Tonight we can have some regrets given the context of the match. We had the opportunities, I think, to score goals”. Launched deep, the Angolan number nine found himself alone facing Nigerian goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali and sent the ball against the post. “It hit the post… We saw a team that has much more experience than us in this kind of meeting, despite that we managed to play on an equal footing.

We showed that we are capable of playing at this level,” preferred to stay positive Jonathan Buatu. At the very end of the match, while the team seemed content with its one-goal lead, the Angolans pressed to try to equalize, and several clear chances could have reversed the game. “It is true that there was still a chance and we could have equalized, but football is played on details,” estimated the goalkeeper of Étoile Carouges in Switzerland. “Clearly they are the favorites,” admitted Jonathan Buatu.

“It’s a very balanced team. They leave very little space behind and physically they are very solid, they have everything to go all the way”. “We wanted to go as far as possible but we came up against a very good Nigeria team that deserved its qualification. We had some goal-scoring situations that we could have put away”.

Perhaps the whole difference with the Super Eagles who managed to turn their first real opportunity into a goal and then held on to their lead until the end of the match.