THE Nigeria football team have landed home safely after being forced to make an emergency landing on Friday.
The Super Eagles had travelled to Lesotho for a World Cup qualifier and won 2-1 in a huge boost to their hopes of making next year’s tournament.
But on their journey back their plane was forced to carry out an emergency landing after a malfunction.
A “heavy” crack in the windscreen of the plane appeared just 25 minutes after take-off from Luanda, Angola, following a routine refuelling stop.
The pilot of the ValueJet Airline aircraft initiated emergency procedures and returned to the airport.
All passengers, including players, staff and government delegates, were evacuated safely.
The Nigeria team were filmed arriving in Uyo in their home country after the scary ordeal.
The Super Eagles team features Premier League stars such as Fulham’s Calvin Bassey and Samuel Chukwueze, as well as Brentford’s Frank Onyeka.
The trio were seen making their way off the plane, in addition to a crop of other big-name stars.
Galatasaray forward Victor Osimhen was also part of the group, as was Atalanta star Ademola Lookman.
The video was shared by the Nigeria national team account ahead of their must-win qualifier against Benin on Tuesday.
They wrote: “Touchdown in Uyo! Focus shifts to Benin, we go for the win! #Naija4theWin #SoarSuperEagles.”
Officials had been attempting to fly out another aircraft from Lagos to collect the players and fly them out to Uyo.
The incident delayed the arrival of players in Uyo ahead of their clash against Benin but are now hoping to quickly switch their focus despite the worrying scare.
The team are third place in their World Cup qualifying group, three points behind leaders Benin.
Nigeria have three wins, five draws and one defeat from their nine games so far.
They must beat Benin to have a realistic chance of making the cut for the World Cup, which will be staged in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Only the group winners will qualify automatically for the tournament, while the four best runners-up will go into a play-off round.
Nigeria are desperate to qualify after missing the 2022 tournament in Qatar, which was their first time they failed to qualify for a World Cup since 2006.
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