Chapter 61: A night for the King [1]
The Abuja National Stadium throbbed like a living drum.
Green and white flags rippled across sixty thousand seats as brass bands lifted rhythms that felt older than the turf itself. And down the tunnel, Sam laced his SM10 boots, black and gold arcs catching the floodlights.
Kayla blew him a kiss from the family box.
He touched the pendant at his neck, then nodded to Victor Osimhen. "Let’s give them something to remember".
The starting XIs were released an hour ahead of the game.
For Nigeria, they started in a familiar 4-2-3-1 formation with Stanley Nwabali in goal, with a defensive lineup of Ola Aina, Troost-Ekong, Calvin Bassey, and Zaidu Sanusi. The two DMs were Wilfred Ndidi and Frank Onyeka.
Upfront were the quadruple of Samuel Chukweze, Ademola Lookman, Victor Osimhen, and Samuel Moses who played as the central attacking midfielder.
For Brazil, they started in a 4-3-3 with Alisson Becker in goal, with a defense comprising Danilo, Eder Militao, Marquinhos, and Renan Lodi. The midfield comprised Douglas Luiz, Bruno Guimaraes, and Lucas Paqueta.
As for the attacking trio, they were Rodrygo, Vinicius Jnr., and Endrick.
FWEEEE!
The referee’s whistle cut through the noise like a blade, and it started.
Nigeria started with intensity and energy.
Brazil tried to lower the tempo with side-to-side passing; Danilo to Militão, to Marquinhos, to Lodi, a calm heartbeat under a hostile sky. Then, snap! Paquetá popped between the lines and slipped Vinícius loose down the left.
Danger!
In just the 7th minute of the game, one-on-one with Aina, Vinicius did a feint, then a flash of speed before playing a low cut-back that fizzed across the six yard box.
Nwabali smothered, big and brave. The stadium exhaled, then roared.
Nigeria answered with speed.
Ndidi stole the rebound from Bruno, played a short pass to Onyeka who one-touched the ball to Sam. Sam took the ball on the half-turn, gliding away from Douglas Luiz, before threading a needle into the channel.
Chukwueze went on a streak, receiving the ball, executing a step over, before bursting past his man and down the right, and then, he squared the ball across the box towards Osimhen.
Whoosh!
The Galatasaray striker flung himself near post, studs just a bit short of the target. The stadium shook anyway; Abuja didn’t need a goal to believe.
But then, in the 10th minute of the game, Brazil got their first shot.
Brazil’s press bit again, helping them win the ball, then Guimarães clipped a lovely ball over Bassey for Endrick to leap into. The enigmatic striker chested and spun, then...
POW!
He pulled the trigger.
His shot skidded, but Nwabali parried to safety, palms stinging.
From the goal kick, Nigeria played brave, playing short passes between Troost-Ekong into Ndidi, then into Sam who dropped between the lines. Marquinhos stepped in, but too late.
Sam rolled him and opened the field like a curtain, spaces suddenly opening up in the Brazilian defense.
Lookman streaked down the outside, while Chukwueze tucked inside from the right. Danilo froze between choices, unsure of which player to track.
Taking advantage of his hesitance, Sam added art to geometry as he played a rabona, spraying the ball wide to Lookman. One touch, and Lookman whipped in a cross first-time.
Osimhen climbed above Militão, and headed towards goal but Alisson clawed it off the line, keeping Brazil in the game.
It was no goal, but still...
BOOM!
The noise that followed was like thunder as fans laughed from joy-drunk disbelief. Sam pointed at the turf, demanding for more.
In the 14th minute, Vinicius went at it again.
Squaring up against Aina again, with a double scissor and a shoulder dip, he burst down the line but Aina recovered with a last-ditch toe, taking the bump and the ball.
Vinícius grinned as he crashed to the pitch, but he accepted Aina’s help to stand up; respect conceded, rivalry confirmed. It was an epic duel down the left flank between both players.
Paquetá’s follow-up strike soon after screamed just over the bar.
Eric Chelle clapped. "Compact! Compact!" He yelled and with flicks of the hand, including small steps back, he directed his team as Nigeria shrank the space without shrinking the fight.
And then, in the 18th minute of the game, the deadlock was broken.
Ndidi stole from Douglas Luiz in a clean and surgical tackle, before immediately turning on the switch. Onyeka received and clipped a pass to Sam inside the 18-yard box.
Sam cushioned the ball off his chest, let Militão nibble at the bait, and then he rolled left into daylight.
Dragging defenders with him and causing panic in the Brazilian box, space opened up, and Sam threaded the pass that no one else saw.
Osimhen arrived roaring, forehead like a hammer. He hit the ball... Net!
GOAL!
Abuja erupted. Osimhen skidded to the corner, mask aloft as Sam chased him down and tackled him into the ad boards, laughing like boys in Abraka.
The big screen flashed.
[SM10 ➝ 9.]
Brazil jogged to the halfway line with the cool of a nation used to noise, but the volume wouldn’t come down.
Brazil didn’t take that lying down though, they fought for their equalizer.
Rodrygo drifted off the line to find the ball. One give-and-go with Paquetá, then a second to drag Sanusi central and space opened in the Nigerian defense.
Danilo overlapped and received the pass from Rodrygo before firing across the face of goal...
Endrick lunged, and he was just a stud’s width away from the equalizer.
The warning soon turned into a siren as Paquetá started to cook. With shoulder feints and velvet passes, he dominated, eventually finding Guimarães late on the edge of the box.
A first-time curler from the premier league player almost silenced the stadium but Nwabali flew, fingertips steering it over.
From the corner that followed, Marquinhos thumped a header that Troost-Ekong headed off the line. The captain thumped his heart in celebration as if he just scored a goal.
Then, Nigeria bit back through Chukwueze, who spun Lodi and won a dangerous free kick twenty-two yards out.
Sam stood over the ball. The Bernabéu curl replayed in every mind.
One question rang in the minds of everyone present.
’Can he do it again?’
Sam started the run-up.