Match Info:
Date/Time: 22 Jan 2012 – 21:00
Venue Estadio de Malabo |
Watch the match live on: www.NileSports.tv
Angola begin their African Nations Cup campaign against Burkina Faso with forward Djalma setting his sights on reaching the last four of the competition.
Angola have reached the quarter-finals in the last two editions – their best showings in the tournament – but Djalma wants to go at least one better this time around.
He said: “My goal in this edition of the African Nations Cup is to help Angola get beyond the quarter-finals.”
The Porto man is not expecting an easy passage, though, and believes they could face a challenge just to get out of their pool.
Aside from Burkina Faso, who reached the semi-finals on home soil in 1998, Group B also includes tournament favourites Ivory Coast and 1970 winners Sudan.
“We hope to improve on our previous showing and taking into account our group that is our first goal,” he was quoted as saying by Portuguese newspaper A Bola.
“But we know that we are in a group where there are no easy opponents.”
Burkina Faso only recently had their spot in this year’s tournament confirmed after Namibia failed with a bid to the Court of Arbitration of Sport to have them disqualified.
Namibia had claimed the Stallions’ Cameroon-born defender Herve Zengue was ineligible to face them during qualifying and wanted Burkina Faso expelled from the finals.
Burkina Faso may have reached the last four 14 years ago but that is the only time they have managed to progress beyond the first round at the African Nations Cup and they will hope to improve on that this year.
