Despite losing, Central African Republic (CAR) coach Raoul Savoy believes his team was superior to Ghana.
According to CAR coach, the referees favored the Black Stars, and the second goal scored by the hosts ought to have been disallowed for offside.
Following their 2-1 loss to the Black Stars on Thursday, CAR was unable to advance to the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), which will be held in the Ivory Coast the following year.
We played better than Ghana – #CAR Coach #MaxFM | #MaximumFM | #GHACAR | #BlackStars pic.twitter.com/wskZP9lyFF
— Max TV (@maxtvgh) September 8, 2023
Louis Mafouta gave Savoy’s team an early advantage, but Ghana rallied to win the match with late goals from Mohammed Kudus and Ernest Nuamah on either side of halftime.
As a result, Ghana and Angola, who placed first and second in Group E of the qualifiers, respectively, secured their spots at the AFCON for the following year.
In a post-game press conference, Savoy responded to his team’s loss by criticizing the referees’ work and asserting that his team was superior to Ghana.
Bkack Stars 🇬🇭 please silence this mouthy CAR coach Raoul Savoy @rsavoy_official by making at least the semis of the Afcon next year.
After Ghana defeated his side 2-1 yesterday to qualify, Savoy disguised an insult by telling Ghanaians: “Your next AFCON will be like the last… pic.twitter.com/AYTqtCz2ja
— Ibrahim Sannie Daara (@SannieDaara) September 8, 2023
“I’m very proud of my players. They fought the whole game. We don’t deserve to lose tonight, a draw would’ve been a fairer result,” the CAR coach said.
“Ghana won 2-1 but they cannot be proud of their team, because this team did not play football. We played football, we were far better, especially in the first half.
“I think the second goal is offside, clearly. But it’s okay, the referee is the winner. I was thinking that the referee would help you guys and he did it.”
In Group E, CAR finished the qualifying round in third place, behind Angola and Ghana.