Three wins, one draw and five losses is a grim reading for any team. This was Klaus-Dieter Pagels’ record in his eight-month long tenure as Warriors interim coach.
Final Whistle with Madyira
The German returns to his hometown of Stade to take up a sports teaching job at a school, a far cry from his post as gaffer of an ambitious football nation.
The 63-year-old tried to implement his coaching philosophy that borrows from the Barcelona-perfected passing game commonly known as “tiki-taka.”
In Spanish, they spell it as tiqui-taca, a brand of football represented by Pepe Guardiola and Arsene Wenger.
And for sure the Warriors “tiki-taked”, especially in that World Cup qualifier away in Alexandria where we almost stole a point against Egypt and everyone was convinced, “now a great team is in the making.”
They also did it with aplomb in that first-half against Malawi at the just ended Cosafa Cup in Zambia.
While this beautiful brand of football charmed some, others saw it as just glamorous football that did not yield any results. Pagels was widely criticised for this radical type of play in which he employed attack-minded players like Ovidy Karuru, Archford Gutu, Tafadzwa Rusike and Masimba Mambare to play as holding midfielders. But he always pleaded for more time to perfect it, reminding everyone that Rome was not built in one day.
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“I prefer pass, pass, pass, pass, football. We need eight to 10 games more playing at the highest level,” Pagels would insist.
In almost every one of his speeches he would not finish without mentioning the word “philosophy.”
In February, during a post-Warriors’ training session, prior to the friendly international against Botswana, the German fumed after getting inundated by questions on why he would ignore rich crops like Bradley Pritchard, Ovidy Karuru and Onismor Bhasera.
“I am tired of hearing that there is this and that player in England. How many times do I have to explain that they do not fit in my philosophy?”
Journalists were left dumbfounded, with some walking away in shame. But he later backtracked and called Karuru.
“The first choice goalkeeper is Maxwell Nyampfandegenu.” That was his humorous side as he battled to pronounce Maxwell Nyamupangedengu’s last name.
One would feel for Pagels last Tuesday when he was at Zifa headquarters running around preparing logistics for the Mauritius trip.
Zifa guys were struggling to inform him of the latest developments, that Ian Gorowa has now been thrust into the hot seat.
It was similar to a situation when one would be at pains to break the news to a colleague that their beloved one has died.
Gorowa, now the man entrusted to lead our Warriors to glory, has made it clear that he would not continue with this short-passing game. Will he be the one to take us to the Promised Land? Time will tell.
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