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NewsDay

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Not so Mighty, not so Warriors

Sport
Zifa technical adviser Klaus Dieter Pagels has said the weight of expectations from a football success-starved nation weighed heavily on the Mighty Warriors team which laboured to a 2-1 victory over a battling Botswana in a Caf African Women Championships preliminary round qualifier at a packed Rufaro Stadium on Sunday. Second-half goals by roving leftback […]

Zifa technical adviser Klaus Dieter Pagels has said the weight of expectations from a football success-starved nation weighed heavily on the Mighty Warriors team which laboured to a 2-1 victory over a battling Botswana in a Caf African Women Championships preliminary round qualifier at a packed Rufaro Stadium on Sunday.

Second-half goals by roving leftback Ruvimbo Mutyavaviri and striker Erina Jeke rescued what could have been an embarrassing exit from the qualifiers by the hosts who had come into the match carrying a 1-0 lead from the first leg.

Pagels, who had been working with the Mighty Warriors team in preparation for the match, explained the teams poor showing on Sunday.

It was not a bad performance by the team. They didnt play their normal game and a lot of factors contributed to that. They lost the line by trying to play long balls upfront and bypass the midfield.

They were supposed to start building from the back and players were supposed to run into space and demand the ball, but that didnt happen. There were some players also who tried to play individually, trying to create one-on-one situations with opponents, but again that didnt work.

However, I feel the biggest factor was the pressure from the expectant nation. The girls were under a lot of pressure from the supporters to perform and win the match easily.

They tried too hard to please the crowd, but ended up performing the way they did. I was working with the team and they looked fine at training. They even played a mens team in preparation for the match and did very well, said Pagels.

We need to work in all departments and that means preparing hard. I will have to look for some DVDs from their (Nigeria) World Cup games. But from what I observed from their few games that I watched before and during the World Cup in Germany, they are a very strong side.

They are very physical and sometimes play very rough. If we dont prepare well, then we will have some serious problems, added Pagels.