Rise of a Football God

26th April, 2025…

The atmosphere in St. James' Park was electric.

The stakes were at its highest in the oldest club competition in the world, a spot in the final of the English FA Cup.

When the Fulham players entered the pitch to incredibly loud noise by the Newcastle home supporters, they felt like they were fighting against the whole world. It almost seemed as if the whole stadium was against them, except the tiny noise coming from the away stands.

"Fulham!" "Fulham!"

The away supporters who traveled for this blockbuster game made their presence known in this stadium, singing songs at the top of their lungs.

The atmosphere was tense, the pressure was palpable and under the perfect ambience of a cool evening, the referee's whistle sounded to kickstart the FA Cup semifinal game.

FWEEEE!

Newcastle United kicked off the game.

Like expected, both teams started with their strongest lineups for this game, making it poised for an incredible game of football.

From the first minute of kickoff, it was clear that this game was going to be a tight game and the players ensured that it stayed that way.

Buoyed by the loud noise being made by their home fans, the Newcastle players played the game of their life, running themselves to the ground and trying every trick in the box known to them but Fulham simply refused to give up.

As a team, the visitors attacked and defended as one.

Newcastle dominated most of the game but Fulham never lost sight of their coach's tactic once as the players kept on executing the game plan.

By half-time, after running themselves to the ground with no tangible result for it, the game still being 0-0, the Newcastle players were already feeling tired.

During half-time, Coach Marco Silva said only 2 sentences to his players.
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"Moments like this don't come twice".

"You have to seize it".

That was all his players needed and just like he planned, in the 2nd half when the Fulham players came out, they came out with fire burning in their veins.

FWEEEE!

Boom!

The referee's whistle barely started when Fulham showcased their intent to play with an entirely different energy in the second half of this game.

With their aggressive pressing and attacking style, the second half turned into a game of high-octane football.

They had their chances; Newcastle also had their chances but it was one moment of brilliance that turned this game on its head close to fulltime.

After almost 90 minutes of playing such a tight and amazing game, the Newcastle players collapsed in agony as their net finally rippled.

Most of the players on the pitch were already tired by then, but Sam was yet to be tired as abusing his stamina in the 87th minute of the game, after winning the ball back, he went on a mazy run through the Newcastle defense.

Once he was in their 18-yard box, he showcased his physicality, drawing enough defenders to himself and opening up space to thread a pass through for the unmarked Emile Smith Rowe.

The S factor struck again!

BAM!

Smith Rowe's shot found its way to the back of the net, beating the Newcastle goalkeeper as this massive stadium was silenced.

"GOALLLL…!!!" Only the away stands erupted in joy.

Charging towards the corner flag, Emile Smith Rowe celebrated like a mad man even as at some point, tears started streaming down this winger's eyes.

The Englishman's emotions cascaded.

Why not? He was having the season of his life!

Earlier in the season, his career seemed to be coming to an end as he became totally ostracized in Arsenal. It was clear that the Arsenal coach, Mikel Arteta didn't have him in his plans and there was nothing more heartbreaking than that.

He reluctantly came to Fulham to revive his career without much hope.

When he was forced to make the decision, he never thought that would be what would change his life and career for good.

Coming to Fulham, meeting Sam, becoming good friends with him, and getting to play together on the pitch week in, week out, that was the best thing that happened to him in years.

All of that culminated in this moment, him scoring the decisive goal in the FA Cup semifinal, assisted by his friend.

Hugging Sam, Smith Rowe cried, feeling on top of the world.

"What a moment!"

"You can clearly see how much it means to the Englishman". The commentator said, leaving the stadium silenced.

The Newcastle supporters could not even bring themselves to boo them.

In the end, after 90 minutes of incredible football, Fulham won 1-0, booking a place for themselves in the final of the FA Cup.

After the end of the game, even as the Fulham players celebrated, the first thing that they did was ask around for the result of their archrival's game.

Well, they were shocked, and excited.

On their matchday 34 encounter of the English premier league, Liverpool finally stumbled in the head-to-head battle, dropping points against Tottenham.

It was a miracle that Liverpool managed to snatch 1 point from the game.

Within just 20 unbelievable minutes, Tottenham raced to a 0-2 lead against Liverpool in Anfield!

The footballing world was left reeling in shock, they could not believe it.

The first half ended 0-2 in Tottenham's favor.

But in the 2nd half, the Merseysiders came roaring back with unstoppable momentum, proving their title-charging credentials as they ran Tottenham ragged, equalizing the game before the 70th minute.

But then, all the juice died as no other goal was scored.

Liverpool did an incredible comeback, but it was not a perfect one as drawing the game 2-2, they dropped 2 important points in the title race against Fulham.

To the Fulham players and their supporters, there was no better news in the world. They celebrated Liverpool's loss like a Fulham win.

The hate was real, but it was all just football competition.

Booking a spot in the final of the FA Cup and Liverpool dropping points all in the same day, the day could not have gone better for fans of the Fulham persuasion.

And now, all their attention was on their own premier league matchday 34 encounter against Southampton.