Rise of a Football God

For the next 3 days, news around the football world were focused on 1 specific event, the approaching FIFA World Cup final between Manchester City, the reigning European Champions and the champions from Africa.

Before that day, not many people knew or had even heard of Enyimba FC but after the game against Fluminense, the name Enyimba FC entered the map.

Fans across the world learned the identity of Man City's final opponents.

And by learning about Enyimba FC, they also progressed, learning about their exploits last season, rising up as underdogs against all odds all the way to the CAF champions league final and winning in incredible fashion.

It was the perfect underdog story.

And by learning this incredible story, they also learned about the boy wonder who spearheaded the Enyimba heroics last season, Samuel Moses.

Learning the fact that the season prior to the 2022/2023 season, Enyimba FC literally went trophy less lent even more credibility to the team's achievements and most importantly, Sam's brilliance.

Adding the fact that Enyimba FC crashed out of the FA cup immediately after he suffered an injury only added more substance to his legend.

The legend of the African Zidane rising from the suburbs of Abraka, Nigeria, rising to the top of African football, sweeping away all competition.

It was not an official book but articles like this started popping up and circulating around social media, and with popular football social media pages like GOAL.COM and others fanning the flames, a certain player experienced a popularity surge again.

All across Nigeria and beyond, fans wearing jerseys with the name Sam and the number 19 started circulating all over social media.

And most of these fans didn't wear his name on number on the Enyimba FC jersey and colors, rather wearing it in their own club colors.

There were fans from England doing it, fans from even Germany and France, and some from Spain too.

With all this publicity suddenly surrounding him at the age of 18, Sam would have been overwhelmed if not for the ever-present support of his family and his coach. Coach Yemi Daniel was ever ready to help and keep Sam grounded.

Despite the fact that his social media followership exploded, with tons of crazy accounts chatting him up, some even sending him nudes and asking him to be their girlfriend, Sam managed to ignore it all, training diligently alongside his teammates for their date against Man City in a few days.

For this game, Coach Yemi Daniel went gaga, coaching his players with incredible detail on a lot of tactical nuances and know-hows.

"I've never seen the coach give so much for just 1 game," Austin told Sam one day. "Damn, he really wants us to pull off a miracle, do you think we can?"

Sam looked at his captain. "I don't know, but I do hope we do".

All the players put in more than 100% in training, making sure they were in tip-top shape and finally, like the rolling pages of a book, 3 days passed swiftly and it was already D-day.

It was 22nd December.

Enjoy new adventures from empire

The match for 3rd place between Urawa Reds of Japan and Fluminense of South America was played first in the afternoon.

Just like the world expected, Fluminense came roaring from the very first minute of the game, leaving their stamp of authority on the game.

They dominated the first half, running Urawa Reds ragged, a first-half performance that culminated in a convincing 0-2 score line.

During half-time, the Urawa Reds coach did his thing, motivating his players the Jose Mourinho way as they all came out for the second half like hungry Lions.

In the first 10 minutes, their high energy tactic paid off as they caught Fluminense off-guard, scoring a goal in the 54th minute to cut down the score line by half.

Fluminense were not having it though, they were not about to have another Enyimba FC here and botch the chance to collect the bronze medal.

Reminded of scars past by that goal, the Fluminense players reacted like an angry Chicken whose eggs were stolen by a Hawk.

And when a mother Hen was angry, she would turn heaven and earth upside down until she avenges her children and finds peace.

It was not strange for mother Hen to take off flying like Eagles in pursuit of Hawks when it came to their eggs, and in this game, Fluminense truly took off like Eagles after the score line was halved by Urawa Reds.

The intensity for the next 15 minutes turned borderline crazy as both teams ran each other to the ground. After withstanding the pressure for 15 minutes, Urawa Reds finally wilted under the pressure of a superior opponent.

In the 70th minute, the Fluminense attacking midfielder thundered in another outside the box rocket shot that left the Urawa Reds goalkeeper eating grass.

The ball rushed through the field like a bullet, nestling into the bottom right corner of the net and doubling Fluminense' lead again.

Just 3 minutes later, in the 73rd minute, the same attacking midfielder made it a game to remember, finishing off an incredible team play from Fluminense as he tapped the ball into an empty net.

In the 73rd minute, Fluminense tripled their lead, making the score line 1-4 in their favor. The fans in attendance watching the game were thoroughly entertained.

After scoring the goal, the Fluminense midfielder charged towards the corner flag before doing a backflip in celebration.

The Fluminense players were flying and in a good mood.

For the remaining minutes of the game, they enjoyed themselves with the ball, dominating possession, playing neat tiki taka football, with some occasional dizzying moments of brilliance from the Fluminense wingers as they cut through their opponents with brilliant dribbles like a hot knife through butter.

By the 90th minute, Urawa Reds was already humiliated. This did not stop the Japanese team from scoring a second consolation goal though as in the last minute of the game, they scored a 2nd goal.

The 3rd place game ended 2-4 in Fluminense' favor after an incredible display.

Fluminense won the bronze medal of the 2023 FIFA Club World Cup.

And finally, all the attention turned to the final.