A plane carrying the Nigerian soccer team reportedly suffered a crack in its windshield during the flight, forcing it to make an emergency landing. The plane was carrying five Premier League stars at the time, who had returned to Nigeria after the match against Lesotho.
Nigeria faced Lesotho in a World Cup qualifier in South Africa on Friday, with the Super Eagles winning 2-1. William Troost-Ekong and Akole Adams scored for the visitors, while Hlomfo Karake scored for Lesotho. As a result, Nigeria placed third in CAF World Cup Qualifying Group C, three points behind leaders Benin and one point behind South Africa.
According to the Daily Mail, after the win against Lesotho, Nigeria boarded a chartered flight with ValueJet Airlines to travel to Uyo, where they are scheduled to play Benin in another World Cup qualifier on Tuesday. However, the pilots were forced to make an emergency landing 25 minutes into the flight.
The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) confirmed that the plane suffered a “major crack” in its windshield in mid-air before landing in Angola’s capital Luanda for a routine refueling stop.
“The @NGSuperEagles have finally arrived in Uyo after a delay in arriving in Luanda, Angola due to problems with their flight home after the win against Lesotho,” the NFF explained in an update posted on X (formerly Twitter) on Sunday morning.
Nigeria’s squad includes Fulham trio Alex Iwobi, Calvin Bassey and Samuel Chukwueze, as well as Brentford star Frank Onyeka and Wolves ace Tolu Arokodare.
Ademola Lookman, the former Everton, Fulham and Leicester attacker who is now part of a trade to Atalanta, is also part of Nigeria’s set-up, as is Besiktas midfielder Wilfred Ndidi, who spent eight-and-a-half years at Leicester and helped the Foxes win the FA Cup in 2021.
Meanwhile, Victor Osimhen, who has been rumored to be moving to the Premier League for the past few seasons, also led the front line against Lesotho as part of the Nigeria national team.
Nigeria played in the 1994 tournament in the United States and did not qualify for the World Cup until they reached the last 16.
They reached the same round in France four years later, but were eliminated in the group stages in South Korea and Japan in 2002.
The country also participated in the World Cup in 2010, 2014 and 2018, and reached the last 16 again in Brazil 11 years ago. However, the team lost to Ghana on away goals in a two-legged playoff in the final round of qualifying, so they missed the 2022 Qatar tournament.
