2018 bronze medallist, Angola defeated Nigeria 30-24 goals in their first game of the 2020 Africa Men’s Handball Nations Cup at the Salle Omnisport de Radès, Radès in Tunisia.
The first half of the game ended in favour of Angola by 7 goals difference (17-10) but the West African giants, Nigeria could not close the gap as the lost by 6 goals after the blast of the final whistle.
The head coach of the team, Rafiu Salami told www.aclsports.com that they boys performed better than 2018 were Angola had more goal difference in the first game.
Salami stated that Nigeria still stand a chance of scaling through group B and qualifying for the next round.
He said, “I commend the boys for their fighting spirit against Angola. The spectators thought we would lose by a bigger margin after Angola led by 7 goals in the first half but the boys put up a good fighting spirit and reduced the deficit.
“We met Angola 2 years ago and they defeated us 13 goals margin (29-16) in fact we were wiped in the first half by 13-5 goals. This is a massive improvement from the last nations cup as you can all see”.
The ex international expressed confidence that the Nigeria can still qualify for next year’s world cup.
Salami said, “The goal is still to qualify for the 2021 World Cup and by the grace of God, we will get there. Gabon and Libya drew this afternoon 22-22 goals and the next assignment is to defeat these two teams”.
Coach Salami, urged Nigerians not to give up on the team but continue to support them ahead of the next match against Gabon on Friday.
Nigeria will shift focus against Gabon by 6pm at the Hammamet Indoor Sports Hall, Hammamet.
