Super Eagles safely home after midair flight drama

Nigeria has arrived safely in Uyo on Sunday for Tuesday’s decisive World Cup qualifier after being caught in mid-air drama when their charter plane had to make an emergency landing in Angola.

The Super Eagles squad and staff were flying from Polokwane on Saturday back home after beating Lesotho 2-1 at the Peter Mokaba Stadium on Friday in their penultimate Group C qualifier.

They had stopped in Luanda for refueling and 25 minutes after take-off on Saturday afternoon were forced to turn back to the Angolan capital when the cockpit windscreen cracked.

The travelling party then waited for a new plane to fetch them before continuing their journey.

“Nigeria’s delegation safely returned to the country on Sunday morning, landing at the Obong Victor Attah International Airport at 8.05 am.

“Swift action by ValueJet Airline and Federal Government authorities enabled another ValueJet Airline aircraft to take off from Lagos and pick the team in Luanda. The airplane flew for two hours and 20 minutes from Luanda before landing in Uyo,” a statement from the Nigerian Football Federation said.

Nigeria were due to train later on Sunday ahead of their key clash with log leaders Benin, who arrived in Uyo on Saturday and had a training session on Sunday morning.

Nigeria must beat Benin by three goals or more to keep alive their hopes of qualifying but if that proves the case they also need Rwanda to prevent South Africa from winning when they meet in Nelspruit at the same time on Tuesday.