{"id":394306,"date":"2018-01-23T10:39:47","date_gmt":"2018-01-23T10:39:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=394306"},"modified":"2018-01-23T14:40:59","modified_gmt":"2018-01-23T14:40:59","slug":"eric-gawu-gatete-living-dream-35","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2018\/01\/eric-gawu-gatete-living-dream-35\/","title":{"rendered":"Eric Gawu \u2018Gatete\u2019: Living the Dream at 35"},"content":{"rendered":"
Citi Sports\u2019 Fentuo Tahiru watched Eric Gawu shine for Dreams FC in the GHALCA G8 Final and says that 13 years after his supposed prime, the striker is as fresh as before.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n The year was 2005, when as a 17-year old young man out of secondary school, I saw Eric Gawu for the first time.<\/p>\n The players of King Faisal had come to visit Alhaji Grunsah at his residence in Adukrom-Sawaba in Kumasi after returning from Tunisia where they had beaten AS Marsa 2-1 in a CAF Confederation Cup group stage game.<\/p>\n Gawu scored in that game.<\/p>\n I remember vividly the crowd around Grunsah\u2019s house- everyone star-struck at the sight of Gawu- the majestic nightmare for defenders in Ghana. He had now taken his regal torment to the rest of Africa. I, too, was awed to see Gawu.<\/p>\n That was nearly 13 years ago.<\/p>\n That remained my only close encounter with the legendary Gawu \u2018Gatete\u2019 until , I watched him torment Hearts of Oak\u2019s defenders in the GHALCA G8 finale, and later took a selfie with the man now playing for Dreams FC.<\/p>\n Nothing had changed. I was still as star-struck as I was 13 years ago. But that was not the only unchanged thing about him. His looks, his movement, his pace, his skill and tactical intelligence, were all still reminiscent of the Gawu of old \u2013 the Gawu of King Faisal \u2013 not of Hearts of Oak.<\/p>\n He still had the traits of former Rwanda forward, Jimmy Gatete. The man whose name became Gawu\u2019s moniker.<\/p>\n Between 2004 and about 2006, Gatete and Olivier Karikaze, led the line for the Rwanda national team and gave problems to any team they faced including Ghana.<\/p>\n The two combined to kick the Black Stars out of the 2004 AFCON qualifiers.<\/p>\n Gatete was deadly and so was Gawu in his pomp.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n But that did not look the case when he joined Hearts of Oak after three successful seasons with Kumasi King Faisal in which he qualified them to consecutive CAF Confederation Cup campaigns.<\/p>\n Gawu\u2019s time with the Phobians was rather one of a hit-and-miss.<\/p>\n He signed for Accra Hearts of Oak for a then reported domestic transfer record fee of $60,000. If anyone deserved such a hefty price tag, it was Gawu.<\/p>\n But his form with the Phobians was patchy and he was never quite able to replicate the performances he churned out at Faisal that made him arguably the deadliest striker in Ghana.<\/p>\n \u201cYou bought the player, not his goals,\u201d King Faisal chairman Alhaji Grunsah clapped back after being asked why Gawu could not reproduce the goods at Hearts.<\/p>\n Sojourns to Qatar and Israel soon followed before he returned home in 2012, clubless. In an attempt to re-launch his career, he joined Division One side Okwawu United a year later in 2013. But again, that did not work out and he left.<\/p>\n In 2015, Gawu joined Dreams FC in the second round of the Division One League. Dreams, then coached by C.K. Akonnor, were pushing for their first ever promotion to Ghana\u2019s elite division.<\/p>\n