Angola coach Luis Oliveira Goncalves admitted he was delighted with his country's first World Cup point after a backs-to-the-wall defensive display earned a goalless draw with Group D leaders Mexico.

Goncalves savoured a breakthrough moment for the team in their first appearance at a World Cup tournament in what has so far been a disappointing campaign for African teams.

"It was a good point - playing Mexico was very difficult for us and in the first half we did alright," said Goncalves.

"In the second half we gave our maximum although we did not score.

"I want to congratulate the team for this result. It's the first time for us at the World Cup and that makes this our best result.

"Mexico were a very, very strong team and they made things very difficult for us," said Goncalves whose team defended stoutly with goalkeeper Joao Ricardo named man of the match.

"We had an objective when we came to the World Cup to unite the country and also our continent and this result is a step in that direction."

Mexico coach Ricardo Lavolpe made no attempt to hide his dismay at the result.

"The players worked very hard and played hard - the only thing we failed to do was finish things off," said Lavolpe. "I can't fault the effort of the players.

"I don't want to keep repeating myself but we did nothing wrong in the way we approached the game - lamentably we only finished with a zero.

"At a World Cup there are no easy games and we were not expecting this to be an easy game," said the Mexican coach.