Angola national team coach Pedro Gonçalves has expressed his frustration and disappointment at the logistical issues his team faced during their previous qualifying game against Ghana, citing a last-minute room makeover as one of the many mishaps.
Speaking ahead of their upcoming 2025 AFCON qualifiers against Ghana, Gonçalves hopes for a more fair and smooth experience this time around.
Gonçalves recalled the previous encounter, which saw Ghana snatch a late winner, and expressed his desire for a better performance this time around.
“It’s a special game for me because last time we played and we gave a very good performance in Kumasi but unfortunately we conceded a goal in the last minute which gave Ghana a win.
“Both games in the last qualifiers were very balanced so I guess we have our chances this time and I hope we will have a good game in Kumasi because the last time, a lot of things happened so I hope CAF open their eyes because a lot happened and Ghana doesn’t need to be in that situation so I am hoping for a fair match and in the end, we will see who’s going to win,” he told Ghanasportspage.com in an interview.
The 48-year-old also took aim at the organizational issues his team faced, including a delayed flight, poor accommodation, and even painting of hotel rooms on the day of the match.
“We had issues with the flight, accommodation. They paint our rooms the same day we were going to play the match… it’s crazy. It was a very good hotel with impressive facilities but the problem was with the operative situation of the Ghana national team and CAF must look into that.” He told Ghanasportspage.com
Despite these issues, Gonçalves praised the enthusiastic Ghanaian crowd, saying “The crowd was impressive and I applaud them because the push from the Ghana national team from the first minute was crazy and that’s not the problem we faced, but the operative situations and CAF must care about these things.
“I don’t speak about referees because everything went well on the pitch including the crowd, that’s the fun aspect of African football and I appreciate”
The AFCON qualifiers are set to kick off in September this year, with Ghana looking to make a strong start to their campaign and overcome the challenges posed by their opponents in Group F.
Ghana will open its campaign against Angola at home before making a trip to Niger for the second Group F match scheduled for September 2-10, 2024.
The Black Stars will later face Sudan in a doubleheader in October as they host the 1970 African champions in Kumasi before traveling for the reverse fixture –in the week of October 7-15, 2024.
