Monkagedi Gaotlhobogwe
14 October 2008
Zebras' goalkeeper and captain Modiri 'Carlos' Marumo has learnt that money is not everything in his second year with Cairo club, Haras El Hadoud.
He confesses that he is bored to death in Egypt. He cannot speak Arabic and he finds it very hard to mix with Egyptians.
"I speak English with three foreigners at the club. The rest do not communicate in English.
The team-mates who speak English are not necessarily my friends either. So after training, the routine is to head straight to my flat and sit there alone everyday reading my Bible," said the man who quit the army to earn a living through professional football last year.
His situation is compounded by the fact that in Cairo things start moving after 1pm. "Shops open from 1pm for the day and the city springs to life after 2pm when the largely Muslim population return from prayers. So the routine is to sleep the whole day and wake up in the afternoon. I find it hard to adjust," Marumo told Mmegi Sport on Friday. He regrets signing a three-year contract with El Hadoud. He pointed out that he will be happy to sign for a new club outside Egypt.
"Obviously after the end of my contract, I will not be playing there, never. It is hell for me because I cannot adjust to the lifestyle," the Zebras' captain said. During Ramadhan, a period of fasting and prayer in the Muslim world, Marumo has to adjust to a new training schedule in the evening. Despite the off-pitch problems, the Zebras' captain and his Egyptian club have done well.
Last season, El Hadaoud finished fourth in the Egyptian league and is now on the verge of reaching the CAF Confederation Cup final. They are placed second in their Confederation Cup group behind Tunisian side CS Sfaxien. "If Sfaxien is held to a draw by Inter Clube of Angola, and we win our next game, we will proceed to play in the finals," Marumo said.
The Zebras' captain stated that at El Hadoud, he plays second fiddle to Cameroonian star Kameni Martini. However, he has started two of the four opening league matches for the club this season. He has also played in the Confederation Cup.
Copyright © 2008 Mmegi/The Reporter. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
Read comments. Write your own.
