Pagels widens base

against Botswana.
Pagels, appointed caretaker coach at the end of last year is still to get down to business with the Warriors and the game between Zimbabwe and Botswana will help him have a closer look at the players he will be working with in the senior side.

Pagels said yesterday, the match which falls on the Fifa date for internationals would feature the foreign and local based players..

Zimbabwe are using the match to prepare for the 2014 World Cup qualifier against Egypt in Cairo on March 26.

As the preparations gather pace, this Sunday, Pagels will conduct a tournament with the regions’ select sides at Rufaro from which he will select some Under-23 players from the lower leagues.

With one eye also on assembling a team for the African Nations Championships, those players from the lower divisions who will impress the technical team will join their local colleagues from the Premiership when they go into camp the following day.

Pagels, appointed to oversee the remainder of the Warriors World Cup qualifying campaign, said the squad for the Zebras match would be announced at the weekend.

The German coach who is being assisted by Lloyd Mutasa was thrust into the hot seat following Rahman Gumbo’s failure to steer the Warriors ship to the African Cup of Nations currently underway in South Africa.

Pagels, said he would have time to work his tactics with the local players for a week before the foreign based legion jets in a day or two before the match.

“We are only looking at players from the first division and lower divisions this Sunday and not Premiership players and it will depend on their strength, if the players are good enough we will select them if there isn’t any we will leave it like that.

“Next Sunday they would be joined by the foreign based for the Botswana game. And it is easier to work with the foreign based when they join in late after working with the large group for a number of days,” said Pagels.

The expatriate coach said although, he would have loved to face North African opposition ahead of the crucial World Cup match against Egypt in two month’s time, he would have to make do with the Zebras.

“Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia are at the African Cup of Nations so it was a problem to get a North African opposition. But I think it doesn’t matter and we will play Botswana,” said Pagels.

The coach also revealed that after the friendly match he will have more time to work with the local based players as they would be used as a demonstration group during the Premiership coaches high level coaching course by German instructor Erich Rutemolzer scheduled for the end of February.

The instructor came last year and conducted a clinic for the Premiership coaches and this year he is coming back for another refresher course.

“I want to use the local players as a demonstration group during the coaching course so it means one more week of training for these players in camp and this will also help as we prepare for the Egypt match,” said Pagels.

Despite the previous Warriors squad having been disbanded, Pagels, who could not hint on the players he would be selecting said the door was still open to all the players.

Meanwhile, Young Mighty Warriors coach Langton Giwa and his assistant Sithethelelewe “Kwinji 15” Sibanda were yesterday presented with B-Licences coaching certificates by the Germany Ambassador Hans-Günter Gnodtke at the Embassy.

The coaches went to Hennef in Germany in April last year for the international coaching course which was sponsored by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and conducted by the German Football Association.

The German ambassador said his country would continue to assist nations like Zimbabwe in developing their football.

“I am pleased that you enjoyed your stay in Hennef which is 30km away from my home. Football has an important role in uniting nations and I hope the contacts and memories will last a long time. Rest assured that Zimbabwe has someone to advocate for them better in getting representations in courses in Germany in Klaus Pagels,” said Gnodtke.

Sibanda said they learnt a lot from the course which covered subjects such as training and football methodology, laws of the game, match observation and club training observation.

“I am grateful for the opportunity that I got, being recognised to go and represent your country.  I am particularly grateful to Klaus, who kept pushing us. We learnt a lot about their football and got a chance to visit their academies where we would see six-year-olds training professionally, that was really eye opening.

“We learnt not only about Germany but about different countries that were at the course and we made a lot of friends and contacts. We also got to watch Bundesliga matches and watched Borussia Dortmund winning the league.

“We would like to see more coaches getting that chance to go and learn,” said Sibanda.
Former national Under-20 coach Taurai Mangwiro went for the same course in 2011 and Pagels said more coaches are set to attend the course this year.