Former champions, Angola face a daunting task in their quest to overturn a 3-1 loss against Lesotho in this weekend’s 2015 CAF U-20 championship qualifier second round second leg clash.
The Palanquinhas are faced with elimination but at least a 2-0 win at the Coquieros Stadium in Luanda will hand the former a place at the final round of the qualifiers.
Since winning the continental championship in 2001 in Ethiopia, with a squad that included the likes of Pedro Montarras and Antonio Mendonca, under the technical guidance Luís de Oliveira Gonçalves, the Palanquinhas have been absent at the biennial championship except for the 2005 edition in Benin.
There is mounting pressure on coach Augusto Manuel “Leão”, and his charges to produce an impressive performance to turnaround their fortunes.
In same position is Cote d’Ivoire, who were shocked 1-0 by Liberia in Monrovia in the first leg.
The Flying Eagles of Nigeria, Ghana’s Black Satellites and the Junior Pharaohs of Egypt are favoured to go through against Tanzania, Sierra Leone and Sudan in Kaduna, Tamale and Alexandria respectively. Nigeria, Ghana and Egypt won the first leg away and are highly placed to complete a double over their guests to march on.
Despite a 2-0 win in Addis Ababa, South Africa coach Ephraim Mashaba remains cautious about their Ethiopian opponent who are expected to go all out in the return leg in Johannesburg.
“Our priority is to consolidate the victory by going for more goals, but at the same time we should be careful not to give them opportunities to score. We saw what they are capable of. They can play when given space,” Mashaba was quoted by the South African Football Association website ahead of this weekend’s game.
At El Menzah Stadium in Tunis, Tunisia will be up against Libya, Gabon versus Rwanda in Libreville, Morocco against Togo in Rabat.
Burundi travels to Yaounde to face Cameroon with a 1-0 deficit from the first leg, whilst Zambia look set to register a double over visiting Mozambique ion Lusaka.
In Lubumbashi on Friday, DR Congo and Malawi will lock horns at the Tata Raphael Stadium in Kinshasa. The first leg in Blantyre ended one-all.
The winners will advance to the final round of the qualifiers where seven teams will emerge to join hosts Senegal for the final tournament scheduled for 8-22 March 2015 with the semi-finalists qualifying to represent Africa at the 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup in New Zealand.
Fixtures
Friday, 23 May 2014
DR Congo vs Malawi (1-1)
Saturday, 24 May 2014
Nigeria vs Tanzania (2-0)
Gabon vs Rwanda (0-0)
Ghana vs Sierra Leone (2-0)
Egypt vs Sudan (3-0)
Cote d’Ivoire vs Liberia (0-1)
Tunisia vs Libya (1-1)
Morocco vs Togo (2-0)
Sunday, 25 May 2014
Angola vs Lesotho (1-3)
South Africa vs Ethiopia (2-0)
Cameroon vs Burundi (1-0)
Mali vs Burkina Faso (3-0)
Zambia vs Mozambique (0-
Benin vs Congo (1-2)
Confederation of African Football (CAF) News
