Coach Luis de Oliveira Goncalves said his team must look to win their final group game after a goalless draw he hailed as the "best result in Angolan football history".

"We have to have a little bit of ambition because after we won this point here tonight we have to believe we can win three points," Goncalves said.

"Our president said we are special and I agree with him, and we're going to try to be special in the game against Iran."

Angola were down to 10 men for the last 11 minutes but held on to save a famous draw against the world's number four team, throwing Group D wide open.

It was the first World Cup point ever won by Angola, one of the world's poorest countries ravaged by a three-decade civil war.

Angola, quoted at 1,500-1 for the title, were greatly indebted to man of the match Joao Ricardo, their clubless goalkeeper who pulled off a string of vital saves.

With Angola sitting back in the second half, Joao Ricardo came off his line twice to deny Omar Bravo and saved acrobatically from Rafael Marquez in the dying minutes.

Joao Ricardo, who has been unattached all season, said he was not thinking about impressing any potential employers.

"What I think about my future is to win the next game against Iran, and that's it," he said.

Mexico's coach Ricardo Lavolpe was nonplussed by the result, but refused to criticise his players.

"There was just one team in the game, and that was Mexico," he said. "Unfortunately the ball didn't want to go in the net and we just couldn't finish.

"I can't tell my players how to improve things because we played very well over 90 minutes."

Mexico, backed by overwhelming support in the 43,000 stadium, started brightly enough, hitting the post from a free-kick but failing to open up the defence.

Angola soon began to push forward and created some chances of their own, with Figueiredo fizzing one close from long range and Akwa heading over.

But their attacks faded in the second half and it was all Mexico, who despite introducing Jose Fonseca and Ramon Morales could not find a way past Joao Ricardo.

Andre's red card for a handball was the cue for some frantic final minutes with the frustrated Bravo hitting the post.

As the fans in red celebrated, Goncalves said the result would lift his embattled country whose very appearance here is little short of a miracle.

"When we played against Portugal we lost, but Angolans celebrated because we had a great performance. Now they're going to celebrate even more because we won a point," he said.

"We've finished with the war and some budget lines are now being channelled into sport and education where before they were being spent on arms. We're going to improve from now on."

The result leaves Group D in the balance with all four teams -- Angola, Mexico, Portugal and Iran -- capable of qualifying.

Portugal play Iran later on Saturday and meet Mexico in their final game on June 21, while Angola's last match is against Iran the same day.

Angola went down 1-0 to Iran in their first game while Iran were beaten 3-1 by Mexico.