Rise of a Football God

Chapter 128 Hectic schedule [1]

(Premier league:)

(Wolves – Fulham)

(Date: 9th March, 2024)

After winning the EFL Cup and dropping out of the FA Cup already, the only competition remaining for Fulham FC to play in was the premier league.

Fulham's next game was against Wolves away from home in the league.

After thrashing Brighton in the last game, even as the media once again started raving about the shocking surge of the Fulham team, Sam set another personal goal for himself outside of his system.

In the premier league, Fulham was renowned as one of the mid-table teams but Sam was determined to make this identity become a thing of the past.

After the upsurge of performances in recent months, Fulham already rose from 13th position where they were previously in the league by 2 places to 11th place but Sam wanted more.

This was because of his aspirations for next season.

By the end of the season, Sam would not have played a full season for Fulham FC yet since he came mid-way through the season. This was why he started making preparations for next season.

His dad's predictions were that due to the release clause that was slapped on him by Fulham FC, no big club would come for him yet till he proved himself properly through a full season in the premier league.

This was why Sam started planning for his 2nd season in Fulham already.

He already told his dad, the only club's offer that could move him at this point of his career was from FC Barcelona. He was ready to reject any other contract offer no matter how lucrative it was.

His goal was just as impossible as the initial trophy-winning goal from the system since Fulham was not an English club that won trophies.

But Sam's mentality was straightforward to a fault. 'If we could do it and win a trophy, why can't we do it again in the remaining games of the season?'

His goal was an extremely ambitious one.

In the premier league, the top four teams qualify for the champions league, and the fifth-place team qualifies for the Europa league every season.

However, the FA Cup winner also gets a Europa league spot, and if the FA Cup winner finishes in the top five, that spot goes to the next-best Premier league finisher on the table.

If Manchester City wins the FA Cup this season, the sixth-place team in the premier league gets a spot in the Europa league, and the seventh-place team goes to the Conference League play-offs.

But if Manchester United wins the FA Cup this season having made a pretty deep run already, the sixth-place team goes to the Conference League, while the seventh-place team misses out on Europe.

This was Sam's goal, European football.

It doesn't necessarily have to be in the highest tier of European football, the UEFA Champions League. Even if it was the Conference league, Sam was contented with that with Fulham FC, he just wanted to play and create history with Fulham.

To make his crazy goal a reality though, Fulham FC would truly have to step up, entering God-mode for the final stretch of the 2023/2024 premier league campaign.

Not only would they have to win all of their remaining games, but they would also have to pray for their rivals in the league to stumble and not just stumble, to stumble hard. That was the only way for Fulham FC.

Sam didn't give a damn about the difficulty though, as soon as he set his mind towards it, he worked towards it with his monstrous mentality.

For the next few days, Sam focused purely on football.

Every training session, he remained the first player to report to training even as he kept on dazzling with his performances every training session.

Time moved swiftly and in no time, it was 9th May already.

Fulham FC traveled to Wolves; it was not going to be an easy game.

Ready for the challenge though, a Fulham team who was in form started the game with intensity as they managed to shrug off the loud noise being made by the Wolves fans, playing their football away from home.

Fulham playing their game did not mean that Wolves faltered though. Rather, buoyed by the loud noise being made by their supporters, Wolves played beautiful intense football.

Both teams started with their strongest lineups.

With the likes of Pedro Neto, Pablo Sarabia and Gomes all starting in this game, Wolves played incredible football, trying their best to dominate the in-form Fulham team who just refused to give in.

And with the likes of Sam, Alex Iwobi, Wilson, and Muniz all starting from the beginning with Calvin Bassey and Adarabioyou holding the tuff behind, Fulham FC started and played strongly throughout the first half.

The first half was a cagey affair as both teams went against each other pound for pound, going for blood.

Both teams threatened, their star players creating moments of magic but none of it resulted in something tangible yet, a goal.

The first half ended goalless.

When second half started though, both teams played with even greater intensity and Wolves were finally rewarded for their efforts.

7 minutes after the restart, Wolves scored first through their marauding left back as after some impressive link-up play, Ait-Nouri the left back rifled the all into the net past a sprawling Bernd Leno.

Fulham responded to that goal by upping their intensity, Sam once again impressing with his stamina as he chased the ball everywhere.

But then, against the run of play, Wolves got a second goal in the 67th minute.

Cairney, the player that was substituted in got the goal as he finished off another impressive team move to double his team's lead.

67 minutes in, Wolves led 2-0 and the Fulham fans deflated.

Even the Fulham players lost their conviction but just 3 minutes later, all of their eyes were burning with intensity again as they chased the equalizing goal.

In the 70th minute, having taken matters into his own hands, Sam took the ball from midfield and went on an incredible solo run, slicing through multiple Wolves players including the goalkeeper as he rounded the poor guy before scoring into an empty net.

"GOALLLLL…!" The deflated Fulham fans roared back to life.

That goal turned the tides, giving Fulham the momentum.

For the rest of the second half, Wolves defended, curbing attack after attack from the suddenly rampant Fulham team.

They almost got away with it when at the last minute, after 90 and 8 additional minutes, Fulham got the equalizer to bury all the Wolves enthusiasm.

Again, it was Alex Iwobi and it was Sam who delivered the assist, playing a penetrative defense-splitting pass for the Nigerian International to run into one-on-one with the Wolves goalkeeper and he did not miss his mark, scoring.

Immediately after the goal and the wild celebrations that followed, the referee finally blew the whistle, bringing the game to an end.

Despite playing in such tough away ground in such a tough fixture, Sam managed to produce the goods again, chipping in with a goal and an assist to help his team escape with a point.

He won the man of the match award for this game.