Hope springs eternal with blossoming Iwobi
Alex Iwobi of Arsenal
Julian Finney/Getty Images
A week of anguish in Nigerian footballing circles is
being palliated by the continued rise of the Arsenal youngster, who is
set to lead the Super Eagles into the future
COMMENT By Solace Chukwu 
Follow on TwitterOut of the irreverent muck that Nigerian football has sunk into, in the very nadir of despair, Arsenal's Alex
Iwobi has sprung from the ash, tottered on spindly legs, and taken flight. His emergence in a nation’s darkest hour, with mutiny in the streets and calls for mass resignations within the footballing hierarchy, is typical, in many ways.
Things go bad periodically, and when they do, statues are toppled, figurative fires are lit in the street, revolution is mooted. One administrator, buffeted sorely, would famously quip that Nigeria had no divine right to a place at the World Cup when, in 2005, the Super Eagles found Angola impossible to catch, having stirred in uniquely late fashion.
But even in those moments, there remains always a thread of hope pre-empting the purge, promising that the rot is not permanent, that the whole arm need not be severed when a finger festers. Iwobi is that hope now, paradoxically preventing a complete reformation—only 19, his emergence is proof you cannot throw the teenager out with the bathwater.
Iwobi's EPL stats so far this season He is both the shining emblem of a tantalizing future within reach, and a nod to the old way. It was, after all, the much-maligned Amaju Pinnick who pulled out every stop to hitch Iwobi to the green and white wagon, and this may come to figure as his greatest achievement. The embattled NFF boss drew great ridicule at the time for it, but in the same way the pain of missing out on the 2012 Cup of Nations is dulled by victory in 2013; if Iwobi grows into what he suggests, history will perhaps look more kindly on the miss of 2017.
Where does securing Iwobi rank among Pinnick's greatest achievements?
In less than a month, the Arsenal youngster, now firmly entrenched in
the Gunners’ first team, has come to embody an ideal much bigger than
himself. There is a shoot of young talent budding, with depth in every
area, that could well set the Super Eagles up for another era of great
success: along with Success Isaac at Granada, Manchester City’s crown
jewel Kelechi Iheanacho and the quicksilver Moses Simon, Nigeria have a
front four that will in time strike fear into the hearts of the
continent.His introduction, in the most demanding of circumstances against Egypt, did not faze the youngster. He may have played less than half an hour combined over both legs, but his remarkable calmness and decision-making, faced with a narrow Egyptian defence, made enough of an impression. There is something to be said for players featuring at an elite level of club football: having braved a packed Camp Nou, Alexandria’s Borg El Arab Stadium held no new terrors for young Alex.
It is poetic that, as the world mourns the demise of Johan Cruyff, Nigeria should get her first glimpse of the sort of positional malleability that only an education in Total Football can provide. His ability to feature anywhere in the attacking band, as well as in a midfield three as an ‘8’ means that, for once, there is no real confusion over how to get the best out of him, a debate that has come to underpin Odion Ighalo’s international football career so far, for example.
Just what can Iwobi achieve alongside the likes of Iheanacho and Simon for the Super Eagles?
Having come through the Arsenal youth ranks featuring in a variety of
positions, even at centre-forward, Iwobi presents an interesting
possibility: like a chameleon, with the same deliberate economy of
movement and sweeping arc of vision, he demands neither centre stage nor
top billing. He is however willing and capable of blending in with
minimal fuss, and striking at just the right moment, whether that means
arriving to sweep home as against Watford on Saturday, or playing the
decisive pass.Iwobi's stats vs. Watford In many ways, this makes him the polar opposite of his famous uncle, of whom subtlety was neither expected nor desired: having been blessed with such ability, it would have been a shame to ask Jay-Jay Okocha to stoop to the mundane. It seems now almost customary to name-drop the former Paris Saint-Germain and Bolton Wanderers man's name where Iwobi is mentioned, but in time that will change, and not necessarily due to over-use.
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