31st Jan 2014 – And CHAN 2014 has officially reached the finals stage after highly dramatic semi finals. Libya first beat Zimbabwe 5 – 4 in the penalties to win the first final place ticket, and then Africa waited with bated breath for results of the Nigeria-Ghana match. Despite playing against a 10 man Ghanaian team, Nigeria was unable to effectively hit goal and lost 4 – 1 to Ghana on penalties, squandering 2 of the goal attempts during the penalty. This means that Libya will face Ghana in the finals and Nigeria will wrestle Zimbabwe for third place.
Sadly, this means that the Super Eagles will be forfeiting the second $100,000 promised by the Minister of Sports and Chairman of the National Sports Commission (NSC), Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, if the home-based Eagles to pocket won the ticket to the final of the African Nations Championship.
The Super Eagles had already been offered a $100,000 bonus by the NSC and this appears to have played a major part in the biggest come-back in the history of the tournament when Nigeria upturned an initial 3-0 deficit to defeat Morocco 4-3 in extra time.
Mallam Abdullahi stated the incentives are government’s way of motivating the players to give their best and triumph over their opponents.