MBU’s Argentine coach likes club’s modern ideas

NEW HEAD coach of Montego Bay United FC (MBU), Argentinian Rodolfo Zapata, believes fresh ideas, tied to his experience can take the club to the next level.

The team recently announced Zapata as the new head coach after parting ways with Brazilian coach, Neider Dos Santos.

“There are no miracles and shortcuts in football. To create a winning team takes time, hard work and consistency to continue the job. I love the challenge to build winning teams. I analysed on video several times last season that they are good players. We are coaches, we are teachers, so we show the path to follow to our players and the players need to show inside the pitch,” Zapata told The Gleaner.

“I want to make the supporters enjoy the team. We are going to play offensive football just like the national Jamaican team in 1998. That is what I want for our team. The chairman has fresh ideas for Jamaica football and MBU and that is the reason I am here,” he said.

In the meantime, Yoni Epstein, MBU chairman, said there were no hard feelings between club and Dos Santos.

“The board of Montego Bay wanted to see what else we could find out there while coach Dos Santos wanted to come back. That is why the separation was not mutual. We love coach Dos Santos, he has done a great job over the years that he was here, but we wanted to continue to evolve the club,” Epstein explained.

“This club belongs to the city and myself and our team are the custodians of the team. We have to do what we believe is the right thing to take the club to the next level, so we went out and did an extensive interviewing process. We met people from the UK, the US, and from around the region and at the end of the day, we landed on coach Zapata.”

Epstein believes Zapata being from a region that had similarities to Jamaica made it an easier coach selection.

FULL SUPPORT

“We wanted someone who knew how to win a league, similar experiences to what we have to offer here in Jamaica and felt he had the best résumé to do so. The club has put its full support behind him and while we have big expectations, we know that the preseason is very important and that is what is going to get us to start the season,” Esptein said.

MBU were brought under new ownership in the fall of 2023 and have been undergoing a transformation with renewed investment in resources, players and management.

Dos Santos was surprised by the sacking since MBU had gone unbeaten in their last 10 matches, missing the playoffs on goal difference.

“In short time everybody wants to win, I want to win every single game. In Argentina, it is very competitive and I grew up in that. The chairman asked me as well to create a programme to promote Jamaican players to play in the US, Europe. I believe my experience can take the club to the next level,” Zapata said.

Zapata began his career as a professional football player in Argentina before getting a coaching degree and moving to North America where he worked for the USA Olympic Development Program, coaching and identifying young talent for the US national team.

He has been a head coach for some of the biggest clubs in South Africa, Botswana, Nigeria, Kenya, and Rwanda, as well as the Fiji U20 national team. He is also the founder of the Rolo Zapata Academy for boys and girls in Argentina.