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Although defender Marco Abreu fled war-torn Angola as a toddler and
has never been back he still considers the southwest African country
home.
Abreu is preparing for Angola's FIFA World Cup™ debut on Sunday
against Portugal, the country he escaped to with his family shortly
after the civil conflict broke out in 1975.
Born in Lubango, the capital of central Huila province, Abreu's
family fled from a war that was to last 27 years and by the end had
devastated much of the country.
"My family left Angola because of the war. My father was white, so
it was too dangerous for us to stay," he said. "My parents have
since visited Angola but no, I haven't been back."
Growing up in Portugal and playing his club football at
Portimonense, Abreu has mixed feelings about facing his other home
country in their very first match at the FIFA World Cup.
"Portugal is one of the teams I would have preferred to avoid but
the balls (in the draw) said Portugal versus Angola, so we can do
nothing about it," he said. "Now I am in the Angolan team and I am
thinking only about Angola."
A solid defender who will be competing for the left-back position
with Luis Delgado, Abreu perhaps has extra motivation for wanting to
perform well against the Portuguese.
"My friends are all in Portugal, they are all Portuguese and of
course they will be supporting Portugal. They will be watching, so I
have to play very well so that I can say to them, 'Look, we won',"
he said.
He is also aware of what the game means to the people of Angola, the
former Portuguese colony that became independent in 1975 and is
enjoying a petrodollar-fuelled reconstruction boom.
"It means a lot. All the Angolan people want to prove that Angola is
a good country, that it is better now and that it wants to rebuild,
and they want to show this to the Portuguese people in particular,"
he said.
"In Portugal there are a lot of people from Angola who say they
don't mind if we lose all the other games, so long as we beat
Portugal," he laughed.
Abreu said the game would be emotional but he does not expect a
repeat of the bad behaviour in their last meeting.
That game, in Lisbon in 2001, ended in a 5-1 defeat for Angola and
was abandoned 20 minutes before the end after Angola had four
players dismissed.
"Many of those players in that game played in Portugal in the first
division. I think that was the problem. I don't think it will be the
same story on Sunday," he said.
Abreu is looking forward to the opening Group D match when the
enormity of being at the FIFA World Cup will finally sink in.
"This is the most important thing to happen to me in my career. It
is a once in a lifetime experience but, at the moment, I can't find
the words to describe it.
"When I stand in the stadium, I will feel what it is to be in the
World Cup, then I will understand," he said. After Portugal, Angola
face Mexico and Iran. |
