Benni McCarthy's Kenya pocketed quite a few million despite their quarter-final exit at the African Nations Championship (CHAN) on Friday.
The Harambee Stars' debut campaign came to a halt in the last eight after losing to Madagascar in the quarter-finals on Friday night.
McCarthy managed to guide the team out of the so-called 'Group of Death', which includes record winners Democratic Republic of Congo and Morocco.
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While the team have bid farewell to the tournament, they have managed to secure $450,000 (R8.8million) for reaching the quarter-final round.
CAF had increased the prize money for the competition, with the winner set take home a whopping $3.5 million (R61million) while the runners-up will get (R20million).
McCarthy, meanwhile, had nothing but praise for his players after reaching the knockout stage in their debut campaign.
“Nothing but proud of what we achieved. The players gave everything every single day in training and every match,” McCarthy said, as per CAFOnline.com. “
It was really good but football is like that, the lottery of penalties sometimes doesn’t go your way.
“It is a bit tough to go out this way. We expected a tough game but didn’t expect them to be this way. Their movement off the ball was great. I want to congratulate Madagascar for their passage to the semis.
“If you come to Kenya and can perform at such a stage with the fans and the noise, they deserve huge credit for having nerves of steel, especially in the penalty shootout.”
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