Eric Marcelo Ouma: Rising star
When Eric “Marcelo” Ouma was announced as one of the new signings in January, most fans did not give him a second thought. He was being signed straight from secondary school and many promising youngstars often flame out because they find the gap between secondary school football and the premier league too large to bridge.
But Marcelo was coming from Kakamega high, a school with very strong footballing pedigree.It is a school that has sent a number of talented players to Gor Mahia: Going back to the 1980s, Gor Mahia stalwarts like George Nyangi “Artillery” , Hezron Osuka and Joash Okongo came from there. A decade ago there was the brothers Andrew Oyombe and Kennedy Oliech. And more recently Timothy Otieno. All have played for Gor Mahia.
Ouma starred for Katch in 2014 and 2015 and was almost always among the scorers. In 2014 he was part of the strong Kakamega squad that won the national championships.
His most famous goal came in the 75th minute of the Nzoia region final in 2015. That goal steered Kakamega to a 1-0 win over arch rivals St Anthonys Kitale and elicited crowd trouble.
It was around this time that the exciting wing back started to attract attention from Gor Mahia scouts.
”We are in talks. Marcelo is a very good player and we would like to have him here for long. We have offered him a new deal and we are hopeful he will agree to sign,” said Ronald Ngala at the time.
He has been impressive during training since he joined. He finally got an opportunity to showcase his skills when new Brazilian coach Ze Maria arrived. He started the last two games. His work rate is phenomenal and he sends numerous well weighted and accurate crosses and has also had his fair share of shots on goal.
His coming out party was when Ushuru in the KPL Top 8 quarter-final match. He was solid on defence and was a livewire going forward. His cross into the box was what enabled Tuyisenge to score.
Coach Ze Maria was impressed.
Marcelo did well; he is a great player. Young and energetic and I like him, he played well in the last game and today he did well again he is a great resource not just for me as the coach but the team as a whole,’ said Ze Maria to supersport
And the young lad knows that he will need to continue working hard to solidify his place in the starting line-up.
“So far I can say I am satisfied with my performance and growth. I am happy that the coach has shown faith in me and I have to repay him with good performances on the pitch. There is competition for the left-back position in the team which means I have to work hard to get the slot ahead of other players. he said to futaa.com
Ouma was also a member of the Kenya U20 team which unfortunately was disqualified for fielding over-age players.
Mgema akisifiwa, tembo hulitia maji……stop wagging your mouth. we are still looking for Zangis, Bassangas, Zamaleks, Fundis, Makamus, Jogoo, Solo, Janabi, then we will be talking. Luo women , have you stopped giving birth to sons to step in these guys shoes? It is taking us damn long
Thanks for the article. Eric is a good player and the sky is the limit!
Hi guy stop calling on Luo women.You are one of the Luos bring your kid not other pepole.
that boy has a great future let’s release sibomana and bring kagere back
From Futaa.com, the lad signed a 6 month contract that expires in June. Kweli K’galo is but a “Football Catwalk” courtesy of bloated EC preferance for opaqueness and lack of structures/policies Ni tu “6 month contracts na training with team in order to keep fit” Kila siku ni kuanza afresh only Jakom is a constant factor.
For every department let’s have two competent players.So no to opinion of releasing Abouba. My bet is on Walusimbi to be released.You’ll find a better local replacement here.Remember we must build a team to conquer Africa.
Comments deleted
Jakorando please be courteous in your comments
What is your opinion or point mr? That is apart from saying stupid, stupidly, stupid this, stupid that etc like you just discovered the word, wacha kucatch mafeelings just counter an opinion with a different opinion/ facts.
Nobody here is an authority in soccer matters.Everyone is entitled to his or her opinion.You don’t have to say things just to please others…speak your mind..good or bad!!
A very good player with a bright future all factors remaining constant. I still prefer Sibomana though….
I support you @ Macmuga. I love the young boy but his coming should not render Sibomana a useless player. He makes mistakes just like all players.
I am not comfortable with the names of players that are being suggested here for release. These boys have served Gor mahia diligently. They may not be in good form now but please spare them the agony of being labelled candidates for release. How would anyone feel if he is being mentioned for termination of contract even in a work place. Why are we talking of Abouba and Walusimbi who have been playing and yet others have been warming the bench season after season? Let’s be considerate. The June signings should be done professionally. We don’t want relatives of officials coming to occupy unnecessary spaces at Kogalo.
I think what marcelo has done is what majority of kenyan players in Gor have failed to do. If any kenyan player will work hard to put a foreigner in bench then we shall have no option but to release them.Shakava managed to put Emuge in bench & later Emuge was released. So if marcelo will manage to cement his position & Sibomana will be released not bcos he is bad but bcos we’ve a better player localy. And that applies to all foreigners
Go…go..go… Eric Marcelo.. go!! do your best and bench the veterans. I fully support a young lad who can come directly from sec school and give ushuru midfielder hard time. When siboumana came in, Marcelo still proved to us that he can play even better as an attacking midfielder. Had he not been fouled after cleverly going past two ushuru defenders we would be speaking of a different score line against ushuru. Lastly I can not leave without observing that most people posting their comments here are not arguing football but other things else only a few are talking football. Others abuse people or label their fellows as stupid while others keep on mentioning players not in good light but in bad light. I wonder who among you here release players and sign others. Let what belong to the coach and the EC be!! I suspect some of you here are the hooligans who even attack players physically in the field of play….I’m sorry but just going by your comments here.
This lad Marcelo is a great player who is just doing what he was hired to do. I don’t agree that he has pushed Sibomana to the bench. The truth is Sibomana had it coming. He lost focus long ago, in fact mid last season to be precise. This is what I mean guys: if you have the time to recall, you will realize that in every game that Sibomana was booked, it was always for an off-the ball assault on a player. The assault was always a punch on his opponent’s ribs. This happened against Azam, Bandari in Msa and even earlier. Most recently that off-the ball assault cost us a penalty against Brewkenge. If a footballer loses passion for football and develops some for kickboxing, the wise thing is to let him follow his heart and replace him with Meddie Kagere.
With all due respect,Aucho registered more fouls than Sibomana last season. He went AWOL at the beginning of the season and continuously addressed the club through the press saying he was unlikely to come back. He only resurfaced when the club was assured of sponsorship….Those seem like a bigger loss of focus than Sibomana’s. Do we relace him too?
Hahahaha. Very funny observation about Sibomana…….especially that kickboxing part.
Obanda wa Muhoroni ni wakali kwa game. Tafadhali Ochomo awe marked kabisa. Ochomo osebiro mayore.
the thing is this. Aucho has had a bad season so far. Sibomana is a very good left back. Marcelo is equally good. the lad can even replace omino on the wing bcoz he has the speed and physicality to maneuver around. If I was told which foreigner to release to pave way for Kagere I did say Abouba Sibomana but let’s wait and see wat the E.C will do.locally we have talent around who are free agents come June. Paul mungai Kiongera a former gor player who has a knuck for goal is available. While at KCB last season he scored 12 goals during the second half of the season. Why can’t Gor take him from Simba SC in Tanzania. a combination of Tuyisenge and Kiongera is a lethal one. both strong in the air both speedy and both have a knuck for goals. I think we have a replacement for Aucho which is Eric Ochieng. the guy is a very good CDM. better than even the rough Wendo. Ochieng can fill Aucho gap perfect so I don’t think we need Aucho that much. probably sell him to a club abroad. but my question is where is innocent wafula? the best winger of last season is no where to be found.he is not even in matchday squads. the boy is talented and am sure he can make the likes of berry warm the bench.
he is a good player in deed plz provide us with his home town