AFCON 2025: Let’s talk about Alex Iwobi - Super Eagles’ pre-assist collector

Forget the traditional goal and assist stats, Alex Iwobi is dominating where it truly matters.

As Nigeria Super Eagles for the "Final before the Final" against Morocco, Alex Iwobi is arguably in the form of his life.

Often the subject of debate in previous years, he has transformed into the indispensable engine room of Eric Chelle's team during AFCON 2025.

The midfielder who once divided opinion now unites it as everyone agrees he has become essential.

This is not the Iwobi of frustrating inconsistency or misplaced final balls. This is a player operating at a level that demands recognition, breaking records, dictating tempo, and making everyone around him better.

As Wednesday's semi-final approaches, it is time to properly acknowledge what the experienced Fulham playmaker has become.

The line-breaking maestro

Numbers do not lie, and Iwobi's statistical dominance tells the story of a player who has mastered the art of unlocking defences.

He has been the most effective progressor of the ball in the entire tournament. According to the latest data, Iwobi has completed 36 line-breaking passes in the knockout stages alone, more than any other player still competing in Morocco.

These are not safe sideways balls or simple vertical passes. These are defence-splitting, tempo-changing, game-opening passes that turn defensive stability into attacking chaos.

His mastery in the middle has been consistent and devastating. He recorded 22 of those passes against Mozambique in the Round of 16, tearing apart their defensive structure with surgical precision.

Against Algeria in the quarter-final, he added 14 more, like setting up Victor Osimhen in the build-up to Akor Adams’ poetry in motion goal, orchestrating the clinical dismantling of one of Africa's most organised teams.

In total, Iwobi has registered 46 defence-splitting passes throughout the tournament, more than double that of any other Super Eagles teammate. This is not just contribution; this is dominance.

While others shine with goals and assists, Iwobi operates one layer deeper, creating the conditions that make everything else possible.

Chasing history, making history

Wednesday's semi-final against Morocco will mark a personal milestone that places Iwobi among Nigerian football royalty.

After the Algeria match, he equalled the Nigerian record for most AFCON appearances by a midfielder with 22 caps, a mark he currently shares with legends Austin "Jay-Jay" Okocha, his uncle, Muda Lawal, and John Obi Mikel.

These are not just names, they are the standard-bearers of Nigerian midfield excellence across generations.

When Iwobi steps onto the pitch in Rabat on Wednesday, he will earn his 23rd AFCON cap, becoming the outright record-holder for a Nigerian midfielder. The company he is leaving behind tells you everything about what this achievement means. To surpass his blood, Okocha, to outlast Mikel, to stand alone at the top, this is legacy-defining territory.

Yet Iwobi carries this weight without ceremony or fanfare. He simply does the work, game after game, tournament after tournament, showing up when it matters most.

The tactical evolution: From chaos to control

Under Eric Chelle, Iwobi is playing a more disciplined, central role that fans are calling his "Zidane phase", a description that might sound hyperbolic until you watch him operate.

Playing as part of a midfield diamond (or in a 4-2-2-2 formation, depending on the game state), he acts as what social media has dubbed the "traffic warden," dictating tempo, finding gaps, and feeding the explosive trio of Victor Osimhen, Ademola Lookman, and Akor Adams. His positioning is deliberate, his decision-making sharp, and his execution increasingly flawless.

This is Iwobi as a pre-assist specialist. While he has only two direct assists in the tournament (both against Tanzania), this statistic wildly undersells his influence.

He is the architect behind the scenes, the player whose vision and execution create the space and opportunity for others to shine. It was his through-ball that initiated Nigeria's second goal against Algeria, a moment of such perfect weight and timing that the finish became inevitable.

"What's with Iwobi and these line-breaking passes, this boy go give me Diabetes I don dye," one fan wrote after the Algeria performance, capturing both the anxiety and exhilaration of watching Iwobi thread passes through impossible spaces.

Another observer noted: "Iwobi should know he is likely going to need to score against Morocco. They will be expecting passes but e go launch rocket or make run. Scatter the gameplan."

The tactical intelligence on display is remarkable. Iwobi understands when to accelerate and when to control, when to play the killer pass and when to recycle possession. This maturity, this reading of the game, has always been within him. Chelle has simply created the system and given him the freedom to express it fully.

Iwobi has taken on a leadership role off the pitch as well, embracing the responsibility that comes with experience and form.

Before the tournament began, he told reporters in London: "The only way we can improve from the last one is to win it. I want to speak it into existence, Nigeria will win it."

Those words carried weight then. They carry even more now, five matches into a perfect run, with only Morocco standing between Nigeria and a final. This is not blind optimism or empty bravado. This is belief earned through preparation, performance, and the knowledge that this team possesses something previous Super Eagles squads lacked, ruthless consistency.

Even Nigeria's own football royalty has taken notice. Asisat Oshoala, the country's and Africa’s greatest female footballer, tweeted after the Algeria match: "Out of curiosity, I will really love to see Iwobi's GPS number……he did box to box for 90mins…..that is hard AF."

The physical output matches the technical brilliance. Iwobi is not just creating, he is covering ground, winning duels, tracking back, and setting the standard for work rate. This is the complete midfielder performance, the kind that wins tournaments.

The transformation is complete

For years, Alex Iwobi was a potential unfulfilled talent without consistent output, a player who could dazzle one week and disappear the next. Critics questioned his decision-making, his final ball, and his ability to influence the biggest matches.

That version of Iwobi no longer exists.

What we are witnessing at AFCON 2025 is a player who has arrived at his peak, who understands his role completely, and who is executing it at a level that makes Nigeria's entire system function. Without Iwobi, the Super Eagles still have talent. With him, they have cohesion, control, and the ability to break down any defence in Africa.

As one satisfied social media user perfectly summarised: "Alex Iwobi has built a ridiculous collection of chef's kiss passes at AFCON 2025."

That collection is about to grow. Morocco awaits, and so does history. When Iwobi steps onto that pitch in Rabat, he will not just be making his 23rd AFCON appearance as a midfielder, he will be cementing his status as one of Nigeria's most important players in the nation's most important match of the tournament.

The pre-assist general is ready. The line-breaking king is in form. And he has already spoken it into existence: Nigeria will win it.

Now comes the part where words become reality.