Zimbabwe Football

Zimbabwe and Mozambique will be taking on each other in a high-profile match that more or less has no meaning, but it will be extremely important for both teams due to various reasons. Even though they cannot qualify for the World Cup 2014, this match will be of greater significance in the future of the two teams. New Zimbabwe manager Ian Gorowa has said that he has challenged his players to get a victory from this match. Both teams are separated only by a few points in the group G. Mozambique have two points on board and are third in the table.

Zimbabwe, meanwhile, have just only one point from the five matches. Egypt have taken qualification from this group after winning the group, while Guinea have come second. Klaus Dieter Pagels did a decent job of helping Zimbabwe stay afloat, but he was unable to prevent them from losing ground on the World Cup qualifying group. Hence, Gorowa was given a monumental task took over the job as the national team manager a few months ago. Even though Gorowa will be unable to change the fact that Zimbabwe cannot be at the 2014 World Cup, he is hoping to finish the qualification campaign with at least a victory.

“To be honest we have not won in this group and I do not want to take responsibility for something when I was not in charge. In this game we have to play for our pride as Zimbabweans and have to win at home, which is very important. Also, we have to look at the performance of some of the players whom we have not used as a technical team and we need to access them so I think it’s important to get both results and performance,” said Gorowa ahead of the match with Mozambique.

Klaus Dieter Pagels is fast approaching 12 months into his job as the Zimbabwe national team manager. He was appointed in his role as the national team manager back in November 2012. Now, he has revealed that talks have been ongoing with the Zimbabwe president over the possibility of signing a new extension. Zifa president Cuthbert Dube has indicated that there is a possibility that Pagels will sign a new contract. Pagels’ contract with the national team runs out at the end of the month. This uncertain future may be detrimental to the hopes of Zimbabwe doing well in the next few tournaments.

Pagels also revealed that he has signed a six-month contract with a school in Germany and he would be returning to his native country in order to start work soon. Pagels has been trying to revolutionise Zimbabwe by bringing in players who are already playing in Europe. This has had mixed results in the last few months. Recent successes in friendly matches against the likes of Malawi and Lesotho have been overshadowed by disappointments against the likes of Zambia and Egypt in key matches. Zimbabwe are currently bottom of the World Cup qualifying group after having taken just one point from the five matches.

“We are still talking. We discussed the issue with Zifa this week, but we didn’t finalise so I cannot say it’s all over. I might stay longer or I might not. I am going to the Cosafa tournament right now and I might also be going to Mauritius for the African Cup of Nations Championships (CHAN) tournament. I signed a six-month contract and after the CHAN match, there is just the 2014 World Cup qualifier against Mozambique. My contract with the school will also be coming to an end so I can’t say much because we are still talking with Zifa,” said Pagels.

Zimbabwe national team manager Dieter Kalus Pagels has hailed the Cosafa Castle Cup, which makes certain after a three-year hiatus, by saying that it will be a huge help to him in his efforts to rebuild the national team. Cosafa Castle Cup will be held in Zambia in the first two weeks of July. The national team was recently disbanded by Zifa. Pagels has said that this tournament is extremely essential if he is to complete the rebuilding work of the team. He has said that Zimbabwe should come up with a strong side in the near future.

Pagels has also revealed that he will be selecting only local-based players for this tournament, while also explaining his philosophy of having two teams that are capable of playing in two different tournaments. Pagels has said that the team with European based players will be challenging for the FIFA World Cup spot, while the locally-based players will be challenging for tournaments like the Cosafa Castle Cup that will be held locally. This tournament includes a total of 14 teams with Zimbabwe amongst the top teams along with the likes of South Africa and Zambia.

Zimbabwe come into the tournament on the back of a poor run of form, which has seen them lose three of the last five matches.

“It’s a good tournament and we hope to use the opportunity to look at other players that we have. I am sure this Cosafa tournament is for locally best players only. Normally, we would need to have two teams; one for the Cosafa and CHAN tournaments and the other for the World Cup and Africa Nations Cup competitions,” said Zimbabwe’s national team manager Pagels. Before the start of the tournament, Zimbabwe will have matches against the likes of Egypt and Guinea in the World Cup qualifying.

Zimbabwe national team manager Claus Dieter Pagels has said that he and the team will be giving their best in the World Cup qualifying stage despite the fact that they are unlikely to qualify. Ahead of the match with Egypt, Zimbabwe will be looking to qualify for the World Cup. However, they are in the last position of the group G after having played just three matches. Only the top team qualifies for the World Cup automatically. The top place is currently occupied by Egypt, who are a mammoth eight points ahead of them in the table. Still, Pagels reckons that his team will be giving their 100% in the matches.

Pagels was appointed as the Zimbabwe national team manager after the team failed to qualify for the 2013 African cup of nations. However, he knew at the time of taking the job that qualifying for the World Cup is going to be extremely tough. It has proven to be the case, as Zimbabwe have just one point to show in the three matches they have played. Ahead of the match, Pagels has said that he has seen the Egyptian team play in the last few matches, and he has identified certain areas to target in the opposition.

“I know they are a very strong team and that we are facing a tough mission in Alexandria. I watched their recent friendly games and know they are a very good team despite the fact that they lost in some of the recent matches. I also watched some DVD’s of their old games and know well what awaits us on Tuesday. I asked Zimbabwe Football Association to arrange some friendly games for us, and to leave for Egypt early but the financial situation couldn’t sustain that,” said Pagels ahead of the Egypt match.