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Pagels guided the Warriors to the final of the Cosafa Senior Challenge Cup, where they lost in the final 0-2 to hosts Zambia, to surrender a trophy they had won on home soil, when the tournament was last held four years ago.
The German coach is now winding up his tour of duty to Zimbabwe, after securing a job in his hometown of Stade as a sports teacher at a school beginning August 6 on a six-month contract, but had indicated that he was ready to take charge of one more game for the Warriors.
After his team’s defeat at the hands of Zambia, Pagels told The Herald that he was now shifting his attention to the CHAN tie against Mauritius, saying he was prepared to take charge of the first leg, which falls within the period of the government-to-government agreement that brought him here, which comes to an end on July 31.
“We are going to take a short break of a day or two to give the players time to recover and we will regroup once Zifa have advised us on the travel plans to Mauritius,” said Pagels.
“I will tell Zifa that I want all the best players now, more than three from each club.
“Cosafa is gone now and we must draw some positives from our match against Zambia and the whole tournament and build on from there and one of the positives is that we have a team that has ability and skills to play football and we must be proud of that.
“I leave on 31 July so I can only take charge of the first leg in Mauritius and I hope the next coach can continue with the philosophy that we have built in this team.”
Pagels had even decided to ring the changes to the squad that he took to Zambia for the Cosafa Cup with the Dynamos duo of Partson Jaure and Augustine Mbara set to make a comeback and strengthen a defence that was exposed in the semi-final and the final.
A man who always plans everything that he does in detail, Pagels had already drawn a plan for the preparations of the Warriors, ahead of their match against Mauritius, and given the players who were in Zambia a two-day break to recharge their batteries before regrouping for national duty.
But the German gaffer is unlikely to be in charge of the national team when it starts its campaign in the African Nations Championships in Mauritius on Sunday.
It has since emerged that Zifa have a different plan and want Ian Gorowa, who was with the Warriors during their entire stay in Zambia, to take charge of the trip to Mauritius.
Gorowa did not sit on the bench, amid reports that his presence in the Warriors’ camp did not amuse Pagels and created some friction, but took notes on the team’s training sessions and also compiled technical reports on their matches.
The initial arrangement was that Gorowa be part of the Warriors’ technical team in Zambia but Pagels felt that a new broom would disrupt a system that was already functional and resisted Zifa’s attempts to include the former Zimbabwe international in the decision-making team of the coaching crew during the Cosafa Cup.
Reports also indicate that the Cosafa Technical Study Team indicated that Zimbabwe had the best players, at the Cosafa Cup, in terms of their quality but were let down by some technical shortcomings that were evident in virtually every match they played, including the two games they won against Malawi, on penalties, and against Lesotho in the semi-final.
Zifa chief executive, Jonathan Mashingaidze, could not reached yesterday to shed light on who will take charge of the Warriors in Mauritius as he is away in Zurich, Switzerland, together with his vice-president Ndumiso Gumede, on official Fifa business.
Sources at Zifa, however, told The Herald that the local football chiefs had long made a commitment, once it emerged that Pagels had secured a job elsewhere beginning next month, to let Gorowa take charge of the Warriors during the CHAN tournament as part of their long-term plans for technical personnel to take charge of the Warriors.
“The board has always been of the view that since Pagels is certainly leaving on July 31, a new coach must start a new campaign and run with it,” the sources said.
“So, Gorowa will have the task of qualifying the Warriors for CHAN and beyond that. So, even if Pagels had won Cosafa, it was not going to alter the Zifa vision.”
Gorowa, who returned to Harare with the Warriors on Sunday, flew back to his base in South Africa yesterday although he is expected back home today to begin the preparations for the CHAN qualifier.
Repeated efforts to get a comment from Gorowa were not successful last night but the sources indicated yesterday that the former Mamelodi Sundowns coach had advised the Zifa leadership that he was ready to play his part now in the Warriors’ technical team.
It is not clear whether the former Warriors striker will make changes to the team which Pagels had earmarked for the CHAN tournament.
The national team squad is expected to be named today and is likely to have some new faces when compared to the one which failed to defend their Cosafa Cup title in Zambia on Saturday
The CHAN tournament falls on a Fifa date and the technical team would be spoilt for choice, in terms of getting the best possible players they can draw from the domestic league, which has to give way to this tourney.
Already, the league fathers that had scheduled the weekend for BancABC Sup8r quarter finals have postponed the cash rich tournament to pave way for the national commitments.
The domestic Premiership did not stop, during the Cosafa Cup, and Pagels was forced to just pick a maximum of two players, from the teams in the top-flight league, and the German coach said this weakened his team, especially the defensive choices that he needed for this assignment.
Yesterday, Zifa president Cuthbert Dube and his board member in charge of competitions, Benedict “Grinder” Moyo, held a meeting in the capital where he was given a technical report of how the Warriors’ fared in Zambia and what should be done to the technical team ahead of their trip to Mauritius.
Moyo, who was also in Zambia as part of the Cosafa technical committee, emerged from the meeting saying they were trying to have flawless travel arrangements for the team like they did with the Cosafa Cup tournament.
The team went to Zambia on a chartered Air Zimbabwe flight, which then flew them back home after the end of their tour of duty on Sunday.
“It is more important for us to secure tickets for the team and we are already working on that,” said Moyo.
“We have no qualms, the team played well in Zambia and we are confident going forward.
“I was just updating the president on Cosafa but l was mostly involved with the Cosafa technical committee which would assess matches so on issues involving Zimbabwe l was consulted first.”
The CHAN tournament is for the players plying their trade in local leagues.
And, if Zimbabwe prevail against Mauritius in the two-legged tournament, they will meet the winner between Botswana and Zambia in the last qualifying round.
Online Reporter