Zimbabwe Football

The Zimbabwean national team manager Klaus Dieter Pagels has said that he is ready for his next test as the manager of Zimbabwe. Under the management of Pagels, Zimbabwe managed to register a 2-1 win over Botswana in a friendly match. Zimbabwe were coming into the match at the back of an indifferent form, which has seen them lose a couple of matches. However, Pagels has started his regime in the best possible manner after guiding the team to a victory. The next match for Zimbabwe will be World Cup qualifying encounter against one of the best teams in Africa – Egypt.

The match will be taking place in the month of March, and Pagels has said that he is ready to take on the Warriors test. Pagels tried to make several changes to the team by using a number of European-based players in the match. The tactic paid off quite well for the manager after his players were able to utilise their experience from playing regular European football into the match. Pagels has said that the players have had only two days of training, but they have been showing positive signs of gelling quite soon. Aside from the victory, the manager has said that he was pleased with the performance of his players.

“We worked well with the players. You know some of the players came from Europe, others South Africa, but we had two days training and it went well. They are young and good players. There were a few experienced ones, but most are young ones with a great future. So far so good. We had two days of training and then the game, so I think the more games we play the more the team will gel. Oh yes. It wasn’t about the win but the performance. The win was a bonus,” said Pagels.

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.

The Zimbabwe Football Association has decided to name the German manager Klaus Dieter Pagels as the interim manager of the national team before a permanent manager is found. He will be working with the under 23 coach Peter Ndlovu, who will be kept along the bench as one of the assistant manager is. The goalkeeping coach Nkululeko Dhlamini has also taken over his new role from Richard Tswatswa, as the Zimbabwe football Association continues to bring in a major reshuffle in the hope of qualifying for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Klaus Dieter Pagels has been working with the Zimbabwe football Association for the last two seasons.

He has been working with the African nations as part of the German assistance program. He will now have the ability to choose one assistant manager according to his desire. The association has said that Pagels is the perfect man for the job that will be extremely short, as they hope to find the perfect man to be able to lead Zimbabwe in the future campaigns. They have also said that a local coaches will be working along with Pagels in order to give him inputs during his time as the Zimbabwe national team manager.

“We settled for the German coach, given the existing government-to-government cooperation which would see the Association engaging a highly qualified coach in the shortest possible time-frame. The Association will, however, continue on a hunt for a highly qualified coach who should take charge of the senior national men’s future campaigns in the long term. A local coach with unquestionable potential and enthusiasm shall be recommended to work with Klaus Pagels as part of the Association’s capacity building and succession plan,” said the Zimbabwe football Association in a statement. Pagels’ official unveiling will come later in December of this year.

The Zimbabwe national football team was recently disbanded, while the opportunity to construct a new team was given to the head coach Rahman Gumbo. He has had to select a number of players from the international teams for youngsters. The players from the likes of Zimbabwe international under 17, under 23, and under 20 teams have given Rahman Gumbo lot of confidence that Zimbabwe has a bright future. Rahman Gumbo was recently at a match between Dynamos and CAPS United. Dynamos managed a 3-0 victory in the match.

Speaking after the match, the Zimbabwe National team head coach Rahman Gumbo said that the future looks bright for Zimbabwe due to the number of promising youngsters playing in the country. Simba Sithole and Denver Mukumba were amongst the promising players in the match. Even though Rahman Gumbo has not revealed the final list of players who will be making it into the Zimbabwe national team, he has said that he should not be too difficult given the quality of players at his disposal. The Asiagate scandal that has been a major story led to the disbanding of the Zimbabwe national team along with various other changes at board level. The team had just failed to qualify for the 2013 African cup of nations.

“I am impressed with the young players. They are doing very well in the local league and I hope when given the chance to play in the national team they will rise up to the occasion. We have very good young talented players who will fit in the national team. I am pleased so far,” said the Zimbabwe head coach after watching the match. It has been an up-and-down form for the national team with just two victories in the last six matches including the latest defeat against Angola.