Rise of a Football God

After the game against Ipswich Town on 5th January, Fulham's next engagement was an FA Cup game against Watford in 4 days.

(FA Cup 3rd round:)

(Fulham – Watford)

(Date: 9th January, 2025)

Despite the fact that Watford was an English club that competed in the Championship, the 2nd tier of English football, the FA Cup game was still a game that Sam attributed a lot of importance to due to various reasons.

The first and most important reason was the simple fact that after crashing out of the EFL Cup for the season already, he didn't want his club to crash out of another cup competition in his absence.

It was a knockout game and in knockout games, things don't always go as planned. An inspired performance from a single opposition player could spoil all the plans that Fulham approached the tournament with.

Having entered the flow state a few times himself already, Sam knew how powerful of a weapon it could be in enemy hand.

And that was the thing about cup games, a single player entering the flow state was all it needed to knock another team out of the tournament for good.

It was not like a league game where clubs could afford to stumble once and rectify their mistake in the next league game.

In knockout tournament games, it was win or lose.

Win and stay in the tournament, lose and crash out.

The buildup to this important game in their impressive season so far was grueling for the Fulham players. The fact that they already crashed out of one cup competition in Sam's absence already was still haunting them.

This was why they were determined not to crash out of another one. Read latest chapters at empire

This was why despite the fact that it was an FA Cup game and that it was against Watford, Coach Marco Silva started the game with a strong lineup.

He didn't just want his team to win, he wanted them to put out a statement display to show that they were still in the game even in Sam's absence.

Raul Jimenez was benched, allowing Muniz to start as the striker. Behind him was a dynamic trio of Harry Wilson, Emile Smith Rowe, and Adama Traore. Further behind them was the midfield duo of Lukic and Berge.

The 4-man defense comprised of the usual quadruple of Antonee Robinson, Diop, Bassey, and Tete. Castagne was still out injured. And of course, Bernd Leno started in between the posts this game.

Only few rotations were made by the Fulham coach.

As for Watford, starting in a 4-1-4-1 formation, Bayo started as their striker while behind him comprised the 4-man offense of Vata, Chakvatadze, Sissoko, and Bash. Behind the 4-man offensive players was Dwomoh in midfield as the anchor.

Behind the anchor was a 4-man defense comprising Larouci, Pollock, Porteous, and Ngakia, while Backmann started as the man in between the posts.

That night, Fulham fans gave the Watford players a reception to never forget as their loud noise blasted through the roof of Craven Cottage.

Even before the game started, the Watford players were already intimidated.

FWEEE!

As soon as the referee's whistle sounded, from the very first minute of this game, Fulham took the game to their opponents.

Fulham started kickoff and as soon as the first kick of the ball was played, the rapid Adama Traore charged down the field.

Before the Watford players could react…

Bam!

Emile Smith Rowe played a perfect lobbed pass over their full defense for the rapid Traore to catch up to in no time, taking it in his strides.

"Oh! What is this? An early goal?"

The Watford goalkeeper charged out but keeping his cool, Adama Traore rounded the goalkeeper before poking the ball into an empty net.

In just the 1st minute of this game, Fulham went ahead.

"GOALLLL…!" Craven Cottage erupted.

In a certain apartment in Netherlands, Sam also screamed for joy, making his girlfriend throw glances at him even as she idly ate popcorns.

That goal set the tempo for the rest of this game.

Fulham totally dominated Watford. They barely put up any resistance in the first half as the West London club ran them ragged with Smith Rowe pulling the strings from attacking midfield.

After setting up Adama Traore once already, Emile Smith Rowe orchestrated another moment of magic, playing Muniz in behind with an outrageous defense-splitting pass.

The lethal striker did not miss his mark, rifling the ball past the goalkeeper and into the net as Fulham scored its 2nd goal in the 22nd minute.

Just 3 minutes later, Adama Traore went on a powerful rampaging run with the ball, obliterating defenders with his pace before setting Muniz up again for the striker to rifle into the net on a powerful volley.

"Damn! Watford are being ripped apart!"

"What a run from Traore! What flawless shooting technique from Fulham too, they're in their groove!"

In the end, Sam's worst fears did not come true.

In the 25th minute of this game, Fulham was already 3-0 ahead and in the 40th minute, Muniz finally completed his hattrick after another bombing run and exquisite pass from Adama Traore down the right-hand side of the pitch.

40 minutes, 4-0…

It was over for Watford.

During halftime, Coach Marco Silva pulled the plug, replacing majority of the starting players and refreshing his team with fresh legs, resting his stars.

This gave Watford a chance in the 2nd half as they scored a consolation goal in the 60th minute but then in the 71st minute, Calvin Bassey powered in another goal from a corner kick routine, making it 5-1 to Fulham.

By the end of 90 minutes, all the Watford players looked defeated.

The ecstatic Fulham fans sang songs at the top of their lungs and then, inexplicably, a familiar chant took over Craven Cottage.

"Sam!" "Sam!" "Sam!"

The reason for the fans' chant was not clear but watching this game from home, Sam felt a warm feeling fill his heart.

"They're back!" He punched a fist in celebration.

Kayla looked at him. "I told you to be patient, didn't I?"

"Yes, you did my love, that's why I love you!" Grinning, he drowned her in smooches.