The names of those seeking asylum after Angola beat Eritrea 6-1 Sunday were not released, but a player who identified himself solely as Tomas told radio station Luanda Antena Comercial that the players had fled to escape torture.

"We are arrested, tortured, especially us, young people," Tomas said. "The government does everything it can to make us a propaganda instrument of its political life and we cannot accept it. There is an all out war against the people and that's why we've decided not to go back to Eritrea."

The Eritrean government launched a crackdown on dissidents in 2001, arresting prominent dissidents and independent journalists, holding some for years without charge.

The U.N. refugee agency reported last week that the number of Eritreans seeking asylum in industrialized countries jumped 59 percent last year over the year before, an increase second only to Lebanon, were asylum applications were up 66 percent.