Angola find self belief despite 1-0 defeat

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(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-06-12 10:25

COLOGNE, June 11 - Angola's better-than-expected showing in their 1-0 defeat to Portugal has instilled confidence in the African side, said striker Pedro Mantorras.

Portugal were thought to be capable of putting several goals past Angola in a Group D match that pitted the southwest African country against its former colonial rulers but failed to score after Pauleta's goal in the fourth minute.

"We believe in ourselves after this game," Mantorras told reporters. "We have more confidence, we're more optimistic. We know that our group is not easy, but we are going to try to play as well, if not better, in the next game," he said.

The forward, who came on as a substitute for captain Akwa on the hour, looked the most likely to score as the game drew to a close and was disappointed he failed to grab an equaliser.

"I had opportunities. We are going to work at this in training so that we can do better in the next matches," he said.

"I feel sad because we lost the game but we have the next game against Mexico and we hope we can have a better result," he said.

Mantorras said Angolans watching back home may be slightly unhappy with the result but not with the performance.

"The people of Angola know that the team were not favourites against Portugal but we demonstrated to the world that we were a good team, that we can do good things in this tournament.

"We showed that we deserved to be here," he said.