Penalty call was correct, Nigeria’ll beat Ghana convincingly in Abuja —Pinnick

President of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Amaju Pinnick has expressed his satisfaction with the officiating of the game between the Super Eagles and Ghana on Friday night.

The Eagles played a goalless draw with the Black Stars in Kumasi, leaving the 2022 World Cup playoff in the balance ahead of the second leg in Abuja.

Nigeria thought they had won the game when a penalty was awarded following a handball by Ghanaian player Iddrisu Baba late on, but after a VAR review the decision was overturned.

Pinnick said it was a good call that the referee rescinded his decision, stating that the Eagles would still defeat their opponents when they meet again on Tuesday.

“I think the referee did well. It was a correct call. The Nigerian player pushed Baba Iddrisu and that made him touched the ball,” said Pinnick

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“We have no problem with officiating. However, will win convincingly at home. Our team is better but we were unfortunate today. Football is football.”

Meanwhile, Super Eagles interim technical adviser, Austin Eguavoen was careful not to criticize the referee for overturning the penalty decision.

A year before the 1994 World Cup, Eguavoen, a fullback in his playing days, had agreed terms to join West Brom but the deal was not completed because he was suspended for six months after falling out with a referee in Belgium.

“I think it (the scoreline) is still good enough. I don’t like to speak about referees because I was suspended at some point in time in my career.

“I had a chance to go and play in England. As a player I had it rough with the referee for bad decisions and I was suspended for a very long time, so referees I just leave them to their fate,” said the coach

The Super Eagles will face the Black Stars at the Moshood Abiola Stadium in Abuja on Tuesday for the return leg of the tie, with winners on aggregate advancing to the finals in Qatar.

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