Ze Maria, winning is everything
What you need to know:
- To the utter misery of the fans, the team had become a pale shadow of itself and many were always baying for coach Ze Maria’s head.
- On Saturday we trooped to the Nyayo National Stadium waiting to get another draw against Chemelil Sugar.
“Anyway Ze Maria will have set the bar so low for whoever will take over as Gor Mahia coach next (season).”
This is how a good friend and a fellow scribe described the hitherto descent into perdition that was the Gor Mahia campaign in this year’s Sportpesa Premier League.
To the utter misery of the fans, the team had become a pale shadow of itself and many were always baying for coach Ze Maria’s head. With a string of draws under his belt the man from Brazil was headed to making a history of sorts as the man who turned round a mean, ruthless and winning machine into a collection of wimps who ate, slept and dreamt a draw against the next opponents.
And then it happened. On Saturday we trooped to the Nyayo National Stadium waiting to get another draw against Chemelil Sugar.
We were elated when Francis Kahata took a stroke of the genius free-kick, which beat Chemelil keeper Ali Kimera for the opener in the 16th minute.
But our joy was not to last long after Jared Obwege levelled for the visitors.
THE TIDE CHANGED
As we were bracing ourselves for another draw the tide changed for the better and goals from Amos Nondi and George Odhiambo placed the match beyond the reach of our opponents.
It is long since I saw members of the Green Army celebrate like they did on Saturday.
This was a clearly unexpected win and the rapturous celebrations pointed to pent up emotions that were finally let loose on that bright Saturday afternoon.
Ze Maria, as I have said in this column time and again, that is the Gor Mahia we are used to. A fearless bunch of warriors who can face any adversary in the eye and say: “Bring it on, buddy!”
From what I have read in the local press, it seems the club’s management have your back and you are not losing the pay check anytime soon.
According to the assistant secretary general Ronald Ngala, the club is with you for the long haul.
Good for you my good sir. What I am now beseeching you to do is to reciprocate this goodwill by firmly returning us to our winning ways.
It is a good thing we dazzled those cane cutters from Chemelil but as you must have realised, at Gor Mahia we have this huge, insatiable appetite for wins. Like addicts looking for a fix, one win leaves us yearning for the next one.
I truly hope you are up to the challenge Ze Maria.
