The former Portuguese international Abel Xavier has been appointed coach of the Mozambique national football team.
Xavier had a short spell as manager of Olhanense in 2013 before joining SC Farense a year later. During his playing career, Xavier played for 11 clubs including Benfica, Everton, Liverpool and Middlesborough.
Xavier joined Premier League club Everton in September 1999 for £1.5 million. He was sold to Everton’s Merseyside rivals Liverpool four months later for £800,000. He remains the only player to have played for both sides in the Merseyside derby in the same season.
Mozambique has never got beyond the first round of the Africa Cup of Nations, let alone qualify for the World Cup finals. Xavier faces a difficult task and no doubt he would love to discover another ‘Eusébio’ who was born in Lourenço Marques (Maputo since independence) when the country was a Portuguese colony.
C.W.
