Angola – Preview
Coach: Filipe de Carvalho Pinto da Cruz
Key Players: Vicente Luis Cardoso (Goalkeeper), Henriques Domingos Cassange (Left Back)
Road to Qualification: Third – 2014 African Men’s Junior Championship
History in Tournament: 1977-2005: DNQ, 2007: 19th, 2009-2011: DNQ, 2013: 21st
Overview:
The 2007 Men’s Junior World Championship in Macedonia was Angola’s first appearance in the U21 WCh. Their debut was somewhat disappointing, with seven losses and only one win – in the 19/20 placement match against Chile.
Afterwards, the African team failed to qualify for the 2009 and 2011 editions of the Junior World Championship before they were awarded a place in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2013. In Bosnia and Herzegovina they won two matches in the President’s Cup stage – against Algeria and DR Congo – to finish 21st.
Angola qualified for the WCh in Brazil at the African Men’s Junior Championship in March 2014 in Kenya. They beat DR Congo and Algeria in the preliminary round, but then lost to Egypt in the semi-final (27:19).
The squad, coached by Filipe de Carvalho Pinto Da Cruz, defeated Algeria again in a thrilling bronze medal game, after trailing for most of the match.
“We used a zone defence instead of an individual one on the left side of Algeria’s attack. That was the key for our success,” considered Cruz.
Filipe Cruz was born 45 years ago in Luanda, the capital city of Angola. He also has the Portuguese nationality, which allowed him to play for the national team of Portugal as a right back. He came to prominence as a player for the club team Desportivo Primeiro de Agosto in Angola and then played in Primeira Divisao Portuguesa de Andebol and Liga ASOBAL in Spain for Club Barakaldo UPV. Cruz is the head coach of both men’s senior and junior Angola teams.
Left back Henriques Domingos Cassange is Angola’s most skilled U21 player, with 70 goals in 35 international matches for his side. Manuel Antonio Nascimento (wing) is also an important member of the African squad, having scored 40 times in 26 appearances. This year Nascimento won the national championship with his team Desportivo Primeiro de Agosto.
Another player to watch is Vicente Luis Cardoso, goalkeeper for Sporting Clube de Luanda, who has played 14 international games for his national team.
Angola will be in Group B at the 2015 IHF Men’s Junior World Championship. Their last match in the first phase is going to be special for the coach Filipe Cruz, as they are meeting Portugal. The African team will also face Spain, Romania, Serbia and Qatar.
In preparation for Brazil, Angola are training daily at Gama Stadium in Luanda.
Group at Brazil 2015:
Group B: Spain, Romania, Serbia, Qatar, Angola, Portugal
Games at Brazil 2015:
All times local
Monday 20 July: SRB-ANG (20:45)
Wednesday 22 July: ANG-ESP (18:30)
Thursday 23 July: QAT-ANG (16:15)
Saturday 25 July: ROU-ANG (15:30)
Sunday 26 July: ANG-POR (16:15)