by Reuben Daba

The Liberian national football team, Lone Star, now has a good motivation to beat the Super Eagles of Nigeria when the two teams meet in a Nations Cup qualifier on October 13. N22 million worth of motivation.

The Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf announced that if the Lone Star beats the Super Eagles in the return leg of the 2013 Nations Cup qualifier in Calabar, Nigeria, they would earn $140,000 (about N22m). She said this while presenting a cheque of $75,000 to the ambitious Liberian team after they beat Ghana’s Black Stars during a friendly in Monrovia during the week.

Motivation or not, it’s still going to be a tough job for the Liberians to beat their Nigerian counterpart. To qualify, Liberia need to beat the Eagles or get at least a 3-3 draw, after the first leg in Monrovia had ended 2-2.

The winner of the two-legged clash will move to the next qualifying round for the South Africa 2013 African soccer tournament. Liberia have only appeared twice in the Nations Cup and that was in 1996 and 2002.

Speaking after Liberia’s win over Ghana’s Black Stars, the Liberian president said: “What we saw demonstrated the combination of  professionalism and team spirit. We are proud of you. And if you bring the Eagles down, we will more than double what we have given to you.”

Over to you, Super Eagles.