SAITAMA (FIBA World Championship) - Angola go into the eight-final showdown with France in the 2006 FIBA World Championship knowing they have excellent chances. And one of the reasons has been the recent play of power forward Joaquim Gomes.

The 25-year-old three-time African champion was off and on in Angola's three Group B victories against Panama, Japan and New Zealand. But Gomes stepped up his performance when he was needed most, as his team gave Spain and Germany all they could handle.

Gomes collected 24 points and 11 rebounds against Spain and added a 21-point and 11-rebound performance against the Germans.

Gomes will likely need a similar performance if Angola want to knock off France and reach the quarter-finals.

FIBA: Hi Joaquim, what do you think about your chances against France?
Gomes: I think we have a great chance of going further than we already are. But we really have to be careful because France are a very good team. But we're going to take it slowly. We still have a lot of work to do. We have a lot of video to watch and hopefully we'll be ready by Sunday.

FIBA: France will be playing without Tony Parker. Do you think that's an advantage for your team?
Gomes: I heard about that. He's a very good player, so that's a very good chance for us. But I think every other player is as important as Tony Parker, that's why they've made it this far. Even though Tony Parker is not there, I think everyone else is really comfortable for France.

FIBA: This game is expected to be a battle inside of extremely athletic big men. How do you want to contain the quick French inside players?
Gomes: I don't think it's going to change that much from the last two games. But we have to be really quick and we can't give them second shots because they have a lot of size and some big bodies. We can't give them second shots so we can play our game and run the floor really hard and try to get some easy baskets on the fast break.

FIBA: The French seem a bit bigger in size on the wings, you think that could have any impact on the game?
Gomes: It might. It just depends on how much they take advantage of it. But I really trust in my team-mates, in my wing guys because they have a lot of quickness too. And they can all run the floor really well and they shoot the ball like wild. So it's going to be a big fight, like who wants it more.

FIBA: What would a victory mean to you and Angolan basketball?
Gomes: It means a lot to me. It's like a dream coming true playing over here, especially for an African team because not that many people give that much credit to African basketball. And for the Angolan people, it's big too. I think it's a great achievement because we've had a lot of things going on in the past. For us coming over here and being able to beat some teams it's a great achievement. And now the people have something to talk about. And I'm really proud of being here and really proud of doing this for the Angolan people.

FIBA: With Nigeria also in Saitama, that means African basektball has two teams among final 16, both with excellent chances of making it a round further. That bodes well for Africa's hopes of maybe asking for a fourth team at the FIBA World Championship.
Gomes: True. I'm also really happy for the Nigerian team because they're also representing Africa. I wish them the best and hope they go really far. I'm sure they can go really far. They have a lot of size, they have a lot of bodies. And i'm sure they can do well.

FIBA: If you beat France and then the winner of Greece vs China and Nigeria knock off Germany and the United States-Australia winner, we'd have an Angola-Nigeria semi-final. What would that mean to you?
Gomes: Actually I already thought that. And it would definitely be like an African championship final. It's hard for me to say if it would be better to play Nigeria or another European team because Nigeria know us very well. We've been going against them for the last 10 years. They really know our strong points and our weaknesses. But of course we would have a better chance of beating Nigeria than another team. But I don't think at this time that you're going to find any easy team. Every team that makes it this far can beat anybody.

FIBA: Angola switched coaches in late June as Alberto Carvalho replaced Mario Palma. How has that change affected the team?
Gomes: He changed a lot. Not many people knew it was going to happen. I didn't want to talk about (the change) before because I wanted to give him time to work because we may be bad. But he's been doing a great job. We've been winning so it's a positive thing. I don't think the change affected the guys that much because we've made it this far. It would be a whole new story if we didn't win some games. But we're winning. And I'm enjoying working with coach Carvalho.