Rise of a Football God

FWEEEE!

From the first minute of this game, one thing became very clear, Nigeria was the superior side.

On paper, they were the superior side and it showed on the pitch.

And since Nigeria was playing at home, buoyed by the loud noise of their home supporters as Sam watched the proceedings from the bench in awe, they dominated the visitors from Benin.

Nigeria started with a 3-4-3 formation against their opponents' 4-1-4-1 formation. Stanley Nwabali, the new face who displaced the former Nigerian number 1 during the last AFCON tournament to become the starting goalkeeper started in between the posts.

Ahead of him was the 3-center back partnership of Samuel Ajayi, William Troost-Ekong, and the solid Calvin Bassey.

The midfield comprised of Ola Aina, Ndidi, Alex Iwobi, and Onyemaechi.

As for the attack, the trio of Samuel Chukwueze, Victor Boniface, and Ademola Lookman started in that order from right to left.

When the game started, Nigeria overwhelmed Benin Republic.

On every aspect of this game, Nigerian dominated. They dominated possession, locked and won the midfield battle; their defenders completely locked the Benin Republic attackers out of the game while their own attackers consistently terrorized the Benin Republic backline.

The Super Eagles were imperious against their opponents, but the only thing lacking from their game so far was a goal.

Despite being dominated, the Benin Republic players all stayed deep, digging in to defend with their lives and it worked for some time, till it no longer worked.

Ademola Lookman, the mercurial winger who was in form opened the scoring during additional time of first half as after a trademark mazy run from the left side of the pitch, he blasted a perfect shot into the bottom right corner of the net, beating the Benin Republic goalkeeper.

"GOALLLL…!" The Nigerian stadium roared to life.

Ecstatic fans of the Super Eagles removed their green and white jerseys, waving it wildly with joy as they celebrated their team.

Acknowledging the adoration directed his way, Ademola Lookman charged towards the corner flag and under all the attention, jumped high and turned in mid-air before dishing out the famous suiii celebration.

"Suiiiii…!" The large chunk of the fans in the stadium did it with him.

That goal definitely deflated the Benin Republic enthusiasm, Victor Boniface was the one who grabbed the assist for the goal.

The first half ended with Nigeria already leading 1-0.

When second half started, the Benin Republic players finally came out of their shells, proving threatening within the first few minutes of the second half but it was all just the struggles of a cornered rat.

They withered soon after as the Nigerian domination continued.

And just like the first half, the scoring problem seemed to continue till Finidi George finally pulled the plug, making a few substitutions.

Having entered the game to replace Boniface at some point, Victor Osimhen utilized the few time he got as he lashed onto a well-driven cross, powering a header past the Benin Republic goalkeeper into the net in the 78th minute.

"GOALLLL…!" The Nigerian stadium exploded again.

"Victor Osimhen is on the mark again, the Nigerian striker is just electric!"

While the commentator raved, spreading his arms, Victor Osimhen charged towards the corner flag in celebration as his teammates swarmed him.

Watching from the bench, Sam felt his blood boil. He threw a hopeful glance at his coach but Finidi George did not even see it.

Sam was calm though; he was used to this.

That 2nd goal dampened the Benin Republic morale even more and finally, they gave up, fully retreating into their shells to prevent the score line from turning embarrassing but that was a mistake.

In the 83rd minute, Ademola Lookman doubled his tally for the day, making it 3-0 for Nigeria as he scored from a well driven low shot.

The Nigeria players were now enjoying themselves on the pitch.

And this was when in the 86th minute, Finidi George pulled the plug again, substituting Ndidi out and introducing Sam, the youngster into the game.

Sam almost could not believe his ears when the assistant coach informed him of the coach's decision. 'Yes! I hit the jackpot today!'

It was just 4 minutes, but it was 4 minutes of international football!

To Sam, that was all he wanted to make his debut.

When Sam entered the pitch, surprisingly, there was loud applause from the home fans, this was because they knew him mostly from his days in Enyimba FC.

This support made Sam even more excited as he entered the pitch.

'It's just 4 minutes, can I do something?'

'No, that's the wrong thinking,' he grinned. 'I have to do something'.

With the coach's 3-4-3 formation, there was no attacking midfielder, just central and defensive midfielders. When Sam received his international call-up, he already expected a situation like this.

'I won't get to play at my preferred position all the time'.

'This is not Enyimba, nor even Fulham. If I get to play for Barca one day, the same thing may apply though, I must prove that I absolutely own the position before I get to play on it consistently'.

'And here, it's even different. It's a much more daunting task since I'll literally have the coach change his playstyle just to fit me, an attacking midfielder'.

'Well, first, I have to prove my worth'.

When Sam entered the game, he chanted a new mantra. 'Calm! Stay calm'.

This way, he was able to contain the wild emotions of excitement in him, settling down and giving his all to focus on football.

During the first few minutes, Sam's impact was felt immediately in the center of the park as with him, Nigeria was able to hold on to possession more.

Bam! Bam!

He kept on passing balls with artistic fluidity like an elite central midfielder, spraying passes everywhere across the field to his teammates.

A few of his accurate long passes elicited cheers from the home fans.

Sam had very little time, but he did what he needed to do, maintaining a ridiculous 100% passing rate despite giving the most passes since entering the pitch.

On his debut for Nigeria, Sam's game was exceedingly tidy as he just passed, skipping past only 1 challenge at a time as he refrained from flashy dribbling.

He thought this tidiness would be the only aspect of his game he got to show to his coach to impress him but then in the 90th plus 3 minutes, he noticed Ademola Lookman raise an arm up before going on a run on the left side of the pitch.

'It's risky, a 50-50 chance, should I pass?'

Sam was hesitant to botch his pass completion rate, but then, was passing just what he came to do? 'F*ck it! When did I start settling for only passing?'

'Besides, it's Lookman, the man in form!'

BAM!Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Hitting the ball perfectly with the inside of his right foot, the ball curled upward past the full Benin Republic defense and then past Ademola Lookman's marker before falling perfectly in the path of the inform Nigerian winger.

The winger's pace was too much for his marker.

Lookman calmly took the ball in his strides, exploding forward with speed and immediately, a section of the home fans in the Nnamdi Azikiwe stadium stood up in excitement.

As the Nigerian winger charged in, Dandjinou, the Benin Republic goalkeeper charged out but maintaining his cool, Ademola Lookman calmly kicked the ball as it rolled in between the legs of the goalkeeper into his net.

"…!" For a brief moment, the stadium was silent, then…

"GOALLLLL…!" The home supporters roared again.

"What a performance from the Nigerian winger! And he got his hattrick! But what a delicious pass from the young teenager on his international debut!"

Ademola Lookman slid on his knees as he charged towards the corner flag in celebration before standing up, turning around and hugging Sam who already ran towards him excitedly to celebrate with him.

Sam felt on top of the moon. 'I got my first assist for Nigeria!'