Angola's Abreu prepares to face adopted country

CELLE, Germany, June 8 (Reuters) Although defender Marco Abreu fled war-torn Angola as a toddler and has never been back he still considers the southwest African country home.

Abreu is preparing for Angola's World Cup debut on Sunday against Portugal, the country he escaped to with his family shortly after the civil conflict broke out in 1975.

Born in Lubango, the capital of central Huila province, Abreu's family fled from a war that was to last 27 years and by the end had devastated much of the country.

''My family left Angola because of the war. My father was white, so it was too dangerous for us to stay,'' he said. ''My parents have since visited Angola but no, I haven't been back.'' Growing up in Portugal and playing his club football at Portimonense, Abreu has mixed feelings about facing his other home country in their very first match at the World Cup.

''Portugal is one of the teams I would have preferred to avoid but the balls (in the draw) said Portugal versus Angola, so we can do nothing about it,'' he said. ''Now I am in the Angolan team and I am thinking only about Angola.'' A solid defender who will be competing for the left back position with Luis Delgado, Abreu perhaps has extra motivation for wanting to perform well against the Portuguese.

GOOD COUNTRY ''My friends are all in Portugal, they are all Portuguese and of course they will be supporting Portugal. They will be watching, so I have to play very well so that I can say to them, 'Look, we won','' he said.

He is also aware of what the game means to the people of Angola, the former Portuguese colony that became independent in 1975 and is enjoying a petrodollar fuelled reconstruction boom.

''It means a lot. All the Angolan people want to prove that Angola is a good country, that it is better now and that it wants to rebuild, and they want to show this to the Portuguese people in particular,'' he said.

''In Portugal there are a lot of people from Angola who say they don't mind if we lose all the other games, so long as we beat Portugal,'' he laughed.

Abreu said the game would be emotional but he does not expect a repeat of the bad behaviour in their last meeting.

That game, in Lisbon in 2001, ended in a 5-1 defeat for Angola and was abandoned 20 minutes before the end after Angola had four players dismissed for bad tackles and dissent.

''Many of those players in that game played in Portugal in the first division. I think that was the problem. I don't think it will be the same story on Sunday,'' he said.

Abreu is looking forward to the opening Group D match when the enormity of being at the World Cup will finally sink in.

''This is the most important thing to happen to me in my career.

It is a once in a lifetime experience but, at the moment, I can't find the words to describe it.

''When I stand in the stadium, I will feel what it is to be in the World Cup, then I will understand,'' he said.

After Portugal, Angola face Mexico and Iran.

REUTERS