JOHANNESBURG, May 25 - Angola's debut appearance at the World Cup finals puts the embattled southern African country into an elite club whose membership would have been beyond their wildest dreams just a few years ago.

Emerging from a brutal civil war, in which millions of its citizens were displaced and their footballing infrastructure severely battered, Angola provided one of the biggest shocks in recent African football history by edging out Nigeria in the qualifiers for the tournament in Germany.

In so doing, Angola have set a new benchmark for their football but they have cautioned their fans against unrealistic expectations.

Coach Luis Oliveira Goncalves, whose success despite modest credentials gives hopes to thousands of coaches of similar background, insists Angola's primary ambition next month is to make a favourable impression.

"Firstly we want to show there is more to Angola than just war and strife. We want to prove that we have tactical discipline, professionalism and that we can play," Oliveira Goncalves said in an interview with Reuters.

"But we are not going to win the World Cup. We are going there to fight hard and to make our people proud of us."

BEST PREPARED

Angola will be among the best prepared teams, having had more than their fair share of competitive action since securing qualification last October.

They played in the African Nations Cup finals in Egypt in January and in recent weeks were involved in a mini tournament in the regional Cosafa Castle Cup, a tournament they have won three times in the last seven years.

The Nations Cup did not go as smoothly as they had hoped, with Angola failing to get past the first round, but they did record their first win in three appearances at the tournament finals.

A myriad of missed chances in front of goal was at odds with the team's perceived strength in attack, where players such as Akwa, Flavio, Maurito and Pedro Mantorras all enjoy high profiles.

Unfortunately Maurito is out of the World Cup after seriously damaging his left knee shortly before the end of the season which will sideline him until at least October.

PUBLIC CRICITICSM

Akwa has long been the side's stalwart but had a poor tournament in Egypt while Mantorras sulked after being benched by the coach.

The Benfica striker was, however, included in the World Cup squad after apologising to his team mates who had ostracised him because of his complaints about not playing.

Angola's oil wealth allowed them to have an intense preparation that proved crucial in their qualifying campaign, with a series of training camps and friendly matches that most African countries would not be able to afford.

Since the World Cup draw in Leipzig last December, Angola have had the added incentive of a potentially emotive match-up with their former colonial power Portugal in their first match at the finals in Cologne on June 11.

Their two previous meetings were both calamities for the Angolan side, who have drawn increasingly from talent with Angolan connections in the Portuguese league.

They lost by six goals in 1989 and in 2001 their match in Lisbon was abandoned when Angola went down to seven men after a succession of red cards in a bruising encounter that had Portugal 5-1 up with 20 minutes remaining.

Akwa has insisted that nothing like that can happen at the World Cup. Angola will be far more concerned with showing off the better side of their game.

"We are actually all very good friends and I hope that both Portugal and Angola qualify for the next round," he said.