Angola, the group D team along with Mexico, Iran and Portugal, succeeded to qualify for the FIFA World Cup Finals in its sixth attempt in a span of 21 years. The team signed up for the qualifying rounds for the first time in 1986 and failed narrowly against Algeria. Later, four years after, they were beaten by Cameroon. A single victory against Togo in the next round again shattered their dreams. The four victories in 1998 was insufficient to keep their finals dream alive.

In subsequent years, Angola's performance improved. They had 7-1 victory against Swaziland in 2000 but was behind Cameroon in the qualifying group. This time, its a time for them to celebrate. They battled their way against Chad in the preliminary qualifiers and made their dreams come true.

During the preliminary match, the Angolans suffered a shocking 3-1 defeat in November 2003. The Brazilian Coach Ismael Kurtz was dismissed and the team was lead by Captain Akwa under the guidance of new coach Goncalves. With this win the Angolan entered the Group stage and were placed in Group 4 alongside Nigeria, Algeria, Gabon, Zimbabwe and Rwanda. The team was successful in Algeria and Gabon. It defeated Nigeria 1-0 in Luanda and had a 1-1 draw match in Kano.