Rise of a Football God

In the dressing room, the Enyimba FC players sat, slightly tense as they looked up at their coach who paced up and down the room.

For the past few months since the start of the NPFL season, Enyimba FC had a difficult time with injuries. Only their defense was still stalwart as across the midfield and forward lines, they already suffered multiple injuries already.

Maybe it was luck but as December approached, most of the Enyimba players in the injury list finally made their return.

At the moment, Cyril Olisema was the only important Enyimba FC player still injured and with Farouk's return, his spot in the starting XI was not even guaranteed.

Austin already returned some time ago and worked his way back to fitness already, but Emeka was still not in tip top shape for the FIFA Club World Cup.

Despite this, his name was in the starting XI.

Enyimba FC simply didn't have the budget to poach another center forward of his qualifications. Coach Yemi Daniel had no choice but to work with what he had, and so far, the coach was doing a good job.

After about a minute of pacing around, Coach Yemi Daniel finally stopped and with his hands resting on his waist akimbo, he finally addressed them.

"It's our first game of the FIFA Club World Cup".

"You know what our fans want," he paused, letting that sink in first then he continued. "You also know what I want".

"Al-Ittihad may be strong but we are no push-overs too".

"On paper, we're a stronger team so let's go there and do what we do best in knock-out stages of tournaments," Coach Yemi Daniel grinned. "Last season, we performed miracles to win the CAF champions league".

He looked around at his players' faces. "Are we out of miracles?"

"No". Only Austin answered.

"Come on!" Coach Yemi spread his hands, dissatisfied. "Come on guys, are we out of miracles?!" He said in a louder voice, then…

"NO COACH!" The players roared.

Coach Yemi grinned. "That's what I thought".

"Boys, let's go out there and play our best football".

"Let's enjoy ourselves".

He looked at his wristwatch, checking the time. "We have 90 minutes to wrap this up".

Thinking of something, he smiled. "I don't know about you guys, but I can't wait to lock heads against Pep Guardiola come 22nd".

He looked at his striker. "Emeka, don't you want to test your ability against the proclaimed best striker in the world?"

"Don't you want to rub shoulders with Erling Haaland?"

Hearing that, Emeka clenched his fists instinctively, feeling his blood boil.

Coach Yemi Daniel grinned. "Thought so, so better not get injured".

He looked at his 2-star midfielders. "Manchester City have some of the best midfielders in the whole world. Austin, who knows? Just one game, maybe it's that game against a team of that caliber that'll help you raise your game to a new level".

"Sam, you too".

He grinned again. "Don't you want to rub shoulders with Kevin De Bruyne?"

What else did his players need to hear to raise their mood to cloud 9?

Well, that was all they needed.

Experience more on empire

At the moment, Manchester City was the best club in the world bar none. The Enyimba FC players never really paid attention to it before now but with their coach reminding them, they remembered, Man City was also in this competition!

What other motivation did they need to win than the prospects of playing against the best club in the world?

FWEEEE!

As soon as the referee's whistle sounded, starting the game, Enyimba FC kicked off the game as they came out roaring like a Dragon.

For a moment, it felt like a role switch was in play.

For a moment, it didn't feel like Al-Ittihad was the club playing at home at all. Rather, Enyimba FC played like they were the one with the home advantage.

They played like they were in their backyard, in the Enyimba International Stadium and with such a performance, results followed.

For the first 20 minutes of the game, Enyimba FC dominated, posting ridiculous statistics of 73% possession against Al-Ittihad's 27%.

Al-Ittihad tried to wrestle control over the game but they couldn't, Enyimba FC's midfield trio were all in the zone state, playing at an otherworldly level.

The first goal of the game came from one of them.

Playing tiki taka football in the middle of the pitch, Farouk set his more advanced partners up as with short one-two passes, Sam and Austin penetrated into the Al-Ittihad 18-yard box till Sam set his captain up with a neat flick.

The ball was set up for Austin almost perfectly, away from the onrushing defenders and the center midfielder did not hesitate, rifling the ball into the net.

In the 12th minute of the game, Enyimba FC led 1-0.

Just 3 minutes later, in the 15th minute of the game, after an impressive hold up play from Emeka, the Enyimba center forward set up the rampaging attacking midfielder who was on top of his game today, leaving the ball to him to shoot.

Sam did not miss his mark, hitting the ball with venom and rifling it into the top right corner of the net with imperious power.

The Al-Ittihad goalkeeper stood no chance.

2 goals in 4 minutes!

From there on, Enyimba FC totally dominated the first half, blowing out their opponents with a third goal once again set up by Sam.

This time, Victor finished the attack, putting his name on the scoresheet.

Enyimba FC went to half-time leading their opponents 3-0 but by then, the game was already decided because they didn't just win against Al-Ittihad today, they literally annihilated them, swept them under the rug, mutilated them!

The Al-Ittihad morale was at an all-time low.

In the dressing room, Coach Yemi Daniel was all smiles. "Good job boys, good job".

In the second half, Coach Yemi subbed off Emeka but it didn't affect anything. Enyimba FC played safe in the second half, not wanting to risk an injury as they executed their coach's orders to the book, focusing on maintaining possession.

In the 60th minute, Austin was subbed off for a more defensive player.

10 minutes later, Sam was also subbed off.

The second half ended in a goalless draw, giving Enyimba FC a straight ticket to the semi-final of the 2023 FIFA Club World Cup as they swept the Saudi Arabian giants aside with a convincing 3-0 score line.

The publicity in the CAF champions league is much, but it held no candle to the publicity surrounding the FIFA Club World Cup.

After that impressive performance, Enyimba FC entered the world's radar.

The second round of the tournament was over, and on to the semifinals.