As new coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Jose Peseiro settles down to work,he will be required to do a check on several players who have fallen out of favour with previous coaches.
Peseiro was appointed as coach on the back of Austine Eguavoen failure to qualify for the 2022 World Cup following his interim appointment as replacement for sacked coach Gernot Rohr.
One player who was brought into the team by Rohr but fell out of favour with Eguavoen is Kevin Akpoguma. The ex German youth international made the last of his four caps for Nigeria away to Sierra Leone two years ago in an Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.
At club level where he was the most active Nigerian defender, he now faces another uphill task with new coach André Breitenreiter moving him to a new role as right full back with Ozan Kabak preferred ahead of him in central defence.
Despite the injury to first choice central defender Benjamin Hübner, who is the captain of the team, Breitenreiter said he sees Akpoguma more as a right back who will play the role of deputy to Pavel Kaderabek like he did severally last season.
“Akpoguma is more of an alternative on the right for Pavel [Kadeřábek, d. Red.] seen,” said Breitenreiter at the press conference on Friday. Akpoguma played partly on the right rail last season when Kadeřábek was unable to play. The same role could also come to Akpoguma this season. At least that’s what it looks like at the moment”, he concluded.
