Nigeria’s Super Eagles will receive a $2m (N715m) reward from Confederation of African Football, CAF, for their third place finish at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations that ended on Friday , July 19 in Cairo, Egypt, Completesports.com reports.
Winners, Desert Foxes of Algeria, will receive $4.5m while Teranga Lions of Senegal who emerged first runners-up, will collect $2.5m.
CAF unveiled all the participating teams’ earnings at the tournament with hosts, Pharaohs, who were eliminated in the second round, consoling themselves with $670, 000
Angola and Kenya and other teams who finished third in their groups will pocket $620, 000 each while those who reached the Round of 16 will earn $670,000 each. Those in this category, according to CAF include Cameroon, DR Congo, Benin Republic, Egypt, Guinea, Mali, Uganda and Ghana.
Quarterfinalists, Ivory Coast, Madagascar, South Africa and Benin, CAF said, will receive $800, 000 each with semi finalists, Super Eagles of Nigeria and the Carthage Eagles of Tunisia pocketing $2m each.
By Sab Osuji
COMMENTS
The baddest beast in the African jungle is the fox….the Fennec fox. Laughable, if you consider the animal itself. Nothing funny though about the Algerian team. They played more like tigers than foxes. Pacy and tricky going forward, robust in the tackle, and resilient in defense. A superb performance from a super team. Funny thing is, Nigeria had the KRYPTONITE for this super team. Unfortunately, this kryptonite had retired by the time the day of reckoning arrived. I’m talking about Victor Moses. His playing style was the stuff of nightmares for the Algerians. They could not cope with his direct running. Take a look at what he did to them in the world cup qualifiers. Victor Moses’ presence in the semifinal game would have forced the Algerians to approach the game differently, likely with a lot more caution. Of course, victory is never guaranteed. However, we would have had a better chance of beating Algeria if we had a fit, motivated Victor Moses in the match day line up. If wishes were horses. Victor Moses retired from the Super Eagles prematurely, and just like in Ighalo’s case, it is believed that he retired because of the barrage of insults and curses directed at his person and his family after the world cup. So, once again, we grab the old shot gun and blast a gaping hole in our foot! Appreciating players efforts is not only polite and respectful, it KEEPS THEM AVAILABLE FOR US! Winning football matches nowadays is hard enough. Let’s not make it harder by discouraging our best legs into early retirement.