By Ben Efe
Hosts Angola will have a reality check in their ambition to win their first ever international soccer title as they face Mali in the Group A opening game of the 2010 Nations Cup tonight.

The pressure is on the Black Antelopes to post a good result against the Malian Eagles, because  a win will define their destiny in the tournament, in which they have ‘little’ history compared to their group opponents.

After training on Wednesday Angolan soccer officials were optimistic that the team handled by Portuguese coach, Jose Manuel have everything going for them to make a good start to their campaign.

According to Angola Football Federation head of technical department, Juliao Dias, the team have the potential to beat Mali technically speaking. And also with home support, the Malians would have no where to hide at the ‘November 11’ Stadium.

He said that defensively Angola is good as the team have conceded few goals in the warm up games against Ghana, Cameroon , Senegal and Hawks of Togo whom they beat with a 2-0 margin.|

But on paper, the Angolans are the outsiders, considering the amount of talent available in the Malian Eagles coached by Nigerian coach, Stephen Keshi. And if soccer games are won by big names then the Antelopes of Angola might as well kiss their cup bid goodbye. However, it is 90 minutes and a lot of other factors that come into play and they will certainly do when both sides meet today.

“All our adversaries are known to be combative. Mali will be a difficult competitor. We will try to get one of the first two places to qualify,” said coach Manuel.

The former Al Ahly of Egypt coach may be without key players like Flavio and defensive midfielder Stelvio who limped out during a friendly game against Gambia in Portugal.

‘’It is my big concern that Flavio recovers and is available to play against Mali. He and Stelvio are important to our starting line_up. This is because we don’t have any stars in our team and need everyone to be fit.’

But Keshi has no injury worries. He has Freddie Kanuote of Sevilla who scored eight goals during their qualification campaign , Barcelona’s midfield strongman Seidu Keita is available and so is Momo Sisoko of Juventus.

In the goal-keeping division, there is also Soumbeyla Diakite who performed heroics for his club Stade Malien when he saved three spot-kicks in a shoot out triumph over Entente Setif of Algeria to net Mali’s first African club title in December.

Keshi has spoken of his wish to be in the final of the Nations Cup to compensate for his failure to land a World Cup ticket for Mali. And on their part, Malians are desperate to shake off the toga of underachievers after making six Nations Cup appearances without a cup to show for their efforts.

Mali finished runners_up to Congo in 1972 and fourth in 1994 in Tunisia, in 2002 when they hosted the biennial continental football showcase and again in 2004 in Tunisia. At the Ghana 2008 edition, Mali failed to make it out of a tough first round group after a 1_0 win over Benin, a worthy goalless draw against giants, Nigeria and a 3_0 loss to a Didier Drogba inspired Elephants of Cote’ d Ivoire.

“I know we are not among the favourites, but we are optimistic that this team can go as far as the final,” Keshi said.
“You only need to look at the calibre of players in this team, the body language, attitude and spirit, so I’m not totally ruling us out of the trophy,” he said, adding,”Our games here have helped me look at various combinations.”