FIFA 2014: as good as lost?

For a team that lies third on the four-team log with one point, Zimbabwe should be pulling out all the stops as they visit the Group G log-leaders. Egypt top the log with six points and Zimbabwe’s ability to at least draw away and win at home in the double-header would turn the tide and bring us within three points of the top.

Winning in Egypt is no longer “impossible” and repeating that in Harare could see the two sides tied on points. Yet Pagels has, through his selection, given us more doubts than satisfaction on his willingness, let alone ability, to turn our fortunes around.

A rebuilding exercise is welcome, but for a success-starved nation like Zimbabwe, it should not come at the expense of pursuit for tangible success.

In a success-driven nation, players should be chosen more on their current performances and not their future potential, some might not even reach it. With age-cheating rife in our soccer, some of the players could not be as young as they claim to be and the promise we see in them could actually be their prime.

In a nutshell, the coach should be choosing his squad on current form, meaning the likes of Esrom Nyandoro, Takesure Chinyama, Kingstone Nkhatha, Vusa Nyoni, Onesimo Bhasera, Bradely Pritchard and Edward Sadomba should be making the core of the team. But none of them seems to be good enough for Pagels.

Defending his decision to select players on a “sabbatical” at their clubs, the coach said, “I know some players might not have played two or three games, but they are training every day and have not forgotten how to play football,” meaning that Cuthbert Malajila, Nkhatha and Chinyama could play week in and week out and bang in goals for their respective South African clubs, but because they are not Rodreck Mutuma and Simba Rusike (now injured) or Denver Mukamba, who are not regulars, they cannot expect to be in the national team.

That Aerial Sibanda, voted the best goalkeeper last season, was overlooked for Max Nyamupangedengu also smacks of a selection system that has no foundation and casts further doubt on the coach. The list is endless, but the German-born mentor has already told us what is in store for us as the Warriors head off to Cairo.

“Don’t just expect us to get a positive result from this match,” he said recently and isn’t that supposed to send panic bells? The coach obviously does not believe in his own team, despite his attempts to make us believe otherwise.

When you tell players that they can lose because you are trying to build a team, they will do it big time. From the look of things, Egypt will be out of reach to us at the end of this month and further participation in the World Cup qualifiers will be a mere formality in the last three games.

Contrary to Zimbabwe, Egypt, also on a rebuilding exercise, seem to be doing it on the correct template that bases the future on present strengths and tangible promise. They do not pick players just because they might be great in the next few years, but because they are already great despite their young age.

Mohamed Aboutreika is not yet 30, but at 20, he was crowned the best African player based on the continent. Now 27 and Playing alongside other stars like Gedo, and Mohamed Salah, they can only make the Egyptian team not only dangerous in the future, but even now. These are young stars who have already won something for their country and even played at the highest stage of the game, like the FIFA Club World Cup and the Confederations Cup.

None of the players selected by Pagels carries that promise, yet the tried and tested, who should be the foundation the coach builds on, are all being left out because they are “old”. Perhaps the coach needs to be told that good players should be chosen for as long as they still want to represent the national team.

Nyandoro, Malajila and Tinashe Nengomasha should form the backbone of the team that gets built today. Not only are they playing the best game of their life, but they are also proven leaders who will give the much-needed guidance to the youngsters being shaped into better footballers.

Please Pagels, give us the best we have, not what we might have in future.