At the end of the round of 16 stage of the AFCON tournament, a few things were established in the tournament.
First, Sam pulled away from his rivals in the golden boot race, establishing himself as the challenger in pole position to win the golden boot with his incredible haul of 7 goals and 3 assists in just 4 games.
Sam's career rise was nothing short of meteoric.
He did it in the NPFL with Enyimba FC, he did it in the English Premier League with Fulham FC, and now he was doing it with FC Barcelona in the Spanish La Liga.
And also now, he was doing it in the AFCON tournament.
Sam was still just 20, but he played with the maturity and skill of a veteran of the game. His game intelligence was far ahead of his real age, just like Lamine Yamal.
No stage was too big for him, no opponent was too big for him.
He could perform anywhere, anytime, and that was what made him special.