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.'
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"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.
