Central African Republic (CAR) head coach Raoul Savoy says the Super Eagles of Nigeria were able to beat his team thanks to help from the referee.
The Eagles avenged the shock defeat suffered against CAR on Thursday with a 2-0 win in Douala.
Leon Balogun and Victor Osimhen got the Eagles’ goals to seal a 2-0 win.
The win took the Eagles to nine points and maintain leadership in Group C.
Also Read: France Seal Comeback Win Against Spain To Land First UEFA Nations League Title
But reacting to the outcome of the game Savoy blamed poor officiating for his team’s loss.
“My players did well and I’m very proud of their performance,” he said in his post-match analysis.
“Nigeria played with 12 men because the referee helped them to win. The first goal was from an offside position and my goalkeeper was fouled for the second goal.
“We did not concede against Nigeria over the two legs, they scored with the help of the referee.”
Both teams will be back in action when the fifth round of the qualifiers resume in November.
35 Comments
I dont blame you if we have beaten you silly here in Nigeria you wouldn’t have had mouth to say nonsense. The referee interpreted the match well by giving you guys deserved yellow cards there by restricting you guys from bone crushing. You were well beaten for 90mins you didn’t shoot any ball in our post you played 11 in your defence hoping to catch us on counter it backfired. Wish we will have a replay this time you will collect 7-0.
To beat Liberia is a task that must be done . I could remember how Liberia defeated the eagles of old in the 1st leg of certain w cup qualifier . 2 goals to 1. …..to best Liberia and qualify is the next agenda. To achieve this nff must appeal to clubs to release players a week to game .the coach must use the formation 4 4 2 in the 1st half and 4 5 1 in the 2 ND half forget about 3 5 2 now. I only gave him 3 5 2 for CAR game . That was y he quickly acknowledge it during the press interview. For Liberia we no need 3 5 2 . Liberia wil want to do something funny.
Is it also the referee that made them not to have any shot on target in 90mins
This one has gone mad. I don’t blame him because they were not devoured in Lagos. Nonsense!
It’s not your fault, Mr Savoy. It’s the bad pitch of Teslim Balogun and Tactical Rigidity of Mr Rohr that gives you the audacity.
Your team won’t see the back of our U-20 team on a good day talk more of our home-based eagles
Savoy, you get transformer for ya country? Go hug am. Local parlance in the same Nigeria refer that ya statement to, OYO.
Look at this foolish man, imagine we had took all our chances clinically like we should have in the first leg, you wouldn’t be here spilling out rubbish from your foul mouth and was there no linesmen on the field during the period which the goal was scored?. Shut your foul mouth Mr. Savoy we simply got our grooves back on as complacency cost us the first leg in Lagos otherwise I see no reason why we couldn’t secure at least six points off these idiots so as to shut their boastful coach down forever. Arrant nonsense
No b your fault I blame d players for not showing gritty in d first leg n NFF for bad pitch
I no blame the guy,that what you get when you play too much with small piking
How was your goalkeeper fouled for the second goal???? This guy is a lunatic.
Me don the rush go YouTube to review the match ooo, May be with VAR the first goal might go under review but it’s still gonna stand, but the second goal, even with the help of my mini microscope I’m still unable to see the foul this man was referring to, las las Na our boys I blame, and this what you get when you miss men with boys, arrant nonsense.
The man is crazy but I blame our boys who caused the disrespect. Assuming them chop 4-0 in lagos and another 2-0 in Cameroon, then he would have kept shut. A draw btw Cape verde and CAR and a win in Liberia will seal it for us with one game to spare.
Dat one na if dem gree draw o.
CAR is still in with a shout so I believe a winner can emerge at the death.
Honestly Awaziem should be getting more games. I think he has impressed in the last few games he played. I also think the 3-5-2 formation might suit us. We might have won but the fact is that Leon Balogun is sluggish at times and takes some unnecessary risks, in a backline of 3 he seems more comfortable and his sluggishness can be covered up by Awaziem or Ekong. Age is not on Balogun’s side and against younger strikers and more aggressive clinical teams we might be in trouble. He almost had another howler yesterday but recovered quickly and apologized lol..
Sluggish? Alaye, every defender makes mistake! Balogun is like a David Luis to me, always taking the ball forward even more than your midfielders, he completed more dribbles than some of your midfielders and even Iheanacho in the last game….I won’t say he is sluggish…he just needs to be more cautious
Alaye did you read your last line about being cautious? So what is the nonsense you are writing? Did I say defenders don’t make mistakes? If he made another mistake yesterday people like you would want his head. He played well yesterday of course cuz he had to make amends but I hope he won’t get caught slipping at a crucial period. Remember every team nowadays has a video analyst and there is access to videos of other teams. Don’t think other teams won’t study us including our slips too. Now in all honesty is Balogun a fast defender?
@footballfanatic Don’t mind them ooo. I said similar thing yesterday someone was arguing. Any average striker will rubbish Balogun because of his sluggishness and stupid risk of trying to shield or hold the ball unnecessarily even when he has the chance to pass b4 opponent close him down. Som1 should write this down if Rhor depends on this Balogun for AFCon, he will have himself to blame. The guy doesn’t have body balance and good stamina so he will be an easy target for our opponent. Also his passing from the back him and Ekong are questionable. Either they make wrong or short pass and sometimes opponents passing. However Balogun only good side is his area prowess. Rhor should give Awaziem, Omeruo and Ekong chance to play our back 3. Akpoguma is also an option if he proof himself because i don’t know him enough to rate him
Balogun is one of our best defender at the moment for sure, CAR goal was never because he was sluggish or falling easily, go and watch the highlight again. It only came to luck for the striker as Balogun intercepted the ball with a smart low header (reason for him losing balance thereafter) but the ball hit the striker’s leg and fell nicely for him to score. Uzoho’s anticipation and alertness to react quickly was very poor giving the striker enough time to be composed before hitting the net. If Uzoho has reacted quickly to narrow the angle and force the striker to rush his kick, it would’ve been a miss or the ball will hit Uzoho’s body.
Did you guys not see how Balogun was combining his defensive duties with a holding midfielder’s role in both matches? Even Pinnick made a special mention of this feat. But the only thing guys like you see in a match is when a goal was scored or who assisted, forgetting that a match is played for 90 mins and every minutes count.
Even after his heroics in the 2nd match, most of you guys can still come out and say he only tried to redeem himself…………rubbish.
Why are you not blaming all your attackers (Osimgoal, Seniorman, Awoniyi, Simon) and your special boy Ejuke for toiling hard for 90 mins with no goal or assist to show for it? After all if only they had put to the net just 2 of numerous chances that fell to them, nobody will remember the one goal conceded
If Omeruo is that good enough, why is he rooted to La Liga 2 for 2 seasons or why was he unable to break into Chelsea 1st team for so many years he was always sent out on loan. Have you all forgotten his many howlers that has cost us many winnable games due to your short memories?
Awaziem to me is improving and developing nicely to maturity and I tip him to eventually replace Balogun when he retires, but for now Balogun is a great Warlord Trojan that is very much needed in SE at the moment
Baloguns time in the Super Eagles is winding down. Yes he had a great game yesterday, he played his heart out to make amends for his earlier mistake but we can see he has no pace and against a top side he will be greatly exposed. We need akpoguma to play more games inorder to ready himself to take over from leon.
Awaziem is good but I would only play him mostly in a back 3 against strong oppositions.
Well is not your fault,we all allow a little bit of over confidence to affect our first game with you ni. Go and ask cape vard coach that make noise before we play how market be?
So you think you can truly beat se on a good day without bleeding.
Giants in Africa like ivory coast, senegal, Egypt, cameroon will tell you
I feel people do not comment enough on the state of our pitches prior to any of the games. The state of the pitch is critical to the players performance. That is why if you talk to them individually most of them that have been in the National team for some years now will tell you they prefer the Uyo stadium pitch, why is that? for starters it is very even, flat you may say, does not retain water when there is a downpour. Why is this important? The foreign-based have taken years to adjust their game to the high quality of pitches abroad. It will take more than 3 days to train on TBS or Asaba pitches and really re-adjust ones style of play. In my opinion, Akwa united or Kano Pillars would have beaten the CAR National team at TBS or any other poor pitch in Nigeria. Why? They train and play competitive matches all year on these type of pitches. I was very confident our Super Eagles will beat them at the Japoma because the pitch is excellent. and for attacking sides with very fast players, this is a plus. This is not to say that the pitch caused us to lose against CAR, but to some degree, it affected our game and style of play. If the NFF want the Super Eagles to qualify for the World cup (or at least win home games), Then they should be given all the tools needed…especially a very good pitch. Let the players/Coach decide the pitch they will prefer to play in for the last rounds as we charge towards winning the group by Gods good graces. I have also played the game for over two decades on all sorts of pitches in and outside Nigeria and believe my view is from a standpoint of experience. If we are to use TBS or Asaba again then the pitches need to be looked at again, or we may have to consider bringing in some NPFL players from the top teams in Nigeria and open camp for them right-away…
To be sincere this is the issue we have. Not only the state of the pitch but also the size. I have noticed that we play well on bigger pitches than smaller ones. The bigger ones give our players especially runners the opportunity to show their skills more, but on the smaller ones we suffer. I don’t know why NFF and the technical team have not done anything about this and it is so obvious it is affecting our game. Nice point ChrisB
I totally agree with you on the pitch size. I pray The NFF will really consider these points if they truly want what is best for our country and her football.
@chrisB
God bless you a million times. It is amazing that NFF does not factor in the state of the pitches the SE plays on when considering the results of the matches. It is even more amazing that the entire so-called board members, some of whom played soccer at high levels, have failed to offer Pinnick professional advice about the poor state of our pitches. We hear all the time that TBS is small and crampy, uneven, and is poorly drained predisposing it to being waterlogged. Pinnick and Dare plug their fingers into their ears and take critical matches to Lagos provided the state governor parts with some envelopes. The end result? We lose to infantile teams like CAR, and our boys risk having their means of livelihood wiped off by injuries. Yet we pretend that nothing is amiss and question why we lose matches.
These same gentlemen have traveled all over the world, witnessing how football is administered. They can’t take a moment to question themselves: Do the 8 or so countries that rotate the WC amongst themselves practice on millet farmlike pitches? This Lagos state governor who bribes for matches to be taken to Lagos, is he doing any service to our soccer development? Why can’t he or the NFF or anybody consider erecting a brand new standard stadium? Not a question of renovating an old stadium? Don’t we have the resources?
At the moment, The Uyo stadium is the best option for our boys. Our boys express themselves better there. As you mention, why don’t you take the opinion of the boys into consideration? So funny, in some Nigerian households, the mother has to ask the individual child what he/she wants for dinner before entering the kitchen. Otherwise, she’ll have to start all over again when a particular plate is rejected for lack of consensus in the first place! Here we won’t listen to our players who are adults . . . and professionals.
Inwonder why it’s always difficult for us to do simple things. We play better on big pitches. You ned to watch how we destroyed Libya some years ago,
NFF gives it to the highest bidder. Those guys there reason with their pockets and long-throats. Imagine if SE was managed by a local coach. What’s happening with the pitch selection now would have been happening in the team selection.
May God in His infinite mercy expose and punish Pinnick if he continues leading Nigerian football for personal gains…Amaju is the 70% of Nigeria super eagles problem and not gernot Rohr guys.
1. Amaju refuses to pay super eagles coach because of selfish gain.
2. Pinnick will take money from FIFA and still went ahead to solicit from Nigerian governor’s to host the super eagles matches in order that the governor take over financial responsibilities for the match.
3. Melvin will not pay the owing super eagles match bonuses completely but goes to the press shamelessly and announced that “we are owing nobody”.
4.Pinnick never take gernot Rohr’s humble objection seriously when choosing stadium to host Nigerian matches thinking that he can do whatever he likes while toying with my feelings and happiness. Remember guys, Rohr and the super eagles players had always complain about the size of the pitches the Super eagles play their matches eg:Stephen keshi stadium.(Asaba), Samuel ogbemudia stadium (Benin) and this nonsense Teslim Balogun Stadium (surulere) but Melvin will never listened and do the needful…
5. This same Amaju is not matured enough to understand on how to handle administrative issue eg: going to talk up Tammy and eze to play for Nigeria and quickly started posting pictures he took with the aforementioned players on social media knowing full well the implications it will attract from the English press. He made us loss them to lack of maturity guys!
The same Melvin asked Rohr to take a pay-cut downward and be paid in naira instead of the initial dollars…
Comes one day nemesis will surely catch up with Pinnick if he continues in this corrupt pattern of selfish Administration of Nigerian football and for toying with my happiness….I don’t support any club wholeheartedly but super eagles is my joy…
This man is drunk. Such a sore loser
And its not his fault. Its the calmness of the eagle that made the cockerel think the fire on its head is bigger than the one in the eagle’s belly.
He should scroll to 0.28 and 0.57 of the video highlights below. There is no better way to catch liars than video evidences like these.
Anyone who has helped him to find his “tactical prowess” which he forgot at the TBS changing rooms should kindly ship it back to him. He will need it to help us stop CPV from collecting 3 points on the 13th of November.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aV-7B47T-cA
@Dr Drey please have you confirmed the results of our home base Eagles to the invitational tournament at DRV. Please feed us in if you have gotten any information
Lolll probably for the second goal he was referring to the foul his players foul there own keeper, lolll is this man alright at all?
Monsieur Savoy is a bush cosch of Wild Beasts. Why did he absolve the linesmen from blame? Why did he pick out only the referee alone? His statement deserves a fine from CAF
Mr. Raoul Savoy, clean your mouth before you talk…
Why will the guy not have mouth to say all sorts. It’s pretty obvious we don’t have that fear factor any longer. We don’t ooze that class and quality that beget respect on the field again. There is a way you will beat your opponent especially all these CAR, Eritrea and co that after the match their players will be rushing to collect our players’ jerseys (a very good match that readily comes to mind is the “Battle of Mombasa” Super Eagles vs Harambee Stars). Times and seasons have since changed and even jankara teams now think they can beat us in Nigeria (No more respect) and this is not unrelated to what i keep telling folks here that i don’t think we have the supposed kind of quality we all think we have. A vast majority of our players are just a little above average. Please read the article below to understand this reality.
https://scorenigeria.com.ng/super-eagles-still-in-search-of-class/
Please, is it not possible to move our remaining matches to Uyo?
You’re just a bad loser. I blame the Super Eagles who ought to have thoroughly bullied you guys in Lagos.