A JOURNEY OF OZ Zambrano takes on Hungarian challenge
Former MetroStars coach Octavio Zambrano said he is poised for the challenge to coach last-place Tatabanya in the Hungarian First Division. Photo courtesy of MLS
By Michael Lewis
BigAppleSoccer.com Editor
His new team is teetering at the bottom of the Hungarian First Division in the relegation zone, but former MetroStars coach Octavio Zambrano said an opportunity to coach last-place Tatabanya was too good to pass up.
"It's a challenge," he said earlier this week. "Tatabanya is going through some tough times."
He said he knows what he's getting into, after righting the fortunes of Tiligul in the Moldovan First Division.
"I'm familiar with the situation with the club," he said.
Tatabanya is in 16th and last place with a 0-10-2 record and two points, trailing its two nearest rivals in the standings -- Siofolk (2-6-4, 10 points) and Sopron (2-6-4, 10) -- by eight points.
"People are counting on me to help them to do a complete turnaround," Zambrano added. "I am poised to do it. I can't wait."
Zambrano said the team is lack in several areas.
"It's a great opportunity to show my skills as coach," he said.
Zambrano said that can't make wholesale changes because if a team releases a player midway through a season, the club must pay for him the rest of the year. Saying that, Zambrano said he hopes to bring in a couple of Molodvan players.
If Zambrano can transform Tatabanya, good things can happen. Zambrano has a history of turning bad teams into good ones. You only have to look at what he did what the 1999 MetroStars, who were at the bottom of MLS. They wound up winning the first and only division title that season and reached the second round of the playoffs for the only time in the league's 13--year history.
"If that happens, then God willing, other doors will open up," Zambrano said.
But Zambrano admitted he did think about moving for a long time.
"It was a tough decision I was coming very proficient in Russian," he said.
But . . .
"I think my impact would be greater (in Hungary)," he said. "Hungary is a different place."
While Hungary has struggled to come close to its glory hears of the 1950s, it is at least a step up from Moldova.
"The Hungarian league is more prominent and a higher caliber league," Zambrano said. "It is closer to Western Europe, where I would like to eventually coach. I have to put in parentheses, I would like to coach in Russia and the Ukraine.
"This is my second stop. I hope to do well and continue to make an impact in Europe."
The Hungarian season ended in November and starts again at the end of February or the beginning of March, Zambrano said. Pre-season training begins this month.
Zambrano said that he will leave 20 minutes outside of Budapest, considered one of the happening spots in Europe, if not the world.
"When they flew me in to talk to the president of the club, I knew that that would be a place where I would like to live."
