CENTRAL African Republic head coach Raoul Savoy has admitted that their win over the Super Eagles is of historic importance to the country.
The underdogs caused one of the biggest upsets in African football history on Thursday evening when they defeated Nigeria 1-0 in a Qatar 2022 World Cup qualifier at the Teslim Balogun Stadium in Lagos.
Savoy described the victory as the best thing to have ever happened to his team.
“I have won against many countries such as Morocco and Kenya during my coaching career, but in the history of Central African Republic, this is the best one,” the Swiss-born coach said in his post-match interview.
“Nigeria is one of the best teams in Africa with the players and their status, but if you think that you have won before the start of the match, it will be suicidal.“We respected Nigeria more than they respected us, but that is human beings for us.”
Even with the shock result, Savoy still expects Nigeria to qualify for the World Cup ahead of the other teams in Group C.
The Super Eagles lead the group with six points, followed by Cape Verde and Central African Republic with four points. Liberia have three points.
“I am not thinking about the World Cup because we are a work in progress, we are a young team, the slot for the World Cup is for Nigeria,” Savoy added.
“We just want to play and qualify for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations.“I said before now that if we can pick a point from the match against Nigeria, I world be the happiest man in the world, but now, we have three points.
“It is not that we are a better side, but we put a plan and Nigeria also put theirs, but our plans worked very well, that is football.”
An almost full-strength Super Eagles side were thoroughly embarrassed by the Central African Republic on Thursday as Karl Namnganda scored the game’s only goal in the 90th minute.
While Nigeria are ranked 34th in the world by FIFA, Central African Republic are 90 spots lower in 124th place.
