The coach of Central African Republic’s national football team, Raoul Savoy has confessed that he will be relying heavily on Switzerland-based striker, Louis Mafouta to wreak havoc on the Super Eagles in their upcoming World Cup qualifiers.
Megasportsarena.com reports that, heading into the matches on October 7 in Lagos and 10th in Douala, Cameroon, where his side have been forced to play their home matches, Savoy stressed the importance of having Mafouta in his squad.
He added that the attacker, who plies his trade for Aide Brown Ideye’s former club, Neuchâtel Xamax attacker Louis Mafouta has been included for the qualifiers against Nigeria after he opted to pledge his international future to Central African Republic.
Born in Beaumont-sur-Oise, France 27 years ago, Mafouta is in red hot form at the moment, scoring nine goals and providing three assists in his last eight matches for Neuchâtel Xamax, with a total of six goals in 17 appearances for Les Fauves.
He has now gained an avalanche of accolades from CAR’s coach, who was among 3,075 spectators at Stade de la Maladière a week ago and saw Mafouta score a brace in Xamax’s 3-1 win over FC Stade-Lausanne-Ouchy.
The Switzerland-born football tactician is now expecting thrills from his ward against Nigeria, as he compared Mafouta to free-scoring Swiss international striker Haris Seferovic and Alex Frei, the nation’s top scorer in history with 42 goals.
Savoy said to Swiss leading newspaper, Le Matin: “I offered him his first selection in 2017. Mafouta is truly someone I rely on.
“Moreover, I have just called him up for the two matches that my team will play against Nigeria, on October 7 and 10, in the World Cup qualifiers.
“Louis is the type of modern forward that I like. He is a warrior, who never lets go and who can do repetitive races – he has at least four lungs!
“He really combines all the qualities: he is able to keep the ball, take the depth or “kill” a ball within sixteen meters.
“In fact, he has very few flaws. If I had to compare him to other forwards, I would quote Alex Frei or Haris Seferovic.”
