Eyal Berkovic is a pundit who really knows his football.
But this week Berkovic, now 35, wrote a column in an Israeli newspaper asking national coach Dror Kashtan to give him 15 minutes against England.
It’s a bit like Lee Dixon saying, “Give me 15 minutes in Israel.” Except that Dixon’s ego is smaller.
Israeli footballers are superstars now, more famous than they have ever been, and every paper runs a double spread of gossip on them at least once a week, and the websites are updated every five minutes. If a player buys a new pair of jeans, or goes to a club, you’ll see a photograph of him. The top players earn £400,000 a year, but most earn around £50,000.
Seven or eight ex-players run their own clubs and bars and they party till 6 am. It’s a bit like Spain, where you start your evening around midnight. Fortunately for these nocturnal sportsmen, some Israeli clubs train in the afternoons, not the morning.
Berkovic has been crowned the King of Haifa Nightlife and he enjoys going to a hot springs district where they breed crocodiles. When his rivals have a pop at Berkovic they say, “Oh, he’s gone to the crocodiles again.”
SOME OF ISRAEL’S MAIN MEN
Walid Badir is 33 and plays for Hapoel Tel Aviv, who are third in the table. He played one season at Wimbledon and was man of the match when they drew 1-1 at Old Trafford. Then he went to Maccabi Haifa and played four seasons there and this is his second season at Hapoel. A holding midfielder with good heading ability, Badir, an Arab, is an all-round good guy who has been picked by all of Israel’s coaches.
Their other Arab is Salim Toema, a decent left-footed midfielder, but not strong. He was nurtured by Kashtan at Hapoel Tel Aviv, takes good free-kicks, makes good passes, and has about 10 assists in the league. Oddly for a Christian Arab, while playing in Turkey he asked not to play on Yom Kippur.
Yossi Benayoun has been a prodigy since he was 13.He joined the Ajax academy but couldn’t adapt and his family wanted to go back. His dad complained that in Amsterdam everything was so expensive they couldn’t buy tomatoes, so an Israeli DJ mounted a campaign to raise money for him, but he still went back home.
Benayoun did very well for Maccabi Haifa, who had a good run in the European Cup Winners Cup where they outplayed Paris St Germain in one of the biggest games in Israeli club history. That was 1-1 in Paris and 3-2 in Haifa.
He went to Racing Santander, where he wasn’t great, and then had a great season at West Ham last year. Benayoun has been injured recently and the story after their last qualifying game in November, when they played Croatia, was that the doctor told him he wasn’t fit and Yossi said, “This is the most important game Israel has ever played, so do whatever you have to do to get me on that pitch.” Since playing in that game he seems to be crocked.
Toto Tamuz is 19 and has a Nigerian father who coaches youth players in London. In Hebrew, Tamuz is one of the months of the year. He plays for Betar Jerusalem and is one of the top strikers in the league this season. He has so far been denied citizenship because there are thousands of illegal African workers in Israel and the government do not want to set a precedent
Roberto Caulatti, an Argentinian who played a few games for Boca Juniors, married an Israeli girl a year ago, and plays for Maccabi Haifa.
Michael Zandberg, is a quick left-sided attacker who has created 10 goals for Betar Jerusalem this season and is in line to be Player of the Year in Israel this season. Betar is owned by Russian tycoon Arkadi Gaydamak, father of the Portsmouth owner.
Chelsea’s Ben Sahar, 17, is the big new talent. Very strong boy, excellent close control and a mighty shot in both feet. He could be some player.
Dudu Awat, Deportivo La Coruna’s regular keeper, is the man that Wayne Rooney and Andy Johnson will be trying to beat.
THIS HAS been one of the worst ever seasons in Israeli football, with a lot of 0-0 draws, which have been blamed on ultra-defensive coaches.
Israel and England have met twice. Bobby Robson took England there for a friendly in 1986 and an early long ball caught out the English defence and Eli Ohana scored but Bryan Robson replied twice to win it 2-1. In 1988 Bobby took them back to Israel and that was 0-0.
Kashtan took Hapoel Tel Aviv on that run where they beat Ranieri’s Chelsea 2-1 in the Uefa Cup and got to the quarter-finals. He has won more trophies than any other coach. But he’s a bit of an Alf Ramsey : a coach who is big on defence and doesn’t talk to the press.
Most of the hacks support Abramovich’s friend, Avram Grant, the previous coach, who won four and drew six of his World Cup qualifying games, and then became Technical Director of Portsmouth last June. Grant talks to the media 24/7.
Kashtan insists that every player defends for him, so his forwards have to work hard. He gives each player a job and if you don’t do it you’re not in his team. When you are coaching a small country, that’s the only way it can be, really. Only Colautti and Badir are good in the air, so Israel will keep the ball on the deck and try to knock it around and pinch a goal.
Overall, Israel can still qualify but they haven’t put in a great performance so far. Grant gave them third place in the 2006 qualifiers, behind France and Switzerland, and that was respectable failure. Their most recent home game in November was a 4-3 defeat by Croatia.
Most UK papers talk about England being under pressure. But right now Kashtan needs a performance – and a goal.
In truth, when you boil it all down, Israel are not very good. Unfortunately, England are not very good either.So Saturday’s 6.30pm GMT showdown in the Ramat Gan Stadium could be interesting.
Bottom line, Israel like to draw.
Because if they don’t lose, they look good.
Czech Republic v Germany will be a better game in Prague. Tomas Rosicky might blast one past his good friend Jens Lehmann.