Dont count out Israel, Benayoun is amazing, but we beat Russia without him. We have such a fast, young, attacking midfield even without Benayoun, but he's obviously the centerpiece. He WILL play, he will take injections if needed, and it sounds like he will have to. If he does start off the bench, which is what they are saying, then coming on at the start of the 2nd half, or in about the 60th minute, he would still make a huge contribution. This Israeli team has a lot of heart. Israeli's in general are very passionate and nationalistic people, so what we lack in talent, we make up for in heart. That can be all the difference a team needs.
Where did you hear that Benayoun will start off the bench? How did his medical evaluation go today? I'd like to have him for 90 minutes, not 30. It would be a big loss to lose him for half or 2/3 of the game.
As for the '94 "fiasco" as we call it, you can basically summarise it like this: - Quite a few players used to qualify for the tournament were replaced with older experienced players. It was shown as like a "gift" to these players. The players that were shelved were instrumental in getting the team into the finals, and were then shown the door. - Greek players AND coaching staff had little to no discipline. Greek football was and still is to some degree, very political. Everyone was in it for themselves and internal fighting was rampant. This was a problem for every Greek side until Otto took over. - Once in the United States, there were reports of the team out partying before their first match, and during the tournament. They weren't there as players, but as tourists. There are even claims that the manager was taking money on the side from various Greek people/organizations in turn for the players turning up to particular functions and clubs in Boston and Chicago (where there are a lot of Greek Americans). Theres more, but it's more expanding on these points. Otto is hailed as the manager who brought stability into the side, and made them a TEAM. Since he has taken over many wonder why certain players dont make the team, players who would make a difference. Dimitrios Eleftheropoulos, the Siena goalie from Serie A would be a PERFECT replacement for Nikopolidis now that he's gone, and Tavlaridis, the CB who played for Arsenal both were snubbed early on in Otto's reign due to their "old Greek mentality" and attitude problems.
I speak what i want after i visited your Hellenic Forum. Im sharing some truth about the Greeks. From what i have experienced and from what i know..... Ill keep it to soccer and you better not name call me hmph! Greek-Israeli/Jewish Relations stems with Turkey. Turkey was a strong ally to Israel and Israel stated that it would stand by if Turkey and Greece were to engage in a war. Israel/Greek relations is more to do with love/hate scenarios. In 2004...we loved Greece. They had the olympics, and they needed Israeli security...we gave it to them. But when we needed them when Hezbollah attacked us....they were the first to condemn Israel for what we were doing. Saudi Arabia didnt even condemn us. First and foremost...i consider the Greeks to be the 23rd Arab state. Hands down. April 1st...we arent playing a European side... It feels more like we are playing Jordan. And please bear in mind why we are playing in Crete and not in Athens. Yes; ticket sales are down. No one gives a rats ass about the game. It would have been nice to play in Salonika - Little Jerusalem. But this is about security. Our players feel insecured...this game will be hotly contested and along with the street riots in Athens..there will be tons more when the "Jews" will come, eventhough Israel's team is made up with Israeli Jews, Arab Christians and Arab Muslims. Its for security... just like a G8 Summit up in the mountains somewhere or in Qatar...no one will protest there.... go and get a boat and wave a PLO flag? :? come on? This game feels like were playing that city that borders Eilat on the Jordanian side..... Greeks seem to love to fight with anyone they border with. Pakistani's to them are N-word (for blacks) because of recognizing Northern Cyprus. Americans are imperialist...Russians are g-dless, Armenians are a joke, Macedonians are fake (just like the jews), the Jews stole our money, the Italians are spoiled, the Bulgarians are all nazis, Serbians are lazy and so forth..... From what I can tell you about Greeks is this. I live in Toronto. When i was in high school some greek teens vandalized a holocaust memorial site in Toronto. They urinated on a memorial for children who perished in the holocaust. This is their Greek upbrining. But hey; once in school i was reading this hip/urban newspaper and i stumbled in the back pages where they offer adult escort service so i asked a Greek friend of mine... "Why is it that they say $30 Oral and $80 Dollars Greek?" and my friend looked stubborn and depressed and replied back to me "Cause back in the Ottoman days...We greeks took up the ass from the Turks on a daily basis... thats why we are so dark..we used to be whiter...trust me..." Well..revenge is coming.... Israelis will do their wrath.. 2-0. and leave the "Greek" fun at home :devil:
Guys, can we keep the conversation strictly to football? I don't want to be forced in to shutting the thread.
I understand where it's coming from, all this frustration from Greek hate that we see around the net. People here finally feel that they have one place to protect themselves. Just take a look at these thread: http://forums.soccerfansnetwork.com/showthread.php?t=64219&page=7 This is the reason I love this forum (Bigsoccer) better then the other one. I didn't see here this kind of hate and propaganda. And the Mods there doing nothing because some of them are Bosnian-Muslims. I don't even comprehend the amount of hate the Greeks have toward Israel. I never heard one Israeli person said he hated Greece, quite the contrary, we adore Greek music and food, and "Glykeria" as just as famous in Israel then Greece...I don't know I guess some things I really don't understand. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Benayoun saga keeps continue, and I say, is it really going to be a disaster if Benayoun won't play? I mean we already win twice when he didn't play, and we have enough good players to replace him...Seems like Kashtan will go with Vermut and Shechter. Itay Shechter is in a very good form lately, this is the kind of player that don't have to just score, he have one of the best movement without the ball I've ever seen. He's definitely one of the most talented Israeli player (I know I can't really be objective, but even if he wasn't Netanya player I would still think the same).
The stuff that is posted on that forum is disgusting! I cant believe it at all. Its just more and more proof that the world is starting to turn against us Jews and that we need to go home to Israel! What I will say about the game is that I think Israel will take it, I think at Ramat Gan we can beat any team, at the very least we can compete with any team. So I think the final score will be 2-0 Israel.
I think Israel proved that it can get a draw against anyone at Ramat Gan, having done it against top teams like France (when they were ranked #1), Spain (in 2002 qualifiers), England, as well as second-level teams like Ireland, SUI, Austria. The only good team they beat at home was Russia. That was more luck than anything, but you also gotta figure that you make your own luck. If you are good enough, eventually you will get lucky. With all those draws, you've gotta figure that one of these times you'll win the game by a goal and once you will lose by a goal. They beat Russia and lost by a goal to Croatia, a game they actually led for a half an hour in the first half. That said, I definitely think Israel is stronger now than it was 4-6 years ago. It's younger, it's better, it's not permanently out-of-shape. Having more players in Europe is better for keeping them in shape. The Israel league has professional talent, but amateur training. Playing for these teams is a part-time job for full-time pay.
21:00 [09:00pm] local time - gmt+2 by the way . "israel" move will to "summer clock" between 27 to 28 or 26 to 27. 1 hour late then now. http://www.timeanddate.com/counters...day=28&year=2009&hour=21&min=00&sec=00&p0=676
This first game in Ramat Gan will be even more difficult than the one in Yavan. I have a bad feeling we'll loose the first and shock the greeks with a big win away. the Lineup will be interesting. The options Kashtan has to play with and the subs coming on. We need speed at the end just like against the swiss. We pushed hard with three players and found a goal. I hope Israel play hard right from the start. NO STUPID MISTAKES. leave cohen and ben yosef on the bench. Ziv, Golan, Yossi, Ben Haim must play. Thank god Dudu Awat is back in form. Ever since he joined the relagated bound Mallorca they've improved. Right now , 7 games unbeaten and out of the religation spots. Tension is rising boys, I can feel the stress and excitement. Good luck to us. Nekra'lahem et ha takhatt. Yalla .
Did you guys hear the new song for the national team that was recorded by some fans? There was a video on One with the supporters who participated. Only Vasili showed up dressed in Maccabi Haifa gear. The guy is actually kind of a joke to the Green Apes.
Okay, really weird to see Liran Strauber written up about on MLSnet.com: http://web.mlsnet.com/news/mls_news.jsp?ymd=20090325&content_id=230786&vkey=news_mls&fext=.jsp
Here is the song: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQ4y2q6_qYs"]YouTube - ???? ??? ???? - ????? ????? ?????‎[/ame]
I dont think we would lose in Israel. We never do. Its more challenging in Greece..But then again in Greece its gonna be an empty stadium. More or less..... Greece will be terrified that 40,000+ people came.... at worse, both games end up in a tie.. im hoping for an Israeli magic Saturday I just dont wanna have them run around.. They need to know that this game is important. Im not sking for 3-0 win. Just my 3 points ...and another by Wednesday..thats all... im a good jew. i put tfilin. i daven... i just wanna go to S. Africa in 2010
How about going to Crete? It's a $40 ride by boat from Israel. Tickets should be readily available. Take your friends and help make Crete a second home game! I live in New York. When my team plays hockey in New Jersey or Long Island, we fill the stadium with our fans and there are more of us than them. It makes a big differences. Were I in Israel right now, Hizb Allah would have to kidnap me to prevent me from going to the Crete game.
Kappa dude you gotta chill out. You're gonna give yourself a heart attack! Just because there are some bad seeds doesn't mean they're all like that, and what sets us apart from them is that exact lack of hate. Look around at all the forums on the internet except this one, its full of hate towards our country re: this game. But on here you see our guys saying they love Greece the country(been there and had a great time, btw) and that's what sets us apart. I have not seen one greek forum say they have been to Tel Aviv and loved it.
Haha, yeah I read that, there is no need to even mention him. Its as if they were under the impression that he was going to start ahead of Awat or Davidovitch
I'm so proud of our two goaly's. We really have two amazing kids in goal. Awat is a world class goaly easily. In my opinion , one of the best. people don't realize how good he is. I'm happy he's in form again and playing all the players know how important this game is. We need goals in this one, alot of them and we need to control this game. Greece is a great team, they held their own against the turks and we all know how good they are.
My thoughts are: Tamir Cohen should not play, he hasn't played one game this year for Bolton and he hasn't done much when he played. He accumulated more yellows than anyone else on the team and he fouls much too often. Omer Golan must start and should be given the ball for some shots. The guy has a wicked shot but never gets a chance to launch one. Toama should play, I'm not seeing much experience so this guy at least scored big goals for Happoel and may do it again here. Ziv, Dudu, Yossi, Ben Haim, obviously should all play. Sahar, if played should be brought on late for some speed and energy. Can someone tell me what's going on with Collautti, is he injured ? Is he not allowed to play for israel anymore. Where is this guy ? Toto Tamuz too?
Sahar should start. We need offense and Golan alone won't be enough against the tough Greek defense. Sahar and Golan together would make them sweat on the pitch. Golan alone would get double-teamed every time he comes close to getting the ball, especially if Benayoun doesn't play. Toto didn't pan out as hoped. Colautti is not playing in Germany and lost all confidence. He needs to start scoring at a team level first. I wish he'd go to a weaker team and gain some confidence.
I dont mind the idea of Cohen playing. He brings that raw aggression that we might lack sometimes. I would disagree about Toama. He hasnt played for Standard since last year, early in the season. He probably isnt close to match fitness. Colautti, although getting sparing minutes in almost every game for BMG, it seems like he's lost his form and he desperately needs to get out of there. Tamuz,not much to say about him. He just isnt bringing it anymore. We had this facination about him a couple years ago, where we thought he was going to become a superstar. Unfortunately, he kinda hit a wall and hasnt improved since. He's still only 19, 20 though
I would agree with that for Game 2, especially if Israel wins game 1 and needs just a tie in Greece. But when you are going for the win, I think you need more skill and not risk having to be down a man because Cohen got a red card for nailing someone.