Clear goal for Engonga

By Phil Minshull
Madrid

Javier Balboa is one of the national team's key players

Vicente Engonga has set himself the goal of becoming the first coach to lead Equatorial Guinea at the African Nations Cup finals.

The ex-Spanish international's task is made easier by Equatorial Guinea's co-hosting of the 2012 event with Gabon.

But in volatile Africa, Engonga knows that hanging onto his job for another three years is quite a tall order.

"I think I'll be there; we've got a good group of players," Engonga said.

"It's to their credit that the likes Javier Balboa (formerly of Real Madrid, now at Benfica), Rodolfo Bodipo (Deportivo La Coruna), and many more, are committed to Equatorial Guinea along with myself.

"They are a great bunch," added Engonga, who was born in Barcelona to parents originally from Equatorial Guinea.

"The majority are like me, Equatorial Guineans through their mother and father, but they are all doing everything that they can to ensure that we have the best possible team in 2012."

In addition to a plethora of Spanish-born players, Engonga has called up players born in Brazil, Nigeria and the Ivory Coast.

He took over the national team last year and has continued the progress made in recent years.

Even though they lost five out of their six matches in the second round of the 2010 World Cup qualifiers, Equatorial Guinea scared continental giants Nigeria, losing 1-0 at home and 2-0 in Abuja.

Engonga is following in the footsteps of his brother Oscar, the national team coach between 2003 and 2005.

He splits his time between Equatorial Guinea's principal mainland city of Bata and his home on the Mediterranean island of Mallorca, where he was a player for five seasons and, more recently, the club's reserve team coach.

"I didn't really know the land of my parents and so when people started to talk to me about the possibility of coaching the national team, I knew a better opportunity wasn't going to come along.

"Once I was there I got back some of the feelings I had when I was in school, the joy of playing football until they told you the water was going to be shut off in the showers.

"Going to Africa has changed my life, I've become a better person."

Engonga has been blooding some locally-based players in recent friendlies, including their 3-0 loss to Mali on April.

But he is expected to turn to his foreign legion for their next match when they play Estonia on 6 June.