“You’ve got national teams who come here with ambition, calling themselves or being called the favourites. Then you have got those that are coming here to prove a point and show on the pitch that they are not minnows, outsiders or weak.

That they are also here to compete.” Ferrin’s Sable Antelopes fall in the latter category despite this being their fifth successive appearance in the tournament where they have been grouped with hosts Bafana Bafana, debutants Cape Verde and former champions Morocco.

But the 53-year-old Uruguayan mentor is adamant that they will fall in the former category, wearing the favourite’s tag, in tournaments to come.

It’s not just his dream, it’s his mandate. “The project that was presented to me when I took over was to develop Angolan football from the youth up until the national team,” Ferrin said.

“I am also the co-ordinator of all the development structures in Angola for the federation. The idea of developing talent for the future of Angolan football is what made me accept the job because this is what I love doing.

“My job does not depend on results or how good the team performs at the Africa Cup of Nations. I accepted the project not just the tournament.” The mentor enjoys something rare in African football where failure in the tournament has resulted in many coaches getting fired without anyone looking at the bigger picture.

Former Ivorian coach Vahid Halilhodzic would testify to that. A loss to Algeria in the Africa Cup of Nations quarterfinals in 2010 saw an end to the Bosnian’s stint with the Elephants despite guiding them to the World Cup, which was four months away, and the Africa Cup of Nations without a defeat. “There are two results in football,” Ferrin said.

“The first one is the immediate success. That has a big impact on the administrators because they live by the results and instant success. The other is of course the long term one with the development of football in the country.

It may not be immediate and will not bring immediate results but with time it will bring about success. That’s the luxury I have in Angola.

The future here is bright.” The idea of a brighter future is what has motivated many Angolans to work even harder to move away from the bloody and violent past because of a civil war that lasted over 25 years in the oil rich country.

It is something Ferrin tapped into when he took over the post with Angola 3-1 down to Zimbabwe in the first leg of the last stage of the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.

It worked, with talisman and skipper Manucho finding the net twice, seven minutes in the return leg to book their place among the 16 nations that will be battling for Africa’s top prize from next Saturday.

“I don’t know how much impact what I said had on the players,” Ferrin said. “We have spoken about those realities. Things that have happened and brought them into sport because the sport results were affected by that.”