.
A disappointing start in Asia saw losses
against Japan (29:28) and Poland (30:28), but further games saw them beat the
Polish (30:22), thanks to 10 goals from right back Azenaide Carlos – and then
the hosts (22:21) in a tournament that was hit by severe weather.
At the last Women’s IHF World Championships,
Denmark 2015, Angola could only manage two group wins (38:23 vs Cuba, 32:29 vs
China), before losing in the eighth-finals against Montenegro (38:28) in a
match where Bernardo scored 11 times.
However, Soubak would have seen first-hand
how impressive Angola were at Rio 2016 as they finished with their best-ever
performance, winning two games in the group stage, in their opener against a
Cristina Neagu-led Romania (23:19), and then against Montenegro, winning 27:25.
They eventually finished eighth out of 12
teams overall, losing to gold medallists Russia 31:27 in the quarter-final. Their
previous highest result, since debuting at Atlanta 1996, was seventh in the USA
but it occurred when there were only eight teams in the women’s handball
competition.
As part of their final preparations for
Germany 2017, Angola participate in the 12th edition of the ‘Razel-Bec’
Tournament, which is held at the Stade Pierre de Coubertin in Paris, France
from 24-26 November.
They face fellow Germany 2017 group opponents
Slovenia on 24 November and then a second match on 26 November against either
the hosts, France, Tunisia or Slovenia, again.
You can follow the Angola women’s team at Germany
2017 through their website www.faandebol.com
and their Facebook
channel.
IHF & World Championship Social Media:
Follow the Germany 2017 IHF Women’s World
Championship on our website,
on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube, as well as on the
tournament’s official website, Facebook, and Twitter channels.
Group A – ARENA Trier,
Trier
France,
Romania, Spain, Slovenia, Angola, Paraguay
Games at Germany 2017:
All times local
Saturday
2 December: ESP-ANG (20:30)
Sunday
3 December: ANG-FRA (18:00)
Tuesday
5 December: SLO-ANG (14:00)
Thursday
7 December: ROU-ANG (18:00)
Friday
8 December: ANG-PAR
(14:00)