Angola v Mali
Stadium: Estadio dos Coqueiros
Match Time: January 10, 2010, 19:00 UK
Angola coach Manuel Jose and his Mali counterpart Stephen Keshi will be keen to shift focus back to the football itself when they kick-off the African Nations Cup in Luanda.The tournament opener in the Angolan capital has been overshadowed by events in the past 24 hours which saw the Togo team bus come under machine gun attack having just crossed the border from the Democratic Republic of Congo into the province of Cabinda.
The driver of the bus was killed, while two players, the assistant coach and a press officer were amongst the injured in the attack.
While calls have been growing for the competition to be called off, the two teams involved in the first game will be anxious to get things under way on the pitch.
It has been a memorable five-year period for Angola, who followed up their surprise qualification for the 2006 World Cup in Germany by reaching the quarter-final in the African Nations Cup two years ago in Ghana.
But their failure to progress to the final round of qualifying for the global showpiece in South Africa, led to the departure of former coach Luis Oliveira Goncalves and the appointment of Jose last year.
The Portuguese boss, one of the greatest ever coaches in African football following his exploits with Egyptian giants Al-Ahly, is confident Angola can blossom in the continental showpiece.
"We have a solid and united team which is growing game by game,'' he said. "The team has improved so much since June.
"It's a completely different team.''
Jose may well be missing two key players for the opening match at the Estadio 11 de Novembro - striker Flavio Amado and Stelvio Rosa da Cruz, who are both injured.
Jose added: "It is my big concern that Flavio recovers and is available to play against Mali. He, together with Stelvio, are important to our starting line-up because we don't have any stars in our team and need everyone to be fit.''
The Malians, dumped out in the first round two years ago, will be eager to make amends and their coach Keshi believes they can go all the way.
He said: "We are going to Angola to prove our mettle and all things being equal we shall go far.
"My only fear now is injury worries, otherwise we are set. I can beat my chest and say we can play in the final.''
The Eagles, whose squad includes several high profile players like Fredi Kanoute, Seydou Keita, Mahamadou Diarra, have just one injury concern.
It is over the fitness of Keita - the Barcelona forward has a thigh problem - but the rest of the squad are all available.
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