Nigeria’s Olympic football team will arrive in Japan hours before the opening Rio 2016 match owing to flight hiccups. The players complained about the size of the plane which was meant to convey them to the venue. Arrangements have however been made for them to leave on a bigger plane and arrive in time for kick-off against Japan.

“The players were uncomfortable with the size of the plane. The Government had to step in. The players have been assured of adequate medical care on the plane. It’s been challenging but most importantly we will be ready for the first game.” Team media officer Timi Ebikagboro told BBC Sport.

This embarrassing development is coming few days after players were stranded in Atlantic over flight payment.

“The money paid by the sports ministry for the charter flight did not hit airline’s account on Tuesday so they refused to fly the team to Brazil,” a source close to the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) revealed.