The head coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Jose Peseiro has explained the reason behind his decision to invite the captain of the Nigeria U20 team to the senior national team of Nigeria for the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers games against Guinea Bissau.
Bameyi made the 23 man list for the game and has been actively training with the rest of the team ahead of the first of back to back games against Guinea Bissau, which is scheduled for Friday at the Moshood Abiola stadium in Abuja.
Ahead of the game, Peseiro was asked the reason why he picked the defender who plays for non league side Yum Yum FC ahead of other players especially those in the Nigeria Professional League, he explained he only watched four league games in Nigeria which isn’t enough to assess a player but he watched Bameyi several times.
“I keep more time with the U20. I watched the training, I watched the friendly match. I watched three match, it’s different”, he explained at the pre match conference.
Bameyi recently represented Nigeria at the U20 Africa Cup of Nations, where he captained the Nigerian team to qualification for the World Cup by finishing third but he wasn’t rated as the best for Nigeria and even lost his centre back position upon his return from suspension. He had to fill in at right back.
Peseiro admitted that although they are other players who are technically better than the 17 year old, the fact that he can play in more than one role gave him the edge ahead of others particularly Benjamin Fredrick, a player he confessed that he likes a lot.
“I keep more time with the U20. I watched the training, I watched the friendly match. I watched three match, it’s different”, he said at the pre match conference.
“I choose Bameyi because he is a defender ,he can play right center back and right back. I can tell you, they are other players with the same level or better level but of course I didn’t choose the players. I kept belief in his quality and at the same time in some positions.
“As you can see, I choose two right backs, two left backs, three centre backs and Bameyi who can play right back and centre back, four midfielders, four wingers and four strikers.
“We want to build a team with balance. There are other players who are better than Bameyi, okay I like the centre back (Benjamin Frederick) but can he do the same in the same position? No”, he rounded up saying.
