What else could Sam say in the face of his best friend?
Ian was the person who knew him best in the whole world. Despite the fact that he already abandoned football for 4 years, only his best friend knew that deep inside, he still had that excitent to the re ntion of a football.
Did he still love football?
Honestly, Sam did not know the answer to that, after all, football broke his heart but Ian's words were enough to perform the magic.
He was like a glutton that had been starved for ages.
Besides, his ntal resistance was already being worn down since morning, he could not bring himself to reject his best friend. 'Even people who don't watch football normally are going to watch this, what's the harm in watching?'
'Besides, I can't get injured from just watching, right?'
'And who knows? This may be the day…, the day my idol finally shuts up all the critics who use his international career against him in argunts'.
'The day to finally shut up the haters'.
Since 2011, Sam had been a big Lionel ssi fan and despite the fact that he left football, that love for the little Argentinian lingered.
This was enough to make him break his promise to his mom after 4 years.
He felt a bit guilty, but that was it. 'Mom won't even know'. He thought.
In no ti, he changed from his top into the Argentina jersey, took permission from his excited boss who granted it easily before he left with his best friend. They were going to watch this ga in a place where he once built so many mories, a certain viewing center.
Staring at the signpost, Sam paused for a few seconds.
"What?" Ian asked.
"Nothing," he shook his head. "I just rembered sothing, that's all".
As they went inside, he said casually. "This viewing center was where I watched my very first full 90 minutes of a football ga".
"Wow, really?"
"Yeah".
An awkward mont soon followed though as just taking 3 steps inside the viewing center, Sam's eyes clashed with a familiar face.
He wore dark shades but Sam could still recognize him imdiately.
'F*ck! What's dad doing here?!'
Father and son averted their gaze, avoiding each other as Ian led his best friend to a good spot where they could see the screen properly.
Before the ga started, the excited viewers supporting both teams were already at each other's throats as they argued on how the national team they supported was superior to the other, even placing bets.
This was when one of the rich-looking boys there, Sam guessed he was an internet fraudster shouted. "10,000 naira for every France-supporting fan for every goal that France scores today".
"Yaayyy…! Odogwu!" They shouted, hailing him.
5 minutes to the ga, the atmosphere in the air was already palpable, filled with excitent and anticipation.
For so reason, Sam could feel his blood boiling.
It was almost like he never left football. 'This feeling…,' he was scared and excited at the sa ti.
And finally, the greatest football ga on the planet started.
Of course, the voice of the iconic comntator, Peter Drury was the first thing that introduced the excited fans into the world of football.
…
The ga started neutrally at first, both national teams being cautious, probing each other till Argentina decided to switch it up.
Of course, France's acclaid defense stayed firm and unbreakable till a mont of madness from Ousmane Dembele left his team in shambles in just the 23rd minute of the ga.
Receiving the ball on the left side of the pitch, Angel Di Maria, the Argentinian winger and no. 7 was up to his usual trickery as with so quick feet and ball shuffles, he left Ousmane Dembele in the dust, charging into the 18-yard box only to be tripped from behind by the French winger.
"He's on the ground!"
"And he's got a penalty!"
The viewing center erupted as the ecstatic Argentina fans celebrated the mont.
Of course, it was the Argentine captain and talisman, Lionel ssi donning the iconic no. 10 jersey who ca out to take the penalty.
Lionel ssi was not the best penalty taker in football but he was reasonably skilled. Yet, for so reason, watching ssi walk forward with the ball, Sam could not help his rapidly beating heart.
'He's not going to miss, is he?'
Peter Drury dutifully covered every important mont of the ga.
"…A heartbeat, and ssi!"
ssi cooly slotted the ball into the bottom right corner, sending Hugo Illoris of France the other way as the stadium and the viewing center erupted in chaos.
"GOALLLLLL!"
The Argentina fans celebrated wildly, taunting their opposition fans in the process who could only watch in envy.
The celebrations didn't last too long, the ga resud.
Everyone expected France to finally bounce back into the ga but the Argentina defense in that first half proved even more notorious than the French backline, completely snuffing out the star-studded French attack.
Argentina probed and probed till again, it happened. An Argentina mont of magic was all it took to double their lead in the 36th minute of the ga.
This ti, it was ssi at the center, playing an unreal pass that started the sequence of events leading up to the goal.
After a clearance from Emiliano Martinez, the Argentinian goalkeeper and a short pass, ssi received the ball in the halfway line.
After a deft touch to control the ball, the Argentine maestro played an unreal pass to the right side of the pitch that opened up the French defense.
A short pass to Mac Allister who played it to Angel Di Maria at the left completely laid the French backline as open as a pirate website, only thing being that pirate websites were no good.
Trust the Argentine winger. Di Maria made no mistakes, calmly poking the ball above Hugo Illoris into the back of the net.
"GOALLLL!"
If the first ti, it was a shout, this ti, it was a roar. A roar of victory as the Argentine fans celebrated wildly.
So even started singing celebratory songs imdiately. To them, Lionel ssi and Argentina already won the FIFA World Cup final already.
All that remained was to hand over the trophy to them.
Though Sam joined in the celebrations, his was a bit muted compared to the others. Joy and excitent filled his heart but he masked it.
He still felt unnatural in the boisterous atmosphere, he still could not bring himself to be fully free in a football atmosphere.
For the 45 minutes of the first half all the way to the second half and to the 80th minute of the ga, Argentina dominated with impunity.
The France attack looked listless and out of ideas. When the double substitutions of Ousmane Dembele and Antoine Griezmann were made, the Argentina fans celebrated.
To everyone who watched, France already lost, but in the 80th minute of the ga, after Dembele's blunder in the first half for France, it was Nicolas Otandi's turn for Argentina as a mont of madness cost his team, conceding a penalty kick.
For a mont, the celebrations beca muted but they didn't stop entirely as Kylian Mbappe, the French superstar took the ball to take the penalty kick.
In the 80th minute of the ga, in the FIFA World Cup final, the 22-year-old was tasked with taking a penalty kick to try bringing his nation back into the ga.
You could literally imagine the amount of pressure on the player.
Yet, Kylian Mbappe showed no signs of pressure as after a quick glance at the goalpost, he made a shot run and then, vroom!
The ball was in the back of the net.
"GOAL!" The fans supporting France in the viewing center who had been silent for over 80 minutes could finally vent their frustrations as they roared.
Their voices were not too loud though, they were still the losing side but for so reason, Sam felt his heart beating faster.
Though he was no longer fully up to date with football, he did not live under a cave, he had heard of the Paris Saint Germain wonderkid, Kylian Mbappe.
That goal for the first ti in this ga finally pulled at his emotion strings. For so reason, he felt tensed. 'Please God, it's just 10 more minutes'. He prayed but just a minute later, it happened.
Again, it was the young wonder, Kylian Mbappe in the 81st minute.
"Mbappe…, Thuram…, Mbappe!"
That was all it took!
A header, a pass, and a shot…, the ball was in the back of the net, and a viewing center descended into chaos.
There were 2 factions, the radical celebrants, and the shellshocked fans.
"GOALLLLL!!!"
The French fans roared, ran, and jumped everywhere, celebrating wildly as the previously boisterous Argentina fans were silenced.
"F*ck!" Sam muttered a curse, clenching his fists tightly as for the first ti this ga, he lost his cool.
He looked at his best friend with intensity. "I almost said it, hold that boy, hold that fool, hold Kylian Mbappe!"
"God! Why did they have to give him so much space?!"
Ian was surprised at his best friend's reaction and ended up being the one to calm him down, Sam was already emotional.
The ga restarted and, oh boy, it was fair to say that the world cup final beca the battleground for World War 3.
ssi, Mbappe…
Mbappe…, ssi…
These 2 terrorized with the younger one being the greater nace for the final few minutes of the ga as both national teams pushed to score and in the 90th plus 2 minutes, well, it was safe to say that Sam's soul left his body for a mont.
"Kolo Muaniii…!"
That mont was almost like a scene straight out of his worst nightmare as one-on-one with the Argentine goalkeeper, the young French forward shot at goal only for it to be blocked by Dibu Martinez.
"F*ck!" Curses rained from both sets of fans in the viewing center.
A few minutes later, finally, the full-ti whistle was blown.
In extra ti, the war continued as both teams teased each other but again, it was Argentina who showed up when it mattered most.
In the 108th minute of the ga, the ball was with Lautaro Martinez.
Jumping to his feet, Sam roared. "Pass! Pass the ball! Pass the f*cking ball!"
Lautaro Martinez took a shot, it hit the goalkeeper, Sam was already cursing the goalkeeper when Lionel ssi poked the rebound in.
Jules Kounde, the French fullback did a goal line clearance but goal-line technology judged the ball to have crossed the line.
"GOALLLLL…!!!"
Unbounded, no longer caring about how he looked, Sam pulled off his Argentina jersey, leaving only his white singlet as he waved the jersey wildly while running to the front of this viewing center.
By now, he already lost his composure in the emotion of this incredible football ga. Sam was on a high where he no longer cared about anybody.
He celebrated like a mad man, not caring how he looked. At so point, he even hugged his dad excitedly without knowing it.
The other Argentina fans also celebrated wildly.
And then, 10 minutes of more tension later, it happened, and again, it was the f*cking boy wonder, Kylian Mbappe.
His relentless pressure and play made Argentina to concede another penalty kick through a handball in the 118th minute of the ga.
"F*ck! I hate you!" Sam cried!
Literal tears flowed from his eyes as he watched the boy take the ball again, make his trademark short run only to rifle the ball into the net again.
"F*ck you!" Sam scread frustratedly.
The FIFA World Cup 2022 final went to penalties.
Sam's emotions were at a crescendo. He was almost too scared to watch the penalty shootout but he cared too much at this point, he was too invested to not watch, he forced himself to watch.
And on the aftermath of that evening, Sam beca an Emiliano Martinez superfan.
The penalty shootout was tension packed.
The boy who was on god-mode, Kylian Mbappe took the first penalty. He went the sa way but again, the mother*cker took his mont with aplomb, rattling the ball into the back of the net despite Martinez's best efforts.
On this evening, he was like the main character of a novel with plot armor working in his favor as he beca only the 2nd football player in history to score a hattrick in a FIFA world cup final.
To Sam, he was a cockroach that just won't die.
"I hate you!" He mumbled to himself anxiously.
When ssi stepped up, again, he was overwheld by fear, having flashbacks to ssi's penalty miss in the Copa Arica final many years ago.
But this ti, his worst fears were not realized, ssi cooly slotted his penalty into the back of the net.
Then it was Kingsley Coman, the French winger's turn to take the second penalty. This was the mont that would go down in history as the Emiliano Martinez mont as the Argentina goalkeeper went full villain mode, engaging in so iconic shithousery to ss with and enter his opponent's mind.
It worked.
Coman kicked the ball well but Martinez dove the right way, tipping the ball away from the net.
"Yes!!!!" Sam jumped up to his feet from where he sat as he pumped his fists excitedly. "F*cking yes!" He scread for joy.
The viewing center was in chaos but it soon cald down again because, there were more penalties to be taken.
Paulo Dybala went up next, he cooly scored.
And then, Aurelien Tchouani of France went up next only to be subjected to more of Martinez's shithousery.
The Argentinian goalkeeper was determined to do whatever it took to bring the trophy back ho.
Aurelien stood, he looked, then he took his shot, but dragged it wide.
"F*CKING YES!!!" Sam jumped to his feet again for joy, excitent and relief written all over his face. "YES!" He scread.
The Argentina fans were over the moon again.
Leandro Paredes stepped up for Argentina next, slotting his ball into the net again. It was now 3 to Argentina, 1 to France.
Randal Kolo Muani stepped up next for France, took his shot confidently and scored, cutting the Argentine lead down.
And then, the deciding mont all ca down to the 4th Argentine penalty taker, Gonzalo Montiel.
In the viewing center, no fan could sit down anymore, they all stood up.
So placed their hands akimbo on their hips, tensed, others with hands on their heads, so partially covering their eyes, and all with batted breaths, they watched.
Montiel took a shot run, took his shot, straight into the bottom left corner.
…for a few seconds, Sam's head glitched, he could not keep up with the proceedings but then, "GOALLLLLLL!!!" A revitalized Sam celebrated in euphoria!
"Argentina, champions of the world!" Peter Drury once again was at the ready to bless the mont with his iconic comntary.
"Again…, at last!"
"And the nation will tango all night long!"
"36 years since Maradona and…"
Sam could not hear more because he was already drunk in the euphoria of the mont. The celebrations were radical and wild even as the France supporters stord out of the viewing center.
Sam had never felt this much joy all his life, not even the 2011 Champions league final made him feel this way.
Exactly how he was feeling…, he could not describe it.
It was just so sweet, so beautiful, so dreamy, so indescribable.
"Sam, we did it!" Ian hugged him excitedly.
In the midst of the celebrations was when it all started coming back to him. 'Football…, I can't leave it, I just can't', I love it too much'.
'Football is , and I am football, it is what drives '.
'Without football, I'm just a robot'.
'But my legs…,' he sighed. 'Only if I could get a miracle'.
Right at that mont, sothing inexplicable happened.
[Your plea for a miracle has been answered!]
[Congratulations! You have received a reward: Ultimate Football System!]
[Initializing…, please wait…]
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