‘I ran off celebrating and I almost cried’

A regular for Nigeria at just 21 years of age, Alex Iwobi has already written his name into his country’s history books.

The forward came off the bench to score a late winner against Zambia last month, and send the Super Eagles to their sixth World Cup finals.

Here’s what he had to say about the moment:

on how it felt to score the goal that sent Nigeria to the World Cup… 

It’s so hard to describe, you know what I mean. When I actually scored the moment was crazy, I remember running off celebrating. I almost cried, I actually almost cried to see how the fans were reacting, to see my mum and dad in the stands, it was just an amazing feeling. 

on what the atmosphere was like when he scored… 

When I scored the goal, because the security are very strict the fans were trying to come on the pitch as I scored, but the security guards stopped them and after the fans they played trumpets and banged drums, so the players were just dancing, it was just crazy.

on representing Nigeria… 

Yeah it’s basically my family, where they’re from, where I’m from it’s my homeland, so it’s always an honour to wear the green, white and green, I mean I’ve seen so many kids on the street when we’re like in the bus, they’re screaming “go Nigeria, go Nigeria”, so to represent them I’m just proud.

on what it means to him to play for his country… 

It makes me feel grateful for what I have, because I’ve always grown up in England, so I didn’t really know what it was like back then. When I go back I see how people struggle in life, it’s not as easy as it is over here, so it gives me that reality check, but also I try to help people out there as well.

on bringing such happiness to the Nigerian fans… 

It was the way they were like… it was almost like everyone won the lottery, they were just jumping. To go to the World Cup you can see it’s not just the players’ dream, it’s the fans’ dream as well and for me to get the goal for us to go through I’m just proud to do that.