Football stars are jetting off to their respective countries for the international break, but one Premier League duo’s flight was particularly frightening.
A plane carrying Newcastle United’s Bruno Guimarães and Joelinton was forced to make an “emergency U-turn” en route to South Korea. The Magpies pair were called up to the Brazil squad by Selecao manager Carlo Ancelotti.
They were scheduled to arrive in Seoul, South Korea, before joining up with the rest of their international teammates. However, as the plane was en route to the Asian country, a window broke, prompting the pilot to make a U-turn and return to Amsterdam.
Despite being in the air for the better part of 12 hours, the Newcastle stars only made it as far as the Dutch capital. They are now expected to take another flight to land on Wednesday.
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According to reports in Brazil, Guimarães is scheduled to arrive in South Korea first, while Joelinton is expected to travel from Amsterdam. The latter is expected to arrive last, as Guimarães is scheduled to take a connecting flight through another country.
Brazil will hold a training session at Goyang Stadium starting at 4pm local time, where thousands of enthusiastic Korean fans are expected to gather. As a result of this timing, Joelinton is thought to be absent from public practice, but it is currently unclear whether Guimarães will be able to make it in time.
The pair are expected to be available for Friday’s friendly match between Brazil and South Korea. After the friendly, they will hop on another plane and head to Tokyo for next Tuesday’s match against Japan.
Once their international duties are complete, the pair will have to embark on the grueling 5,768-mile journey back to the North East before playing against Brighton & Hove Albion on October 18th. Brazil’s World Cup qualification campaign ended with a 1-0 defeat away to Bolivia during their final international break.
Brazil flew close to the sun during their qualifying campaign and almost missed out on qualifying for the World Cup altogether. They ended up in 5th place, 10 points behind the qualifying leaders Argentina.
Their record of 28 points from 18 games is below par and the worst in qualifying history. If they had recorded the same performance in the 2022 World Cup qualifying campaign, they would have failed to reach the World Cup finals for the first time in their history.
Guimarães and Joelinton could be big names next year when they compete in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Both players have been huge players for Newcastle over the last few seasons.
Eddie Howe’s side defeated Nottingham Forest 2-0 in their last Premier League game before the international break. With a record of 2 wins, 3 draws, and 2 losses, the team entered the Premier League break in 11th place.
After the trip to Brighton, Newcastle face Jose Mourinho’s Benfica in the Champions League before returning to St James’ Park to host Fulham in their next Premier League game.
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