Pedro Conçalves’s COSAFA Cup presence vindicated by title

The Palancas Negras thumped Namibia 5-0 at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Gqeberha on Sunday afternoon to be crowned champions.

While some national teams, including hosts Bafana Bafana excused their head coaches from being in the dugout, Conçalves explained why he took a different route.

"That's why I said at the beginning of the tournament, even before the tournament, I said it's important for the national coaches to be here because for me it's important and that's why I said to the board I want to be there. I want to keep it and work with the boys because I believe that and enjoy it," Conçalves said.

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It’s the first title for Conçalves as a senior coach and he explained why it meant so much to him having begun working for the Angola FA at the youth level in 2018.

He took over the first team a year later.

"2024 is the year when everything is showing to the world. We made a great performance in the AFCON achieving the quarterfinal. Today we equalised the record we made in 2022 of nine wins in one year," he added.

The coach was quick to point out that Angola will have to quickly put behind this achievement and switch their focus to the upcoming AFCON qualifiers as well as the attempting to grab a spot at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

"We have more than six more matches to break that record, for me well I won with the U-17 in 2018, even in 2018 finished third with U-20 in Zambia and now conquered that big trophy, for me it's a big trophy."