Stars fail to take off

On paper, this was a no-contest. Portugal were rich in stars from the three top football leagues. Angola’s goalkeeper hasn’t played club football for a year and their captain, Akwa, is similarly without a club. Their squad is a mix of home-grown players — all sourced from the capital, Luanda, because that’s the only town with organized football — and expats or anyone with an Angolan connection.

On this form, and showing this intent, Portugal should pack their bags and return home. They should make it to the knockout stages but will be embarrassed by either Argentina or Holland, one of whom they will face in the next round. And yet they had so much going for them. They could not have started on a better note, attacking straight from the kick-off as Figo fed Pauleta with a delicious through ball; the Angolan defence was yet to find its feet but Pauleta’s own lethal right foot let him down with a goal for the taking.

They didn’t have to wait long, though; the goal came inside four minutes, again Figo and Pauleta combining for the France-based striker to convert. The old master was in his element now, making runs, tracking back, working off the ball, directing play as once was his wont. At this stage, the match was Portugal’s; another goal and Angola would have conceded half a dozen.

Yet this is where Portugal lost the plot, some of their nerve and pretty much all of their creativity. Ronaldo was quick as a flash and his step-overs mesmerized his markers, but as usual he would try one too many. Simao, on the other wing, was equally ineffective, and Portugal were incapable of working the ball through the middle.

Slowly, they allowed Angola back into the game, as Figuereido, the blonde no 7 born in Angola but raised in Portugal, began feeding Akwa. Two of those crosses were met with bicycle kicks; one was a flop but one connected and didn’t miss the target by much. It was audacious and overly ambitious but at least one team was trying something.

As the match progressed, Portugal were reduced to passing the ball square and back in an attempt to find a way forward; Figo was visibly tiring, barely able to run off the ball or on it and should have been substituted as he had famously been during Euro 2004. Instead, Scolari took off Ronaldo — no doubt to prevent a second yellow card — and brought on the defensive Costinha.

By this time the neutrals — the thousands of Germans in the stands — had turned against the team of stars, breaking in “Viva Cologne”, the traditional festival song, as a mark of disgust. They were soon joined by the Portugal supporters, who started the whistles and slow handclaps long before time. That seemed to egg on the senior team and they began stringing together a series of passes, one of which resulted in a Maniche volley from 35 yards out that Joao Ricardo, who hasn’t played club football for a year, tipped over with great alacrity.

That’s the way it ended, Portugal clinging to the coat-tails of their early goal to take home three points. They were lucky, though, that Angola lacked the experience to exploit their frailties and inhibitions. Another team, another day, will surely do so, unless Scolari can shake up his stars and get them to shine.

And Angola? Before the match they said they wanted to play with dignity. They achieved that, and much more. They lost on goals but won on points.