Chapter 62: A night for the King [2]
Sam took three steps before making contact...
Bam!
He struck, but the wall deflected wide.
He laughed and shook his head. "Next one." It was not every day that Samuel Moses could conjure miracles out of his box.
In the 31st minute, Endrick went at it again.
Brazil’s starlet darted across the front of Ekong and Bassey with a movement that felt taught rather than learned. Paquetá popped the pass, Endrick killed it dead and reversed a shot toward the near post.
Nwabali read it and made an incredible heel save as Abuja sang the goalkeeper’s name like a drumline.
But eventually, all that pressure finally got an end product.
In the 34th minute, Guimarães slid a vertical pass between Ndidi and Onyeka to the left where Vinícius ghosted inside Aina with pace, taking the ball in stride. He took one touch to set, then another to paint.
He aimed at the far corner. The ball went low, and kissed the net.
GOAL!
The celebration was pure Viní as he bounced towards the corner flag, arms wide, grin sharp.
Brazil huddled, eyes bright with conviction to win. Nigeria regrouped into togetherness, Bassey barking orders, Ndidi marshalling, while Sam clapped and pointed. "Heads up!"
Just 3 minutes later, in the 37th minute, Sam finally stung like a bee.
Onyeka wrestled the ball off Douglas Luiz and shoved it at Sam in traffic. He received the ball with a man on each shoulder, but keeping his composure, he rolled off Marquinhos with a dancer’s pivot, and the space opened.
Twenty-five yards out, but Sam didn’t hesitate. He ripped it.
POW!
The ball flew like a missile but Alisson sprang and palmed at it. The rebound squirmed out of the goalkeeper’s grasp, and a lurking Lookman pounced, but he only hit the ball into the side-netting.
"F*ck!" He cursed and slapped his thigh, before grinning with equal parts frustration and disbelief.
Kayla stood in the box, both hands on her head, laughing. "That was close. Come on, you guys can do it!"
By the 40th minute, it turned into a game of patterns and plans. And for a period of time, it turned into a game of chess.
Brazil recycled the ball from side to side, testing both flanks with increasing regularity in hopes of finding a weakness in behind to exploit and finally get the goal that would put them ahead in the game.
While Brazil pressed, amping the tempo as the first half drew to an end, Nigeria set the snare, patiently waiting for a mistake to expose them.
Eventually, Ndidi created Nigeria’s luck as he stepped late to trap Bruno, giving Bassey the opening to bite onto Endrick’s back and challenge for the ball.
When the ball squirted out, Sam dropped into that hybrid pocket where he is playmaker and storm.
He received the ball calmly and with a deft touch skipped past Endrick who recklessly charged to win back the ball after losing it, leaving the young Brazilian striker on the ground.
Gasps and laughter erupted around the stadium but Sam was already moving. He ran the length of the pitch with the ball, scanning for an opening before slipping a reverse pass behind Lodi.
Chukwueze caught it, took the angle narrow, and toe-poked towards the near post but on top of his game, Alisson blocked the shot and Militão swept, clearing the danger.
On the other end, Brazil went at it again as Rodrygo tested Sanusi with a stutter-and-go, forcing the defender into committing a foul as he won a free kick. Paqueta took the free kick and floated it in dangerously.
Troost-Ekong won the first header, Bassey won the second, and Aina volleyed the third out into Row Z in the stadium, earning cheers from the Nigerian fans. They were enjoying the game.
In the 43rd minute, it was pure chaos as Stanley Nwabali and Bassey pulled off a stunning save and a goal-line clearance to keep Nigeria in the game.
Brazil broke free on a counter three-on-three, and they were efficient, passing the ball fluidly. Paquetá passed to Vinícius, who squared to Endrick, who laid it off to Rodrygo, then... BANG!
Nwabali got both gloves behind it, parrying hard, but Paquetá followed the rebound. Reacting to the danger, Calvin Bassey threw his frame in, blocking with his torso as he took both the sting and the applause from the fans.
Nigeria countered immediately.
Sam carried the ball for seventy meters as he switched on the afterburners, abusing his pace as he ate yards of grass like they were not there.
Once he met opposition, he didn’t stop. With an Elástico, he surged past Douglas Luiz, before rolling past Marquinhos with a roulette, and as the angle opened, he smashed towards goal.
Alisson answered with a two-fist shutter in a matchup of the world’s best goalkeeper vs the world’s best striker.
Alisson pulled off the save as Abuja sang both the duel and the defiance.
The board showed +2 minutes after 45 minutes.
The Super Eagles wanted the last word of the first half and so they dug in. Ndidi dinked a delicious diagonal to Lookman, who cushioned inside to Sam.
Sam took a millisecond pause to unsettle the defense, before playing a disguised scoop through two yellow shirts.
Osimhen spun before unleashing a shot on the pivot, but alert, Militão’s calf diverted it wide.
Corner kick.
Sam jogged across to play the corner. He was not naturally the player in charge of corner kick duties, but feeling in the mood, he took it.
He played it short to Chukwueze who handed it back, then dragging Danilo a yard off, he whipped a devilish cross at the near post.
Osimhen charged, beating his marker before leaping after the ball like a soaring Eagle, outstretching his boot but his boot was just a length from glory.
And then, the whistle finally sounded.
FWEEE!
[HALFTIME: Nigeria 1-1 Brazil]
What a half!
Players jogged off with lungs pumping and eyes shining.
Vinícius and Aina bumped fists, the grin still there, the challenge still alive between both players. Paquetá and Sam crossed paths, and they gave mutual nods in respect to what they just did on the pitch.
Eric Chelle’s finger drew arrows in the air. "Win the first duel, win the second ball, and we’ll breakthrough," he muttered to his players in the dressing room.
Carlo Ancelotti was calmer. "Breathe," he said. "Calm down and breath, then bite."
The Abuja National Stadium never sat. A band struck a fresh rhythm, and the stands sang what they always sing to their own.
"Super Eagles... carry us!"
Sam pressed the pendant to his chest once, then lifted his head as if the whole stadium were a mirror.
Forty five minutes had told a story of equals, forty five more would write the legend of the king’s homecoming.