“CAN Dois Mil e Dez”
CAN 2012 has started!!! What’s that? You haven’t heard of CAN? Its only the African Cup of Nations, Africa’s premier soccer championship (excluding the World Cup in South Africa) currently being hosted in Angola. Duh.
In all seriousness though CAN is a big deal in Africa and Angolans are super syked for it. The government has invested a ton of money building stadiums, hotels, roads, and well… city infrastructure. CAN 2012 to Angolans would be like the Super Bowl is to Pittsburghers, maybe even more intense. 16 teams are in the first round right now and most have played the second game of a three game round-robin in their four team groups. On Sunday, Angola blew a 4-0 lead to Mali to tie 4-4. Tonight, they beat Malawi 2-0. Outside of my window people are screaming and banging pots. Cars are honking their horns and music is blaring. I won’t be getting much sleep tonight, but I don’t care. It is a good time to be in Angola. Because of Angola’s win, there is serious talk of making tomorrow a national holiday. That’s right – one win in the first round earns us a national holiday which means a day off from work. We will see though.
Some of you have sent me comments about the Togo team being attacked in Cabinda http://edition.cnn.com/2010/SPORT/football/01/08/football.togo.nations.shooting/inidex.html, the northern most province of Angola. I don’t really know much about FLEC, a separatist group, but I think it is safe to say they are cowards looking for national attention. In the four months I have lived in Angola, I have never once had a single problem with violence or aggression and I do not think FLEC’s attack in any way accurately reflects Angola’s people or culture.
Anyway, I was able to secure a seat for the final game. Chances of Angola making it that far are slim but it will still be fun to go. Earlier this week I recieved a private tour from the project manager who oversaw the construction of the Luanda stadium (there are 4 stadiums in various parts of Angola). The company he works for is Chinese. They are partners with an Angolan company that CAE has helped over the years. Here are some pictures.
The 27th Year 
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