haaretz isreali article on preparations

[ken foree]

their coach is nervous about his keeper dealing with crosses and a maccabi haifa striker is sulking. ..mind-games? hope not


Defense is the key to Israel's crucial 2006 World Cup qualifier against Ireland on Saturday, Israel coach Avraham Grant said yesterday.

Grant is worried about goalkeeper Dudu Awat's ability to defend against high balls into the box, and the Racing Santander player received a private work out yesterday with goalkeeping coach Alexander Ubarov.

Much of the day's training session was devoted to defending crosses into the penalty area, with Bolton Wanderer's Tal Ben Haim and Maccabi Haifa's Arik Benado playing in front of Awat, and Klemi Saban (Hapoel Petah Tikva), Alon Harazi (Maccabi Haifa) and Shimon Gershon (Hapoel Tel Aviv) alternating positions along the back line.

Chelsea winger Damien Duff and Birmingham City forward Clinton Morisson have been marked as the two players likely try and penetrate the box with high crosses and will receive the most attention from Israel's defenders in Saturday's game.

The surprise card in yesterday's training session was Maccabi Petah Tikva striker Omer Golan.

"It's crazy here,"said Golan. "I played against France, but what's happening here is really big."

Grant was unhappy with Maccabi Haifa's striker r Yaniv Katan however. "Katan looks a bit out of it," said a source in the Israel camp. "We will have to talk with him and see how things progress."

Israel captain Avi Nimni picked up a knock, but should be fit to train this evening.

Fitness coach Dr. Avi Moyal held a long talk with the squad yesterday and focused on mental preparation ahead of the game.

Tonight's practice will be closed to the press, and Grant, who doesn't want to leave the players in suspense, is expected to try out his starting 11 for Saturday's match. This afternoon the squad will watch videos of Ireland's previous encounters, and will be called in by Grant to hear whether and where they will play.

Israel's players continued to tone down expectations. "We talked enough before previous games," said Alon Harazi. "Perhaps if we talk a little less this time we will do better."

John Brodkin, a correspondent for the English daily The Guardian, was at yesterday's training session, and said that the Irish were preparing very seriously for the game.

Brodkin said that the player most feared in the Irish camp was Yossi Benayoun, and that after watching tapes of the Racing Santander midfielder's dazzling goals he would be Ireland's No. 1 target. "They were in awe of the goals scored by Benayoun and he will bemarked very strongly,"Brodkin said.

Meanwhile, the Irish squad arrived in Tel Aviv late last night, and was whisked away from the runway directly to the David Intercontinental Hotel without speaking to the press.

[Littlest Hobo]

"They were in awe of the goals scored by Benayoun and he will bemarked very strongly,"

Well shiver me timbers and praise be thy lord and the fcuking star of david and bethleham.... they've gotta be taken the michael on that one :rolleyes:

[Stuttgart88]

This is Grant's second remark about high balls or long balls. He's just playing games I reckon. If their 'keeper really is dodgy on high balls I'm sure Kerr will know all about it already & doesn't need Grant to tell him.

[eirebhoy]

Their fans seem to think they're crap at crosses too. One said he expects at least 15 lethal crosses by Ireland in the match and that half of them could result in goals. he also said that they have no real full backs so will be relying heavily on Ben Haim.

[blobbyblob]

Theres only one Jossi Benjoun, one jossi benjou, one jossi benjou, theres only one Jossi Benjoun

[Stuttgart88]

Their fans seem to think they're crap at crosses too. One said he expects at least 15 lethal crosses by Ireland in the match and that half of them could result in goals. he also said that they have no real full backs so will be relying heavily on Ben Haim.

Excellent, we'll score 7.5 goals so. :)

I remember Porto tearing apart Celtic's 3-5-2 in a 3-0 home win in the CL in 2002 (or earlier). Width was the key that day. Israel play 3-5-2 and we have good wide men.

[Littlest Hobo]

And Come Saturday night at 7:45 we'll be signing

There was once a man they called yossi
who was part of the israeli possey
until along came roy
and battered him with joy
until jossi could play no more.

aaahhh.....Its all in the craic ;) :D

[ken foree]

another thing it said was he was trying out different players along his back line. glad we're fairly settled in that department!

[tetsujin1979]

The last thing we need in this game (or any qualifer for that matter) is to be chopping and changing a settled, well formed team wher each player knows his duty, like the wa Clinton was saying they've worked hard with him to win balls and hold it up for others.

[thejollyrodger]

I dont understand all this hype by the israeli media. I know its a WCQ but there wouldnt be any of this in most countries. ".. this is crazy" etc remarks

Is it because they think they are going to qualify ?

or
Do they really rate Irland and are in awe of our team :p?

or

Israel is a sh1t hole to live in and anything apart from the violance is a welcome relief ?

[eirebhoy]

We are basically the biggest team to play in Israel since Spain 2001. They seem to rate us above France atm even. The fans are also full of optimism after recent results. Plus, even though its a small crowd to what we usually bring, the Isralians will never have seen such a big European crowd travel to their country for a football match.

[Benayoun]

well im from IL and i want to say first of all that u r so wrong on saying that here is a real sh*t hole.. u dont know the beauty of my country because in the news all u see is the ugly places were all the "bad things" is going in, like in the area of Gaza.. u have no idea how happy i am for living in this "sh*t hole" :(

and about the excitement here, i'v got to say that its because of the accomplishments that we got (8 points with u guys and france), the 0-0 in france and our first victory on Cyprus land, after all that we are trully believe that we can do it and come to Germany in 2006.
but why is the joy that big? well before the games, our mannager Grant didnt want the best player we had because he belived that he was "disturbing" Yosy Benayoun, and he was taking a big chance whan he told him (berkowitz) that he dosn't want him in this campaign... and now we see that Grant built the best team we have in the last years and now, when we (and you) see our success, we realy want to make the other games as the "best games" that we can give.. of course, all of thanks to Benayoun

[Benayoun]

roll on Saturday night when we kick your holes! :D
probably this is what going to happen.. :o

[OwlsFan]

We shall see and apologies for the disparaging remarks from some of my countrymen about your country. Politics and football shouldn't be mixed as far as I'm concerned but I do hope we kick your ass :p

I pay no heed to all this hype. Remember when the Russians came here their camp was allegedly in total disarray according to the media and they drew. You don't think a manager is going to go public on a goalkeeper's weakeness before the game.

The proof of the pudding will be in the 90 minutes on the pitch. The waffle off it makes no difference.

[livehead1]

us ireland fans need to fix up on here wit regards to this israel game!!!! i can remember the iran games, before the first game the media were bangin on about a player called ali dai....turned out to be a heap of shi*e.... we will win on saturday, we have a much better side and alot of experience, so lets sit back, relax and enjoy the rollder coaster ride that will end in qualification :cool:

[eirebhoy]

You didn't know who Ali Daei was before we played Iran? :eek: :eek: ;)

[thejollyrodger]

Irish buzz hits Israel
By OFER RONEN-ABELS

'The Irish don't underestimate us,' Yossi Benayoun said yesterday. 'They’re a better side than we are.'

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1111461690581

"March Madness" is a term generally associated with the American college basketball championships. But the buzz surrounding Israel's national soccer team ahead of its two World Cup qualifiers against the Republic of Ireland on Saturday and France next Wednesday is threatening to give the basketball term its own local version.

Saturday's match against Ireland at National Stadium in Ramat Gan is already a 44,000 sell-out and the hoards of media that attended Tuesday's get-together only highlighted the increased interest in the country.

Even Israel coach Avraham Grant, who is still pondering who to name in his starting line-up, opted to borrow a basketball term during his press conference in order to explain why he hasn't made up his mind yet. "They say in basketball that it is important who starts the match, but it's much more important who finishes it."

Two players that are guaranteed a place in Grant's starting 11 are Racing Santander's duo of Yossi Benayoun and Dudu Awat. The two carry many of Israel's hopes as Awat will have the difficult task of preventing the Irish from scoring while Benayoun will try and continue his goal scoring spree against Ireland s keeper Shay Given.

Benayoun, who spent Sunday night with his family in Dimona, was released from the morning training session, but also didn't take part in the evening practice as he is suffering from a "sensitive knee." Despite his nagging injury, which might hamper preparations but is not set to rule him out of the match, Benayoun attracted most of the media's attention.

"The Irish don't, and it will not be an easy game. They are very very good side with the likes of Robbie and Roy Keane, Damien Duff, Shay Given and Stephen Carr. They're a better side than we are and we will do all we can to win... But be serious, we're not favorites."

One goal in the 2-1 victory over Cyprus in September, two goals in the 2-2 draw with Switzerland in October and an assist which helped Israel record a historic 2-1 victory over Cyprus in Nicosia will draw Irish attention to Benayoun. But the Santander forward insisted "I'm not facing Ireland alone, there's an entire team playing. I know that I might be man-marked, and I'm glad that I have reached the stage where a lot is expected of me. But again, I'm not out there on my own."

Having spent the last three years in Spain's La Liga, Benayoun, who is set to move to a bigger club at the end of the season and is attracting interest all over Europe, distanced himself from the generated hype, and voiced a realistic approach: "As far as I'm concerned, a draw will be a good result. You might forget who we are playing, they are ranked 12th in the world. Obviously there is no-one who would want six points from these two matches more than me, but one has to be realistic. I'm not going to count the points from each match and give you a target, but a draw will still keep us in a good position for the future matches."

Bolton Wanderers' central defender Tal Ben-Haim, who faces some of the Irish players in the Premiership week in and week out, showed the same approach. "We need to wake up, the euphoria needs to end now.

"We are expecting a very tough match. We are still little Israel that is facing two teams that are much better than us."

Ben-Haim, who in his first season in the Premiership has broken into Bolton's starting line up, remained optimistic. "Even though it will be difficult at Ramat Gan, it can be done. The pace will be completely different, something our players are not used to at domestic level in Israel. But I believe if everyone gives their all, we might reach a good result after all. Everyone needs to chip in and help our defense, this is what got us the result on Paris [when Israel held the French to a scoreless draw]."

Earlier on, Avraham Grant held a press conference where he tried bringing some of the media to the ground when he said that "some people here get carried away about the national team, but we are riding this wave and that's OK. The players, coaching staff, we all know our place. Our players are simple modest guys and as long as we all don't get carried away, its fine by me.

"The result is what matters. Not the pre-match talk. In the past, many have doubted us the TV rights from these games were not even bought until after the match against France in Paris but now everyone can feel the buzz."

Grant, who took over from Richard Nielsen almost three years ago and began a process that began in the previous campaign when he blended a younger generation with some experienced veterans, added "I care more about the process that we're going through than the results. I don't want to give any predictions because it doesn't get you any points, but I can guarantee that we will give 100 percent."

When asked about the difference between his team and the Irish, Grant adopted a philosophic approach. "Players go abroad through the national team my aim is to have 15 players in the top European leagues. So far, we have one in England [Ben Haim], three in Spain [Benayoun, Awat and Omri Afek], and one in Turkey [Pini Balili]. None of the Irish squad players play in their domestic league which is weaker than ours. But all of their squad is playing in England and that shows the gap."

The team will continue its preparation today, while the Irish are set to land at Ben Gurion airport at 10 p.m. As published exclusively in The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday, Given, the Irish keeper who is suffering from a hip injury, sat out of the training session in Malahide, County Dublin, as did defender Kenny Cunningham.

While there was no reason provided for Cunningham missing out, Ireland coach Brian Kerr said, "Shay Given didn t train but is hoping to be okay soon."

Birmingham midfielder Matt Holland will rejoin the rest of the "Boys in Green" later than the rest of the squad as his wife required hospital treatment for an automobile accident. "Matt Holland has been delayed, but is expected to arrive on Wednesday after his wife had an accident and she underwent an operation today," Kerr said.

Seems like they are really going to battle for it . And they rate Carr:p (joke b4 anyone starts), I never knew Mr invisible played for birmigham :).