Angola

Angola played their first game against Congo on 8 February 1976, losing 3–2 with goals from Giovetty and Nelson. On 26 June 1977, Cuba became Angola's first non-African opponent when the two countries met in Angola, with Angola winning 1–0. Angola entered World Cup qualifying for the first time in the 1986 qualifying competition. Angola defeated Senegal on penalties in the first round before narrowly losing to Algeria 3–2 on aggregate in the second round. That generation included great players of the nation's history like Jesus, Ndunguidi, Joseph Maluka, Alves, Vata and others.

Angola qualified for their first Africa Cup of Nations in 1996. They were drawn in Group A with South Africa, Egypt and Cameroon. They lost their first two games to Egypt and South Africa, but managed a 3–3 draw against Cameroon. They finished bottom of the group and did not reach the second round. Angola then qualified for their second successive African Cup of Nations in 1998, but again failed to reach the second round, drawing 0–0 with South Africa and 3–3 with Namibia, and losing 5–2 to Ivory Coast. Also in this generation, there were great players: Paulão, Quinzinho (who scored the first goal in the AFCON and played in FC Porto) and Joni. This national team was coached by Carlos Alhinho, who gave opportunities to young players, thus forming Angola's golden generation.

After missing the last 3 tournaments to the AFCON of 2000, 2002 and 2004, they qualified for the 2006 African Nations Cup. They recorded their first African Cup of Nations 3–2 win against Togo, two goals coming from Flávio and the other coming from Maurito. They also drew 0–0 against Congo DR and lost 3–1 against Cameroon. Angola's best performance then came in the 2008 African Nations Cup. They were drawn in Group D with Tunisia, South Africa and Senegal. They drew 1–1 and 0–0 with South Africa and Tunisia, then defeated Senegal 3–1, two goals coming from Manucho. In the quarter-finals they were beaten by event champions Egypt 2–1; Manucho scored again, finishing with four tournament goals in total.

Angola also won the COSAFA Cup in 1999, 2001 and 2004.

2006 FIFA World Cup

The Angola national team's journey to the World Cup began in CAF preliminary rounds in an unsuccessful duel with Chad. Angola was in FIFA rankings 70 places higher but lost 3–1 to Chad, following a hat-trick by Francis Oumar (the only goals he ever scored for the national team). However, in the second leg at the Cidadela stadium Angola won 2–0, advancing on the away goals rule (3–3 on aggregate) the team played the first match under Ismael Kurtz but he was dismissed and replaced by Oliveira Gonçalves. The FAF's goal was not the World Cup but rather the AFCON, as the qualification process were for both the same. Angola was placed in group with Nigeria, Algeria, Gabon, Rwanda and Zimbabwe. The qualifiers began on June 5, 2004, with a 0–0 draw away to Algeria. In the second match, Akwá scored in the 84th minute to secure a victory over Nigeria. In the third round, Angola drew 2–2 in Libreville against Gabon, but back at the Cidadela, they defeated Rwanda with a goal from Freddy. In October of that same year, Angola beat Zimbabwe with a goal by Flávio; their first defeat came shortly after, losing 2–0 in Harare. Back at the Cidadela, Angola defeated Algeria 2–1 with goals from the duo Flávio and Akwá. The next match took place in Kano, Nigeria; Angola was losing, but Paulo Figueiredo (born in Angola to Portuguese parents) equalized. This draw left Angola and Nigeria tied at the top of group but Angola held the advantage through the head-to-head record. With two games remaining, Angola beat Gabon 3–0 at home, even though Nigeria defeated Algeria 5–2. In the final match round, 8 October in 2005, Angola raced Rwanda in Kigali. While Nigeria was beating Zimbabwe 5–1, the "hero fo kigali" appeared in 79th minutes following a cross from Zé Kalanga, Akwá headed the ball in, qualifying Angola for its first World Cup appearance. In total, Angola scored 12 goals and conceded 6, with Akwá finishing as the top scorer with 5 goals.

When picking the squad, Gonçalves sought advice from José Mourinho because his Angolan wife would have insight into players like Akwá, João Ricardo, Paulo Figueiredo, Flávio Amado, and Jamba. Angola played six warm-up games against South Korea, Mauritius, Lesotho, Argentina, Turkey and USA.

Angola played their first World Cup finals game against the Portuguese side (Ronaldo's first world cup match), who won the match 1–0, the only goal coming from Pauleta. There was a very friendly environment in and around the stadium during this match because of the links and friendship between the countries of Angola and Portugal. Angola drew 0–0 in their second game with Mexico with a great performance from João Ricardo (goalkeeper, also of Portuguese descent, and curiously conceded Cristiano Ronaldo's first career goal) he was named man of the match. Although he was the only unemployed player in the tournament, he was helping Angola as still had a chance of qualifying, but the match finished 1–1 after goals by Flávio and Sohrab Bakhtiarizadeh. Angola were eliminated from the tournament only losing one game and 11 cards in 3 Matches.

2010 World Cup failure

After the 2006 World Cup, many of Angola's most experienced players such as Akwá and João Ricardo retired from the international game, but the expectation remained high for the team to qualify for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. The team had a bye through the first round of qualification and in the second round they were drawn in Group 3 along with Benin, Uganda and Niger. Despite winning their first two matches, Angola failed to proceed to the third round, missing out by two points.

2010 Africa Cup of Nations

As hosts of the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations, Angola were seeded in Group A along with Mali, Algeria, and Malawi. Coached by Manuel José, in their first game they drew 4–4 with Mali, after letting a 4–0 lead slip in the last 11 minutes (including three goals in stoppage time) and so, it became known and nicknamed "selection of almost" in Angola. They recovered from this by beating Malawi 2–0 in the second match, and topped the group by drawing 0–0 with Algeria. Were knocked out in the quarter final after a 1–0, defeat by eventual finalists Ghana.