Alex Iwobi has revealed that he was impressed with the performances of debutants Emmanuel Fernandez and Chibuike Nwaiwu during the second half of Nigeria's 2-1 win over World Cup-bound Asian nation, Iran in an international friendly staged in Antalya, Turkey on March 27.

The Super Eagles established a two-goal lead through strikes from Moses Simon and Akor Adams, before Iran reduced the deficit midway through the second half via Mehdi Taremi.

Rangers star Fernandez came off the bench to replace Semi Ajayi at halftime, while Nwaiwu, who earned a late call-up following the withdrawal of Calvin Bassey, entered the fray in the 57th minute.

Iwobi admitted that Iran were a tough nut to crack, despite the Super Eagles securing their first regulation-time victory since their win over Algeria at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations.

"Nice to get the 2-1 win against Iran, credit to Iran, they are a good solid team. There were spells where they controlled a lot of possession and I thought this is long," Iwobi said on the Alexander Yaa Digg podcast. 

"Credit to us, we got the two goals we needed to win the game. Shout out to the two centre-backs (Fernandez and Nwaiwu) that played the second half, making their debuts, they did well, they did solid. It was a good performance. The main thing is that we won, that gives us a confidence boost..."

Iwobi also issued a public apology following the red card he was shown in the closing stages of the Super Eagles' 2-2 draw with Jordan on March 31.

The Fulham midfielder was dismissed after a rash response to being held back by Jordan midfielder Amer Jamous.

"Obviously, I need to address what I did and apologise to all my Nigeria teammates, staff, and everyone who cares about Nigeria. My actions were not good enough, and I got sent off.

"But I have to learn and move on. We got a draw, we didn’t lose the game, so we have to take the positives. I want to apologise for the mistake. At least we didn’t lose any games away, and we take the positives."

Iwobi went the distance against Iran and played 31 minutes against Jordan, taking him to 99 caps for the Nigeria national team, just one appearance shy of a significant milestone.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel