Pagels hunts on home turf

Stadium tomorrow.

The game starts at 3pm.
The German mentor’s first match at home was an international friendly against Botswana in February and the Warriors came from behind to win 2-1. And his first competitive match was the away World Cup qualifier in Alexandria.

The match was also broadcast live on Zimbabwe television and the Warriors captured the hearts of the fans as they displayed a good show with their passing game.

Zimbabwe, however, lost the match 2-1 when they conceded a penalty with two minutes to go.
But now Pagels and his troops meet their fans for the first time in a competitive match and assignments do not come as big as a World Cup qualifier and even though the Warriors are virtually out of the running for Brazil, there is still more to play for.

There is national pride at stake and Pagels, who is trying to sell the idea that he is building a new team, needs to back that with progress in terms of results.

There is also the issue of the Warriors chasing their first World Cup victory over Egypt in 21 years and that the last man to guide them to such a result, German coach Reinhard Fabisch, turned into an icon here, should provide enough inspiration for Pagels in his search for a win.

It remains to be seen whether by 5pm tomorrow the supporters would have embraced the coach’s football philosophy, which he has been trying to introduce to Zimbabwean soccer, and would be celebrating clear progress.

Already, there have been some few questions, which have triggered a wave of emotions, over the gaffer’s selection issues. But the coach has refused to be cowed and has declared boldly that he is the head coach and is calling the shots and everything, ultimately, stops with him.

Coaches need such a stubborn streak for them to survive. He said as a German national, he has seen it all in his vast native country, where the national team’s coaches are attacked left, right and centre by the media and was quite aware of what he was getting into when he accepted the job from Zifa. There has been an outcry over the omission of Kaizer Chiefs’ Willard Katsande and the midfielder said he would not be making the trip to Harare to watch the match as he fears this could distract the team.

Yesterday Pagels said he was confident in his players and had talked to them about not letting any pressure from the crowd affect them.

“It is very normal, people have their own opinions. So I expect them, as football players who are used to playing  big matches, not to feel any pressure,” said Pagels.

“Egypt are not unbeatable. What happens to players at their clubs does not excite me as all the coaches differ.

“The only thing I want when I invite players is that they are conditioned.”
The coach says he has identified the players who should do the job for him tomorrow although he will only reveal the final team later today. The German mentor says the players have convinced him that the job can be done as everyone is fighting and has really been involved at training.

Yesterday the  senior team rounded up their training sessions with two matches against Motor Action, and are expected to have a light workout this morning, before the gaffer names his final team. All the players, except for striker Knowledge Musona, have a clean bill and featured in yesterday’s practise matches.

The Augsburg forward, who has a hamstring strain, was given a rest and would be assessed today whether he is fit for the match. Musona has scored consistently for the national team and was on target in the reverse tie in Alexandria in March.  Pagels cut a relaxed look yesterday and said all the other players were looking sharp.

The Warriors, who featured in the first match against Motor Action, gave a big hint on some of the players that may start tomorrow.
In this team A, the defence had  Lincolin Zvasiya, Partson Jaure, Ocean Mushure and Felix Chindungwe.

And these players have held fort the whole of this week as the coach did not tamper with this department while other departments were continuously reshuffled. The coach has already hinted that there would be definitely some new faces in the defence to the team which played in Egypt.

“We are happy that we have bolstered our defence. There would be some new faces and we have picked some players that have impressed us,” said Pagels. “I will come up with some players that featured in the A team in the final team.”

The midfield of Team A had Devon Chafa and Archieford Gutu while Ovidy Karuru and Hardlife Zvirekwi were operating from the flanks.

And Pagels said the option of Chafa and Gutu in his starting line-up was highly likely. The Dynamos midfielder has seen his game grow in leaps and bounds this season and has been one of the stand-out players of the domestic Premiership.

But there is a big difference from playing for DeMbare, where the love of the fans gives their players the comfort to play at their tempo, and playing for the Warriors, where pressure could be unrelenting.

Even the opposition, at national level, is different and of a higher grade.
Denver Mukamba, Pagels’ skipper, featured in the B team yesterday.
Upfront, the A team had Cuthbert Malajila and Khama Billiart and returning striker Malajila is likely to make it into the starting line-up.

With Musona still expected to pass a late fitness test, the former Dynamos forward may be partnered with Billiat, whom Pagels prefers to use as an outright striker and played in that position in Alexandria. However, the coach still has another striking partnership of Rodreck Mutuma and Mathew Rusike, who later featured in Team B with Chiefs’ Rusike scoring a double as they beat Motor Action 2-1.

The coach has also been trying players in different positions during this whole week and he said doing this normally helps him to fully assess each player. Pagels is very unpredictable and may spring one or two surprises.  “I think they (Egypt) expect us to be an attacking team which will not stay deep and they know we are not going to wait for them,” said Pagels.

“And that is what we are going to do.
“Salah (Mohamed) is their outstanding player and in the first game had two chances. But we have been working on how to contain him and he should not get those clear chances.

“We watched the DVD of the match this week again and we saw that in that match we only needed experience and lacked that from our young players.

“But they will learn and this is the only way to learn and improve from these matches. All the players are really fighting, really engaged and it is a good situation for us.”