When Alex Iwobi found the net against England in a pre-World Cup friendly staged at Wembley on June 2, 2018, the former Arsenal winger became the first Nigerian player to score against the Three Lions in an international match.
Born in Lagos and raised in England, the Hale End Academy product admitted that it was a weird feeling scoring against the Three Lions due to his England connection, having represented the Young Lions at U16, U17 and U18 levels.
Iwobi had been teammates with Dele Alli and Ruben Loftus-Cheek, who were both handed game time vs Nigeria, in the England youth team set-up before switching his allegiance to the Super Eagles.
“I was really hoping that we can get the win but to score against them it was a weird feeling but at the end of the day I forgot I was playing against England,” Iwobi said on Instagram Live.
“I was more focused on trying to help my team win so I took it like another game.
“Looking back it was probably a memorable moment to score at Wembley against England, it was a nice feeling.”
Iwobi confessed that the international friendly against Brazil in October 2019 was the most difficult game in his Super Eagles career due to the unfavorable weather conditions and quality of the South American players.
“I try to give a hundred percent as much as I can, if it is not meant to be it is not meant to be, but the most difficult was the recent game against Brazil.
“Normally we have a lot of possession of the ball because we have a lot of footballing players that are able to keep the ball.
“Where we didn’t have the ball as much as we would have liked and playing in conditions in Singapore where it was so hot and we were playing against class players, it was difficult.
“It’s almost like it was entirely defence and we were trying to hit them on the counter attack,” the Super Eagles playmaker said.
