He came back at a good time too for his adopted country; they won 3-0 in Haifa to go to remain unbeaten in the campaign and go top of the group after five games, taking over the leadership from Israel themselves who kicked off in first place.
Sam was named as a substitute but got his return as Chris Coleman promised. Wales were 2-0 up when he came on for Reading's Hal Robson-Kanu on 69 minutes with goals from Aaron Ramsey and Gareth Bale.
He might have got a dream return too but for the home goalkeeper Ofir Marciano denying him with a good save within a minute of getting onto the pitch.
The Welsh went on to win 3-0 with Bale adding a second and for Sam it was a 32nd cap coming a year and 23 days since his last one in a 3-1 friendly win against Iceland in Cardiff in which he scored his sixth international goal.
The INTERNATIONALS feature, which can be found within the Players drop down menu, has been updated to include Sam's appearance this evening.