Rise of a Football God

Since the Nigerian FA cup was a straight knock-out tournament, Coach Yemi Daniel fielded his strongest available starting line-up for the next game.

And since they played their opponents at home, they had an advantage.

FWEEEE!

From the first whistle, it became clear that one of the Enyimba FC players didn't let up yet and was still in the form of his life, the player in question being Samuel Moses as he dominated the first half.

In this game, Sam played at his best again, terrorizing the Plateau United backline as the fans kept on chanting his name.

"Sam!" "Sam!" "Sam!"

In the first half alone, he created 8 clear-cut chances but his teammates were unable to capitalize and score to give Enyimba FC the lead.

He tried going for it alone a few times but considering that a player was assigned to man-mark him, he did not have the chance to enter dangerous positions, forced to settle with creating chances for his teammates instead.

At the last minute of additional time of the first half though, something horrible happened as with the ball, holding possession, Sam tried to play another defense-splitting pass when a Plateau United player charged in with his boots high to intercept the pass.

Sam saw the danger, he tried to dodge at the last moment but it was already too late as this player's boot hit him square on his knee, pushing it back.

Sam jerked before collapsing on the pitch.

Thud!

As soon as he collapsed on the pitch, he felt his world go dark as he was overwhelmed by a wave of pain like a tide.

Sam was in so much pain that he couldn't even scream.

He heard thudding sounds as his teammates charged towards him, he heard them shout, angrily clashing with the Plateau United players and he noticed some of them run to his position, checking on him before calling for the medical staff.

"Sam! Are you ok? Can you hear me?"

"Hey! Sam, are you ok?" Their voice was distorted.

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Enyimba International Stadium was silenced as the home fans, horrified, could only place their hands on their heads, praying and hoping against the worst.

Sam was unresponsive though. The medical staff soon stretchered him off the pitch in a hurry even as the packed stadium stayed silent.

And with it, the referee finally responded, handing the Plateau United who flew on the tackle a straight red card. The player didn't complain, knowing the severity of what he did as he walked out of the pitch.

The referee signaled for the Enyimba FC coach to make his changes.

On the touchline, Coach Yemi Daniel had his hands on his head, watching as his best player was stretchered off the pitch.

This coach's head was spinning in circles. 'Why?' He thought.

'Why?!'

'F*ck! Why?!'

"Coach, we need to make a change". His assistant reminded.

"Oh, yes, we need to make a change," he looked at his assistant before glancing at where his player was stretchered towards away from the pitch. "You do it, put Emmanuel on the pitch".

"I'm leaving everything to you".

Right there, Coach Yemi Daniel abandoned everything, his team, the fans, and the Nigerian FA cup and followed the stretcher into the ambulance as Sam was rushed to the hospital.

By the time the ambulance moved, Sam was already unconscious. They didn't know if it was because of the pain or another thing.

Arriving at the nearest hospital, the doctor quickly attended to him and the fears were allayed.

Coach Yemi Daniel was pacing around when the doctor met him.

"You're Yemi Daniel right?"

"Yes, sir, please, how is he?"

The doctor smiled. "He suffered a regular knee injury".

"How long will he take to recover?"

"A month, maybe 2, depending on how resilient his body is but considering that he's just 17, I think it will be 2 months".

"I read the report, playing a 17-year-old in so many games, you really overworked his young legs".

Coach Yemi Daniel scratched his hair awkwardly. "I know doctor, and that's why I feel so guilty. I should have rested him in more games".

"It's fine," the doctor waved his hand dismissively. "He'll recover".

"He's still asleep, you can check up on him when he wakes up".

"Thank you, doctor, I appreciate it".

Coach Yemi Daniel was about to enter the hospital room when he heard a phone ring. It was not his ringing tone though. Looking at it, it was Sam's phone.

(Incoming call from Best Mom…)

Seeing the name on the screen, this middle-aged coach gulped, but then he picked the call only to be exposed to a barrage.

"Sam! Sam, is that you?"

"Where are you?"

"How are you doing?"

"Ma, it's me, your son's coach".

"You evil man!" Mrs. Moses screeched. "What did you do to my son? I said it, you never had good intentions for him from the beginning!"

"What did you do to my son?"

"Ma'am, please calm down…"

"Don't tell me to calm down, where is my son? Where is he?!"

On the phone, she was already crying. "They've done it! All these envious witches and wizards, they won! They've gotten my son!"

"Oh God, what did I do to deserve this?"

"I didn't commit a crime to let my son play football, God why?!" She wailed.

Coach Yemi Daniel forced himself to stay calm. "Ma'am, we're in the Aba General Hospital, your son is fine, he just suffered an injury…"

"Don't tell me that! Don't tell me that after…"

There was some struggling noise, then another scream. "Moses, give me back my phone! How dare you…?" Her voice was cut off.

"Coach Yemi, it's me, Sam's father".

"Oh, good evening sir, how are you doing?"

"I'm fine, please how is my son?"

"He's fine now, the doctor said he suffered a knee injury, he'll take a few months to recover".

"Oh, good, I feared for the worst". Mr. Moses chuckled. "We're on our way to Abia State now, please wait for us".

"Ok, sir".

"About my wife, sorry…"

"Don't worry, I understand, this is not my first time dealing with women". Coach Yemi Daniel chuckled.

"Thank you for understanding".

And with that, Mr. Moses finally cut the call.

Sitting alongside Sam's bed in the hospital room, Coach Yemi Daniel finally opened his phone and paid attention to his team's game.

The game already went to extra-time.

Despite playing Plateau United with a man down, with Sam gone, Enyimba FC became clueless in attack, lacking teeth. The 90 minutes of full-time ended with the game still goalless.

He watched all extra-time on his phone. Despite having the numbers advantage on the pitch, Enyimba FC failed to capitulate on their chances as the game went to penalties.

Coach Yemi Daniel watched agonizingly as his team lost on penalties to Plateau United. It was a valiant Plateau United performance in Enyimba's home.

This coach sighed. "It was not meant to be".

Just after winning the double of the CAF champions league and the NPFL title, Enyimba FC suffered a minor setback right after as they were knocked out of the 2022/2023 season iteration of the Nigerian FA cup.