13th October, 2013
Uruguayan Gustavo Ferrin has quit as Angola coach after a string of disappointing results, the national football federation confirmed Sunday.
The Palancas Negros (Black Antelopes) failed to qualify for the 2014 World Cup Africa play-offs, winning only one of six group games and coming third behind Senegal and Uganda.
Having held Morocco at he 2013 Africa Cup of Nations finals, Angola were beaten by hosts South Africa and Cape Verde to make a meek first round exit.
Angola also missed out of the 2014 African Nations Championship (CHAN) after losing on away goals to Mozambique.
Ferrin, a 54-year-old former coach of the Uruguay and Peru youth teams, was equally unsuccessful in the regional COSAFA Cup in Zambia, falling to Lesotho in the quarter-finals.
Ranked 21 in Africa and 89 in the world, Angola have consistently disappointed since surprisingly reaching the 2006 World Cup in Germany at the expense of Nigeria.
Ferrin is the second coach in the region to lose his job this week after Botswana terminated the contract of Stanley Tshosane.
Like the South American, Tshosane paid the price for poor World Cup, Cup of Nations, Nations Championship and COSAFA Cup showings.
He became a national hero in 2011 after guiding the ‘Zebras’ to the Africa Cup for the first time by topping a group that included Tunisia.
However, the former army officer could not sustain the success, with constant unhappiness among his squad over bonuses hampering efforts.
Botswana did not reach the World Cup play-offs, the 2013 Cup of Nations or the Nations Championship finals and were eliminated at the group stage of the COSAFA Cup.