February 04, 2012
World Championship team profile: Angola
Domingos Bonifacio, AngolaThe pride of African basketball returns to the FIBA World Championships looking to make some noise just as it did four years ago. Angola is the perennial African champion, but after being overlooked for years by the game’s powers, victories over Japan and Panama made others stand up and take notice in Japan. Angola could have progressed even further were it not for a triple-overtime loss to Germany or a 6-point defeat in the knockout round to France. Things did not go quite as well two years ago at the Olympic Games in Beijing, however Angola arrives in Turkey with a core of players that know one another well. In fact, nearly all the players in the mix for Angola play their club basketball for the top clubs in the Angolan League and many of them have represented Angola at the past World Championships or Olympics. Head coach Luís Magalhaes will try to bring them all together to win at least as many games as they did in Japan and to try to finish among the top 10 in the world for the first time in the nation’s history.

#
 Name
Pos.
H.
4
 Olimpio Cipriano
F
194
5
 Roberto Fortes
G
193
6
 Carlos Morais
G
190
7
 Domingos Bonifacio
G
189
8
 Leonel Paulo
C
198
9
 Vladimir Jeronimo
F
203
10
 Joaquim Gomes
C
200
11
 Divaldo Mbunga
C
206
12
 Felizardo Ambrosio
F
201
13
 Carlos Almeida
G
193
14
 Miguel Lutonda
G
185
15
 Eduardo Mingas
F
200
Head Coach: Luis Magalhaes
Angola has two established go-to guys in its frontcourt that pave the way for the rest of the team. Forward Eduardo Mingas was Angola’s leading scorer at the 2008 Olympics. And big man Joaquim Gomes was the top scorer at the 2006 World Championships and the leading rebounder in both ’06 and ’08. Meanwhile swingman Carlos Morais is the main scoring threat from the perimeter and team captain Carlos Almeida should never be overlooked. Meanwhile Felizardo Ambrosio could be ready to take the torch and claim a spot among the new generation of Angolan stars, while young center Miguel Kiala is knocking at the door hoping to establish himself as well. Although it has cemented its status as the clear power in African basketball, Angola is still looking to climb to elite status in the world. And the next step is to win a few more games in Turkey this year.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Euroleague.net
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