HARARE - Former Angola football team coach Oliveira Gonçalves says the Pelancas Negras must go on the offensive against Zimbabwe in tomorrow’s decisive African Nations Cup qualifier in Luanda.  

The Warriors carry a 3-1 lead from the first leg in Harare last month and will need to avoid defeat by a big margin to secure a berth at next year’s Afcon finals in South Africa.

Landu, Manucho Gonçalves, Djalma Campos and Manuel are likely to replace Lamá, Nando Rafael, Amaro and Manucho Diniz in Angola’s starling eleven which played in the first leg.

"We must press them in their midfield and score goals,” Gonçalves told ANGOP in Luanda on Thursday.

“I recognize it will be very difficult to recover a handicap of 1-3, but I think given the lessons of the first leg in Harare (the) coach will define a strategy for Angola to win and qualify for Afcon in South Africa,” he added.

Former Manchester United star Manucho and first leg goal scorer Djama Campos could be employed by Angolan coach Gustavo Ferrin as the front two to lead the Pelancas Negras attack.

Gonçalves says scoring in the opening minutes will be essential in unsettling Zimbabwe.

Gonçalves, who led the Angolan youth national fottball team to the Under-20 World Cup in Argentina at the turn of the millennium advised Ferrin through the Angolan media that his side must not concede in the first half to avoid the hazard of anxiety  in second stanza.

The popular former Angola coach, nicknamed the "Professor", said the Pelancas Negras must starve Zimbabwe of the ball.