Angola head coach, Pedro Goncalves says the draw and the qualification format to the knockout stage for the just-ended CHAN tournament were not fair.
Angola finished second in Group D with two points. Their group was made up of three teams, featuring Mali and Mauritania as well as Group C and Group E.
Despite Morocco’s absence from the competition, two teams had the chance to qualify for the quarter-final stage from Group C but Angola, who finished second in Group D was knocked out of the competition.
They were hoping to reach the quarter-final stage after their painful loss in extra time to Nigeria in 2018.
Reacting to the draw and the qualification format for the quarter-final stage, Coach Pedro Goncalves stressed: “I want to say just one thing about the draw. Morocco gave up and in Group C three teams competed and two qualified for the quarter-finals. That kind of situation is not good for the competition and I hope in the next tournament CAF will decide well. Is for local players but we played only two games and left”, he told ghanasportspage.com.
“It’s important to decide because local players are needed so much in national matches. Internationally, is very good for the growth of that players but only two international matches are very low so I believe in the next tournament they’ll arrange a better draw and get good competition.
“Is absolutely unfair. Not only for us. We drew two matches and left. We and Algeria were the only national teams who didn’t lose in the competition. We drew twice and finished second in our group but we have no chance to play in the quarter-final stage. Is not fair,” Pedro stated during the interview with Ghana’s leading sports site, Ghanasportspage.com.
Senegal won the competition for the first time after beating host nation Algeria 5-4 on penalties at the Nelson Mandela Stadium in Algiers.
