The Nigerian men’s soccer team opened play on Thursday with a 5-4 victory against Japan in Manaus, Brazil. That is not the amazing part. The amazing part is that Nigeria did so after their plane landed in Brazil less than seven hours before their match, thanks to the kind of travel nightmares that keep you up at night before a trip home for the holidays.
The Nigerian men’s soccer team won its opener despite severe travel nightmares
Jeff Gross/Getty Images
The Nigerian men's soccer team woke up on Thursday in Atlanta, roughly 3,000 miles away from where it played soccer that night. The situation wasn't by design. Nigeria attempted to fly to Brazil from Atlanta on Wednesday, but had plane issues. The team was scheduled to fly on a 30-person aircraft, but there were concerns among the players that the plane was too small.
Players were not too comfortable with the size of craft so made an appeal which the FG listened to and so hired the flight, it leaves 2/3
— Timi Ebikagboro (@ebikagboro) August 3, 2016
There was a plan in place to get a new plane booked on Wednesday, but there was a delay in processing the payment, according to the BBC. Everything was settled by Thursday, but that didn’t leave much time spare in the itinerary. The team left Atlanta at 8:21 a.m. ET, and landed at 3:07 p.m. Rio time for a 10 p.m. game.
About 5 hours https://t.co/vClMYha6Kw
— Colin NOT Collins (@ColinUdoh) August 3, 2016
Having to play a game of this importance just a few hours after a long flight is hardly ideal. The good news for Nigeria was that the new plane was said to have luxury accommodations, so hopefully it was at least a comfortable flight.
