New Gor Mahia coach: I want to make history

by Graeme Jackson

Monday Jan 11, 2021. 12:00

New Gor Mahia coach Manuel Vaz Pinto has declared his intention to “make history” with the Kenyan club.

The 47-year-old Portuguese was unveiled on Sunday, with Vaz Pinto having experience on the African continent from spells with Saint George (Ethiopia) and Clube Recreativo (Angola).

He replaces Brazilian Roberto Oliveira, who lasted from October to December last year before leaving the club.

“I have a lot of experience in Africa. I worked before in two countries, Angola and Ethiopia I played Confederation Cup and Champions League and now I come to Gor Mahia because they are a big club,” Vaz Pinto told Gor Mahia TV, as quoted by Goal.

“I am very proud to be the coach of Gor Mahia and of course I want to achieve big things and make history with the club. We start to work very hard to win games in the league and put Gor Mahia in the group stage of the Confederation Cup, that is my target here.”

K’Ogalo’s Confederation Cup playoff tie will be against NAPSA Stars of Zambia, with the games scheduled for 14 and 21 February.

“Yes, of course, the time is not on our side [before the NAPSA tie], we don’t have enough time to analyse our opponents, analyse and study how they play, we want to put strong training sessions and give them [my players] a winning mentality, so I think together we can achieve group stage qualification,” explained the new coach.

In regards to his ambitions, Vaz Pinto added: “I am a young and ambitious coach and I want my team to be ambitious, we must be ready to achieve goals and we must achieve our targets, I am ambitious and I want my team to be ambitious, to fight in every game, win every game and win trophies as well.”