Nigerian press about the national team: "That trash extorted money from us"

"Cameroon had problems with footballers and their desire to get as much money as possible. How did it end? With three lost matches, nine goals scored against Cameroon and disrespectful returns. Nigeria did not learn - we also ended up in that dirty pool," wrote Nigeria's newspaper "Vanguard". On Monday, another African country, Nigeria, said goodbye to the World Cup in Brazil. In the quarterfinal match, it lost 0-2 to France and ended its tournament appearance. However, Nigeria is not proud of its country's players - on the contrary, they talk about them as evil that should not happen again. And all because of the same money - prize money that was promised to the footballers. The situation with prizes for the Nigerian football team escalated after the lost match to the French - the country's media mercilessly criticizes the Nigerians. Before the quarterfinals of the World Championships, Nigeria's team players caused turmoil in their country by refusing to train in Brazil until they were paid the promised bonuses by the federation. Nigeria's football federation, like many other world federations, had planned to pay bonuses and prizes to players for their performance in Brazil. However, the footballers were afraid that after the championship, they would see those bonuses disappear. This had already happened during the 2010 World Cup. The Nigerian national team, which was supposed to train in Campinas, sent messages from Brazil to the country - if you don't give us money, there will be nothing. And they went on strike - they did not show up for training, the team discussed the possibility of not playing the match against France. "Cameroon was ashamed in front of the whole world - the country's team managers flew cash to the footballers. 3 million dollars, and the world press laughed - money doesn't play, players who want honor. So instead of thinking about the match against France, our men focused all their attention on the money demands," writes "Vanguard". "It's blackmail, extortion. Eagles don't behave like that. This is blackmail that the country's president Jonathan had to resist, but couldn't. And again the plane and again the money, carried by Nigeria's sports minister. And how will the footballers feel now, when they lost and know that the whole country put money on them. They put it and hoped for work, success. Who acted honorably?" writes "Daily Champion". "Seeing how Nigeria played the second half of the match on Monday night was hard to watch. They did not live up to the expectations. Yes - we made it to the quarterfinals, but Cameroon, Ghana and Senegal even without money managed to make it to the quarterfinals in previous championships. Those scammers took our money - we gave it to them. And what do we have?" - asks "Vanguard".

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