Rise of a Football God

"You think we can't win?!" The voice of the Egypt head coach boomed through the locker room, reverberating in the bones of all the Egypt players.

"Against Angola?! You think we can't win?"

"Come on!"

"If we can't win even against Angola, then what the hell are we doing here?"

"We may as well forfeit the 2nd half and admit defeat!"

"You, you, you!" He pointed at them. "Look at me!" He pointed at his face passionately. "We can win!"

"We're equipped to win!"

"We will win!"

"Don't give me any of that half-hearted nonsense in the 2nd half. I know you're trying your best, but today, your best is just not enough!"

"Go beyond your best, give me the impossible!"

"The impossible," he nodded. "Yes, that's what I want from you guys today!"

"Go out there and play the 2nd half like this is the final of the AFCON tournament, play like you're trailing behind in the final and you want to win!"

"Go out there and teach the Angolans the essence of football!"

"Come on!" He clapped. "Let's go out there and win!"

That got the blood of the Egyptian players boiling.

With eyes burning with the fire of a volcano, they stood up, approaching the second half with deadly killing intent.

And when the referee's whistle sounded, Egypt started their march to freedom, their march to liberation, their march to the knockout stage of the 2025 AFCON tournament!

FWEEEE!

In the 2nd half, Salah was still man-marked but overridden by the passionate speech of his coach during halftime, Salah took it a step further.

For 45 minutes, Bondo have marked Salah out of this game, harassing him, bullying him, overpowering him, but not anymore!

'Not anymore'. Salah's eyes burned with a fiery zeal.

As soon as the 2nd half started, he took his time, walking, jogging, tracking the ball even as his teammates played on the other side of the pitch.

And when the ball was finally hit to the right side of the pitch where he was, Salah erupted like Akaza, the Demon General in Demon's Slayer.

BZZZ!

Salah moved.

But he didn't just approach it with brute force and at face value like before.

Instead of using brute force, he tricked his marker.

He moved the first time as soon as the ball was hit. In response, the player grabbed at his jersey, running after him. Bondo wasn't even looking at the ball and having noticed this, this was the flaw that Salah planned to exploit.

Watching the ball and timing its trajectory, Salah already calculated it, and that was why he moved, knowing that Bondo would follow without looking at the ball.

His movement was just a feint!

Abruptly, Salah stopped, leaving Bondo to go ahead of him and that was when the ball descended in the position where he stopped.

Bam!

Salah controlled the ball with a perfect first touch.

"…!"

Realizing his mistake, Bondo tried to rectify it immediately, charging back to close down Salah without hesitation but once again, Salah expected this and that was why he moved…

Bzzz!

Salah seemed to turn into a mirage, an afterimage.

Bondo barely moved when with his left leg, the Egyptian King delicately flicked the ball to the right and jumped backward.

By flicking the ball, he took it past Bondo towards Angola's half and by jumping backward, he was able to evade Bondo's hand that would surely fling to have grabbed his jersey.

Bondo did just as Salah predicted but Salah already left him, leaving only a mirage behind.

Whoosh!

Salah hit the afterburners immediately after going past Bondo!

And that was the mistake.

The Angolans were so confident in Bondo's handling of Salah that they failed to account for the scenario where Salah dribbled past him.

'You underestimate me!'

Thinking so, Salah closed in on the 18-yard box with blistering pace.

And just as he entered the 18-yard box, he ran into a road block in 2 players.

Salah slowed down, then with his quick feet and body movement, he mesmerized both players, making them hesitate and stick out their leg and just as it seemed like he was about to run past them, he hit the ball.

Bam!

It was a pass, in between the legs of one of the defenders into open space in the Angolan 18-yard box.

"…!"

The Angolan defenders reacted in panic, trying to clear the ball but someone else got there first.

"OMAR MARMOUSHHHH…!!!"

Marmoush did it, using his long leg to poke the ball into the net.

The stadium in Casablanca erupted, Egyptian fans rising to their feet and celebrating at the top of their lungs even as Marmoush charged towards the corner flag and celebrated by executing a backflip.

A moment of individual brilliance from the Egyptian King turned the game around, but Angola was still fine with a draw.

The goal came in just the 48th minute of the game.

It seemed like Egypt would ride that momentum and score another quick-fire goal, but Angola remained cohesively disciplined, playing their game.

For another 20+ minutes, Egypt saw no sight of goal as the game continued 1-1, that was until the 73rd minute of the game.

Another cross-field pass, another Salah perfect control and this time instead of a dribble, Salah floated a teasing cross into the 18-yard box.

Once again, a scramble started in the Angolan 18-yard box.

But this time, an Egyptian player rose highest. Hamdy, the Egyptian left back was in the right place at the right time to power a header past Angola's goalkeeper and into the net, settling the game.

"GOALLLLLLLLLL…!!!!!!" The commentators and the Egyptian fans screamed at the top of their lungs even as tearing his jersey in ecstasy, Hamdy charged towards the corner flag, waving his jersey in euphoria.

The sheer emotion among the Egyptian fans at that moment was so much that one of them even fainted out of too much excitement.

The fan luckily woke up a few seconds later.

But that was how high the excitement was.

2 moments of individual brilliance from Salah, and it was enough to decide the game. For the rest of the game, Angola tried their best, threatening but they failed to produce anything tangible in front of goal.

Egypt led by Salah pulled off an incredible comeback win.

It was a tight win but a win nonetheless, and it was worth 3 points.

Egypt sank their opponents, eliminating them out of the tournament and qualifying to the knockout stages at their expense.

What a game it was.

Salah won the man of the match award for the game.