Looking for Soccer News?
‘I want to achieve big things with Gor Mahia’ – vows coach Vaz Pinto
The 47-year-old tactician explains why he took up the coaching role at K’Ogalo and his targets for the 2020-21 campaign
Gor Mahia coach Carlos Manuel Vaz Pinto has promised to win trophies with the club after penning a deal to handle them.
The 47-year-old Portuguese tactician was unveiled on Sunday as the team prepared to face Kariobangi Sharks in an FKF Premier League match at Kasarani Stadium.
The former Saint George SC of Ethiopia and Angolan club Clube Recreativo Desportivo do Libolo coach has now revealed the reason why he chose to work for Gor Mahia and also promised to help them reach the group stage of the Caf Confederation Cup.
“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,” Pinto told Gor Mahia TV during the unveiling ceremony.
“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.”
On whether he has enough time to prepare the team for their Confederation Cup play-off fixture against Napsa Stars of Zambia, Pinto said: “Yes, of course, the time is not on our side, 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.”
On what he targets to achieve with the team, Pinto explained: “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.”
Despite unveiling the coach as Brazilian Roberto Oliveira's replacement, Gor Mahia did not divulge the details of his contract.
However, a source, who did not want to be named, confirmed to Goal the coach, will sign a two-year contract when he lands in Kenya to take over the job.
“We have agreed on everything in regards to his contract and what I can tell you is he will sign for two years,” a source privy to the deal, told Goal on Sunday.
“He is supposed to arrive anytime starting today [Sunday] and thereafter, the club will do a big unveiling ceremony.
“He is a very experienced coach, and has also helped a team to reach the semi-finals of Champions League, he holds the required papers, he has a Uefa Pro and Caf A licenses, so he will help us a lot.”
Vaz Pinto also managed the FC Famalicao U23 side from September 2019 to June 2020, where he oversaw 26 matches, won four, drew 11, and lost 11.
He also worked as the Technical Director of Ghanaian side Hearts of Oak, where he served for only seven days, before he resigned after the club rejected his proposal to remove Edward Nii Odoom as assistant coach of the team.
Gor Mahia have already played two matches since the 2020-21 season kicked off – beating Ulinzi Stars 1-0 before losing 2-1 against Tusker.
