Central African Republic coach Raoul Savoy has openly claimed Ghana were helped by the referee to beat his side 2-1 in the Africa Cup of Nations qualifying fixture on Thursday.

Trailing to Louis Mafouta’s first-half goal in Kumasi, the Black Stars were staring elimination in the face but West Ham United’s new signing Mohammed Kudus stepped up to curl home a vital free-kick just before the break to level the scores. Ghana completed the turnaround late on when substitute Ernest Nuamah scored to make it 2-1.

Speaking after the game, a disappointed Savoy said: “I’m very proud of my players. We played better than Ghana and didn’t deserve to lose. I think we should have finished this game with a 1-1 draw, you qualify but we didn’t lose. I think the second goal was offside clearly, we know the referee is your winner. We knew the referee would help you guys and he did it.”

Read Also: Afcon 2023: Ghana were not good enough in first half – Hughton

Queried on his future with the team, Savoy said; “Yes of course, we are building a team, now the World Cup qualifiers are coming, step by step we are building a team. Of course, it will be better to build a team when you are playing Afcon but this time we did not qualify,” adding: “We are going to work and keep working and I think you guys are going to hear about us in the next couple of weeks and months, I can assure you.”

As a result, Ghana qualified for the AFCON for the 10th consecutive edition and will make their 24th participation in Ivory Coast with the hope of ending their championship drought and earning their fifth AFCON title since their last triumph in 1982.

The Black Stars have suffered three defeats in finals since then having fallen twice to Ivory Coast in 1992 and 2015 as well as another final defeat to Egypt in 2010.