Alex Iwobi scored his first international goal for Nigeria as they beat Zambia in their opening World Cup 2018 qualifier.
The Arsenal man broke the deadlock on 33 minutes with a tidy finish before Manchester City’s Kelechi Iheanacho doubled the lead.
Zambia grabbed a goal back with 20 minutes remaining but they couldn’t prevent the Super Eagles sealing their first ever away win against the Chipolopolo.
Alex Iwobi’s goal to put Nigeria 1-0 up at Zambia. pic.twitter.com/UdGctJpyWB
— Andy Ha (@_AndyHa) October 9, 2016
Arsenal’s increasingly hyperactive social media team celebrated the moment on Twitter.
?? Yes @alexiwobi!
#BIG17 has scored his first international goal – and Nigeria lead Zambia 2-0 at half-time in their World Cup qualifier pic.twitter.com/UjtszJTFlX— Arsenal FC (@Arsenal) October 9, 2016
Upward and Onward!
Happy for Iwobi, but god these fucking interlulls are so frustrating. There’s another one in a month. I’m so sick of the tedious qualifiers and friendlies, have stopped watching them.
Doesn’t help when your international team is dogshite.
Completely agree man. They suck.
I wish they would just delay the start of the season by a couple of weeks and get them all out of the way. Or you know, just fuck them off altogether
The lad has a knack of being at the right place and at the right time. You can’t teach that. If he can only try and keep his shots farther from the keepers reach. They always seem, to me at least, to be hit straight at them.
Iwobi makes me very happy.
Brilliant for him and Nigeria too. Hopefully he’ll be full of confidence and swagger when he gets back to London and continue his good form. Hard to believe he’s so young! Can’t wait for the interlull to be over… ?
Stay the course Alex and a very bright future will happen for you. Don’t let agents, greed, self entitlement or complacency set in like it does for so many young prospects.
On another note, not taking the advice of Wenger and offering a cap to this kid is going to go down as one of Hodgson’s biggest mistakes with England. And I’m sure Arsene was thinking Iwobi with England is much better than Nigeria as we wouldn’t lose the lad to African Cup tournaments.
Bloody England screws Arsenal yet again!
Shut up.
His family ties to Nigeria is strong he preferred playing for Nigeria plus, it’s easier to get into the Nigerian squad than the English squad with a new manager every month. He is Jay Jay Okocha’s nephew, too.
The Nigerian team has been more successful than England for as long as I can recall.
The last time England won a major trophy was ’66.
Alex made a wise choice.
Nigeria do win international tournament when was the last time England won one? cant remember
he made the right choice
proud#NAIJA
Alex wan kenobi
The force is strong with you Iwobi Wan.
He should practice some heading.
Happy for u boy…. Up gunners!!!
With Iwobi and Iheanacho, the future looks very bright for Nigeria. Both lads are on the up.
Hyperactive?
He scored his goal against my country’s football team. We are so shit but I’m so happy for him. He surely deserves it and it’ll sure give him confidence which is only gonna benefit our beloved Arsenal. During the game I was like “let anything happen in this game but no injury should happen to Iwobi.”
Love that prayer my man, big ups to you. We are the Arsenal COYG!!!!
Shame he didn’t choose england…part of me doesn’t blame him though?
Shut up
Happy for him and Nigeria but still think England flopped by not calling him up when they could
Shut Up
Gutted to watch my country lose to Nigeria but I was pleased to watch young iwobi play today. Overall , exciting match but the Nigerians were little bit efficient in front of goal and that made all the difference. Now looking forward to watching mahrez , as Algeria is also in this tough tough group. All in all a less boring interlull for me.
We need a Nigerian commentator in EPL
Glad He chose to play Nigeria
Glad He chose to play for Nigeria
Glad He chose to Nigeria
The fact that he chose Nigeria is proof that he’s got a good head on his shoulders. As someone rightly said in another thread recently, imagine the hype if he was English. He would be the next Pele already. Plus he would have to associate with slime like Rooney and sterling to name but a couple. And Nigeria are more likely to win the world cup than England anyway. Hell, Nigeria are probably more likely to win a European championship than England. Best off away from that nonsense. England’s loss will be Arsenal’s gain, I’m sure.
So happy for Alex, he really put in a good shift. I was kinda not too happy that the Nigerian coach decided to keep him on the pitch that long. T’was really a tough game and Alex hasn’t really done 90 minutes for arsenal this season, taking him off at about 65 -70 minutes. In between, Iheanacho scored an amazing goal for Nigeria too. The country really has a number of players coming good in the EPL now, Iwobi, Iheanacho, Ighalo: success (Watford), Victor Moses, Musa, Mikel Obi etc. Good times ahead.
The future does look bright for Nigeria though.. such young and exciting talents makes me happy.. add a couple other kids like Ola Aina of chelsea and Ibe and the future looks really good
Iwobi’s laugh is gold
Agreed flash..was just thinking that the other day, how Iwobi has been able to come into the team and progress without a ton of headlines and stories about him. If he was English he.d be in the paper as much as Sterling was and that creates a lot of unnecessary pressure on a young player
I’m sorry but there is absolutely no chance that Iheanacho is only 20. My man looks closer to 30.
And John Terry looks 45
That’s probably because Diaby nearly gave him a face-lift. Fcuk him.
It’s like Kanu. I mean I love the guy but he’s gotta be at least 58.
You guys should give Kanu a break. The guy had a heart surgery early in his career and still played for many years after that. Tell me how many players with major heart issues that went on to have such successful career.
Did you see him at the U-17WC 3 years ago?? Or maybe he’s added 13 years in 3 years..
And Luke Shaw had a face full of beards @18.. Eight-fucking-teen
Also Costa and Gibbs are peers. Now put away your device and think about that for a second.
It’s a fact that he looks older than 20. Stop crying and taking it personally. What the hell have Costa or Luke Shaw got to do with this debate?
It takes two or more people to have a debate.. look for an opponent
Sorry I thought you was responding to my comments. I must be mistaken.
I can confidently tell you he’s 20. He even played in an under 13 championship in which I was part of the organizing team.
He’s quiet, intelligent & level-headed . Wonder of that’s one of the reasons he chose to avoid the England National Team & the circus around it…