World Cup all set to change image of Angola

LUANDA, May 30: Mention Angola, and images of war, hunger, disease and corruption immediately spring to mind, even though the devastating 27-year conflict ended in April 2002.

Their place at the World Cup finals could change all that and although few people expect the southwest African nation to progress beyond the group stages in Germany, that does not matter one jot.

Simply qualifying for the first time in their history has filled Angolans with a sense of pride and patriotism not felt through decades of civil war and centuries of colonisation, and it offers promise of what the country can achieve on its own if it puts its mind to it.

While Angola is rich in oil and diamonds, it is poor in almost everything else, with most of its 13 million people living on less than 2 dollars a day and one child in four likely to die from a preventable disease before their fifth birthday.

Yet even the poorest shantytowns on the outskirts of the capital Luanda are peppered with national football shirts, and the most ramshackle of taxibuses proudly display the red, black and yellow colours of Angola in the back window.

''Everyone here is so proud,'' said a beaming Guido Siolengue, administrator with the Luanda Urban Poverty Programme (LUPP).

''We never imagined that we could get so far in football, that we would be part of such a big competition.'' Angola is ready to show off on a world stage, and while its football may not be up there with the likes of Brazil, this is a perfect opportunity to do some image-boosting in other areas.

''Today when you speak about Angola, you don't speak only about war, you speak about football as well,'' national coach Oliveira Goncalves told Reuters recently.

''Many journalists who come to Angola to see our football and meet me and the players conclude that Angola is a country with huge potential. They are right. Angola will get better on all levels in the coming years,'' he added.

Colonised by Portugal for 400 years, then plunged into war and assisted by aid organisations and the United Nations ever since, there is some perception that the country is unable to stand on its own two feet.

There is still a lot to be done on the road to recovery, and the country will need foreign partnerships for a long time to come, but progressing to the finals of soccer's grandest contest has lifted confidence and galvanised the population.

''It was Angola who qualified for the World Cup; it was an Angola who did it alone and I will be the only coach of an African team in the World Cup who comes from the country they coach,'' Goncalves said.

REUTERS