Without a club for a season a few months ago, the Angolan goalkeeper bounced back to the Swiss third division. Selected at the last minute for this CAN 2024 as replacement goalkeeper for Palancas Negras, Signori Antonio is preparing, against all odds, to play the quarter-final against Nigeria as a starter.
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From our special correspondent in Abidjan,
This CAN 2024 in Ivory Coast definitely has the knack for offering us scenarios that no one could have imagined. It is not Signori Dominique Nymi Antonio who will tell us the opposite. Substitute goalkeeper with Angola, the journey of his team, which won the first knockout match in its history in a CAN, is already a small event in itself. But the Swiss-Angolan also did not expect to play the first CAN match of his career during the round of 16 won 3-0 by the Palancas Negras against Namibia.
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Coming into play after the exclusion of the starting goalkeeper, Neblu, who had touched the ball with his hand outside the penalty area (17th), Signori Antonio was immediately called into action. His save from the free kick following the expulsion allowed his team to preserve the draw while an opener for the Namibians would undoubtedly have given a completely different aspect to the match.
Holder against Nigeria?
The usual holder of the position being suspended, Signori Antonio should quite logically replace him in the cage for the crucial match which is planned against Nigeria in the quarter-final this Friday, February 2. A meeting that the goalkeeper approaches without pressure, he who was still far from imagining a few months ago that he would apply for a starting place for a quarter-final of the African Cup of Nations.
Born in 1994 in Lausanne, Antonio Signori has had a checkered career. Having passed through several Swiss clubs at the start of his career, he then tried his luck in Angola with the Primeiro de Agosto club before returning for a season (2018-2019) to FC Basel, the largest club in the Swiss first division, and leaving two seasons (2020-2022) in Angola playing for the country’s flagship club, Petro de Luanda. But upon his return to Switzerland, the goalkeeper took almost a year before finding a club. “ I took advantage of this year, my fiancée was pregnant and I took advantage of this time to work with physical trainers, be close to the family, recharge my batteries and then wait for a project that interested me », he told RFI.
“ One of Angola’s most talented goalkeepers »
After a year without playing, it was finally at Étoile Carrouge that Signori Antonio bounced back this season. A Swiss third division club, a level which absolutely did not guarantee him a place in the Angolan squad for this CAN. “ I wasn’t sure that this level of championship would allow me to go there. It’s a semi-professional league, so would the coach take it into account? Even if we have a goalkeeper who plays in the Portuguese third division, I could doubt it, because it is still a level below », admitted the player in the Swiss newspaper Blick after the announcement of his selection last December.
However, the Angolan coach never doubted his player’s ability to return to the highest level. “ Signori is clearly one of Angola’s most talented goalkeepers. But this is not from today. Various circumstances, career choices, injuries have dictated that, for the moment, Signori has spent a career in the shadows. I fought, too, for him to always be connected with the team. Even when he wasn’t called, I motivated him and told him that he had to stay active, that it was important that he came back », explained Pedro Gonçalves at a press conference after qualification against Namibia.
Signori Antonio chose Angola in 2014 when he was 19 years old and had passed through all the youth selections in Switzerland. “ It was not an easy decision to choose to represent my parents’ country. This decision closed doors a little for me in Switzerland, because I was a promise of Swiss football, but there were already very good goalkeepers like Yann Sommer », remembers the Angolan player who absolutely does not regret his choice, he who won two Angolan club championship titles with Primeiro de Agosto and Petro de Luanda and who has 15 caps with Palancas Negras.
Ten years in the Angolan selection
While waiting to know if he will be included in goal for the match against Nigeria on Friday, Signori Antonio is enjoying this CAN which is unfolding for him almost like a dream. “ I’m happy to see that some career choices I made in the past have paid off. It’s been more than ten years since I chose to play for my parents’ homeland. It’s true that today I’m very happy to have had the chance to be called up and to have been able to play the match against Namibia », he rejoiced.
But after the feat of qualifying for the quarters, the Angolan goalkeeper and his teammates now have their minds turned towards the next deadline. The match against Nigeria will be yet another pair of challenges, especially with a certain Victor Osimhen on the front of the Super Eagles attack. The best African player of the year has so far only scored one goal in the competition, and Signori Antonio is determined to keep things that way…