'Can play centre-back and right-back' - Peseiro defends controversial selection of Bameyi

Nigeria manager Jose Peseiro has defended his decision to include Daniel Bameyi in his squad list for the international matches this month against Guinea-Bissau. 

The YumYum FC defender captained the Flying Eagles at the 2023 Africa U20 Cup of Nations but wasn't one of the standout players for the seven-time African champions, so eyebrows were raised with his promotion to the senior setup. 

Peseiro was issued a directive by the Nigeria Football Federation to name at least three-home based players on the roster for the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers. 

With his hands tied, the Portuguese football tactician selected Bameyi and two goalkeepers in the shape of Victor Sochima and Kingsley Aniagboso, bringing the total number of uncapped players in the squad to four including Bruno Onyemaechi. 

Peseiro stressed that he could only call up players that he'd seen and revealed that what Bameyi had going for him was his ability to play two defensive positions. 

At Thursday's pre-match press conference, SuperSport presenter Chisom Mbonu asked Peserio to explain what he saw in Bameyi that qualified him to play for the Super Eagles. 

The Super Eagles coach responded : "There are many players, it's not easy to choose. If I choose 20 foreign-based professionals, I must choose local players. I visited some clubs, watched some matches in the league, not enough matches. 

"I spend more time with the U20s. I watched the trainings, I watched one friendly match and three training games. It's different. I saw one Akwa United match. It's not enough but I conclude my evaluation and observation.

"I chose Bameyi because he's a defender, can play as the right-sided central defender and right-back. Of course I can tell you there are other players with the same level or other level but I need to choose the players I can believe the quality for some positions.

"I chose two right-backs, two left-backs, two center-backs, another two center-backs and Bameyi can play right center back and right-back, four midfielders, four wingers and four strikers. Build one team with balance.

"Are other players in the U20s better than Bameyi for the position? I like the center back there but for the same position, no.

"The goalkeeper also, Victor, I watched Victor, I watched Kingsley because I can not choose players for the sake of choosing. I don't believe in that, I believe in watching them. Yesterday I saw the U23s for the first time. I spotted one or two players."

Bameyi was in the Super Eagles B team that lost 2-0 to Costa Rica in a friendly last November and has been capped at U23 level.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel 

Copyright ANS

All rights reserved. This material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express written permission from allnigeriasoccer.com