The interim manager of the Zimbabwe National team, Klaus-Dieter Pagels has said that he will be fielding a team that is full of European experience for the upcoming friendly against Malawi. He has said that he has been doing a lot of research over the Zimbabwe players playing in European countries. He has been consistently monitoring them, and he intends to use them in the upcoming friendly matches. The previous Zimbabwe manager was criticised for not utilising the players playing abroad. Pagels intends to correct it under his regime and hope that the form of the national team improves.
Zimbabwe come into the encounter against Egypt in March having won just two of the last six encounters. As a result, that is a lot of pressure on the manager to produce the results. Pagels has said that he will not be including every player who is playing abroad, but only those who are capable of representing the national team. The African nations have been able to achieve a lot international football over the last decade due to the presence of several European-based players in the squad. Ivory Coast, Ghana, and Cameroon have been great examples of national teams being able to take advantage of the presence of popular African’s in major leagues.
“My philosophy needs European-based players as the backbone of the team. I was in Germany recently where I contacted my friends all over Europe who gave me a lot of information on all Zimbabweans playing in Europe. I also researched on the internet, so let me proudly say that I am now well-informed. At the moment I am not at liberty to name the players, but my ideal team is already there. The challenge here is to build a new team. We must have a good mix of European-based with the best playing locally, ” said Pagels.