Adios Ze Maria, you have left Gor stronger

Gor Mahia head coach Jose Marcelo Ferreira (right) and his assistant Zedekiah Otieno look on during the SportPesa Super Cup final match at Uhuru Stadium on June 11, 2017. PHOTO | VINCENT OPIYO | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • One of the biggest regrets Marcelo Ferreira aka ‘Ze Maria’ will have in his life is missing out on the celebrations when Gor Mahia beats Everton next month in Dar es Salaam.
  • You see, the good man resigned this past week as coach of the greatest football club on this part of the world.
  • I do not know the undercurrents that made the guy hightail it back to the favelas of Rio de Janeiro where he comes from.

One of the biggest regrets Marcelo Ferreira aka ‘Ze Maria’ will have in his life is missing out on the celebrations when Gor Mahia beats Everton next month in Dar es Salaam.

You see, the good man resigned this past week as coach of the greatest football club on this part of the world.

I do not know the undercurrents that made the guy hightail it back to the favelas of Rio de Janeiro where he comes from.

But this one thing I know for sure. The man gave us a good team. Boys oozing confidence. Playing good football. Sublime passes. Footloose with the ball. Aah the man was good.

Many people in the club’s support unit have different opinions of Ze Maria. Some think he did not amount to much, some in between.

I belong in the camp that believes that one day when a Gor Mahia museum of heroes is built this man will get a prominent place.

It’s been long since I last saw a coach who inspired his troops into battle with sheer arrogance and audacity that Ze Maria did. In my humble estimation he ranks up there with another chap who came from far away England called Len Juliens.

Ask veteran players like Austin Oduor or John ‘Bobby’ Ogolla. If not satisfied ask veteran Green Army members like Dod Kenyatta. Although Zedekiah “Zico” Otieno carried the team to the finals of the SportPesa Super Cup in Tanzania earlier in the month, I believe that team was Ze Maria’s making.

Not that I have anything against Zico. Only that I love telling the truth.

Now that the man is gone we must look for the way forward. Can Zico win us the league? Why not? I believe he can. What I am asking is that the good chap be given free rein to run the playing unit as he sees fit.

After all football is like pregnancy, the results shall soon be out there for the whole world to see.

If Ziico continues with the same playing pattern and the players do their bit with the same grit we saw in Dar es Salaam then I believe there is no team in the world we can’t beat.

I can see some naysayers raising eyebrows in horror from that statement.

I repeat again, on a good day Gor Mahia can beat any team in the world. With sheer cockiness that has seen us produce some of the best ball masters, we are proud of who we are.

Ask our sorry neighbours called AFC Leopards why we are Gor Mahia. Then you will know that we lose matches we want to lose. But when the rubber meets the road, we deliver. As Gor Mahia.