I:  Tal Banin (11), Alon Mizrahi (47, 52).
C:  NONE.

GOAL PASSES:  Israel - Haim Revivo (11, 47), Eyal Berkovich (52);
              Cyprus - NONE.


I:  Nir Davidovich      5.5      C:  Nikos Panaiotu          6
    -----------------------          -------------------------
    Alon Harazi           6          Theodotu              5.5
    Amir Shelakh        6.5          Charalambous Pittas     5
    Arik Benado         6.5          Ioanis Ioanu          4.5
    Najouan Grayib      6.5          Marius Charalambous   4.5          
    -----------------------          Sophocleus            4.5
    Walid Badir         5.5          -------------------------
    (Offer Talker, 46 -   6)         Vessos Malanarkitis   4.5
    Tal Banin           7.5          Milenko Spoliaric       5
    Haim Revivo         6.5          (Agathocleus, 78)
    (Avi Tikwa, 85)                  Costas Malakos          4
    Eyal Berkovich        7          (Nicolau, 46 -        4.5)
    Avi Nimni             6          Georgi Christodolou   4.5
    -----------------------          -------------------------
    Ronen Harazi        5.5          Mikhail Constantinou    4
    (Alon Mizrahi, 46 - 7.5)         (Okkas, 66)


THE BEST:  Tal Banin, midfielder, Israel.

AUDIENCE:  35.000 spectators, Ramat-Gan, Israel.

REFEREE:   Marcel Lika (Romania).       HIS MARK:     9.

CORNERS:   Israel   6, Cyprus    3.

YELLOWS:   Israel - Arik Benado (34), Walid Badir (39);
           Cyprus - Costas Malakos (45), Vessos Malanarkitis (60).

REDS:      Israel - NONE;
           Cyprus - NONE.

To tell you the truth, my feelings after this game are mixed. Indeed, it was a decent game of Nikos Panaiotu in the goal of Cyprus; indeed, it could be seen in what a pain Haim Revivo was, playing with his injured leg, and how it confined his famous quick movements and turns and denied him a couple of goals (even so, the best Israeli player made 2 goal passes, going on with his extraordinary European tournament); indeed, the rival was a bit feared of because of the historical Soccer reasons (the Israeli loss a couple of years ago, and of course, the Spanish loss a couple of games ago); indeed, it was the Romanian referee Marcel Lika with 2 bizarre decisions to deny Israel even a bigger advantage, a penalty and a red card just overlooked; and most of all, it was a heavy shock and mourning of the team players and its coaches over the sudden death of the deputy coach, the huge Israeli Soccer legend Nakhum Stelmakh. In the light of all those, the result should've been more than satisfactory... And it would've been satisfactory had the game been played on Friday and not on Sunday. However, on Saturday it was an unforgettable performance of Spain which defeated Austria 9:0 (!), in the same Group 6. Not talking about such a result, I still can confidently say that Israel could've finished this game with 5, 6, or even 7 goals to nil, in the light of its clear superiority on the pitch. The only question couldn't give the spectators a rest: "How did this pathetic team from a little and sympathetic neighboring island defeat Spain?"

If Israel defeats Austria in a couple of months (and as Austria looked this Saturday, it can definitely be possible), it has a great chance to continue its struggles until the very end. And in my opinion, it's the result of the Europeisation of the Israeli Soccer. Just look at the list of the players who took part in the game - only Walid Badir stayed out of Europe or the European Cups for the last season and will surely stay out of it for the next. The Europeans gave the tone against Cyprus, and it was incredible to see how Eyal Berkovich and Haim Revivo humiliated the guests time after time - and remember with all that, Berkovich doesn't see a lot of field in Westham lastly, and Revivo was playing with a severe leg injury. (And though we could see he was confined in his movements, he continued greatly the trend set by his teammates, Valeriy Karpine and Michel Salgado, in the previously held EC'00 preliminaries). Alon Mizrahi, after just a month and a half in Nice, scored twice and could score at least twice more - a percentage you can hardly be disappointed with. But above all, it was Tal Banin - far away from the highlights in Brescia, he showed the signs of a great recovery after an injury, scored a beautiful goal which completely demoralized the guests, and was very active and fighting in the midline as usual. Great to see you back, Tal!

As for the teams that supplied the players for this victory (in brackets you can see the number of minutes each man played):

  Maccabee Haifa       4  (Davidovich 90, A. Harazi 90, Benado 90, R. Harazi 45);
  Hapoel Haifa         2  (Grayib 90, Talker 45);
  Beitar Jerusalem     1  (Shelakh 90);
  Brescia              1  (Banin 90);
  Maccabee Tel-Aviv    1  (Nimni 90);
  Westham              1  (Berkovich 90);
  Celta Vigo           1  (Revivo 84);
  Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa  1  (Badir 45);
  Nice                 1  (Mizrahi 45);
  Grasshoppers         1  (Tikwa 6).

THE FIRST HALF

What a start it was! After just 17 seconds, Avi Nimni penetrated into the box from the left wing and shot wide; Nikos Panaiotu dived to parry the ball away, and Eyal Berkovich had all the time in the world to direct his rebound well, but shot it weak enough to see the diving keeper saving the ball again. Only another 21 seconds have passed, and Berkovich kidnapped the ball near the box and passed it to the left where 3 players were standing free; however, Tal Banin decided to take the shot himself, and it went wide.

Frustrated with those 2 misses, the Israelis relaxed for several minutes and allowed the guests to perform a couple of decent attacks; however, the recovery came quickly and was great. 10 minutes in the game, Banin tried a killing volley shot from 30 meters which Panaiotu threw above the bar in a spectacular flight. One leg or two, Haim Revivo plays a lot with his head; seeing the box too packed, he released a corner to Banin who, completely unmarked, stopped it 25 meters from the net and released a shart flat left-footer to his right corner. The hesitant dive of Panaiotu, as well as Rafi Cohen's to Hierro's free kick half a year ago, was the result of seeing the ball late because of the defenders. But the stadium, naturally, didn't search for the reasons of Panaiotu's failure, 1:0. Banin was ecstatic with his joy, but the coach Shlomo Sherf was too mournful because of Stelmakh's death and didn't let his usual joy, appropriate for the occasion, erupt.

The only decent attack of the guests during the whole first half came after 16 minutes of play, when Walid Badir blocked with his flying body a shot of Malakos; all the rest of the attacks were of the hosts. Ronen Harazi headed the ball high (14), and 3 minutes later he and Nimni interfered with each other, and the opportunity was lost. The next minute, Panaiotu dived fabulously to save Badir's far-ranged bomb to the corner. 5 minutes later, Haim Revivo got the ball from Berkovich and tried to get into the box; a healthy Revivo would've scored from such a situation, but yesterday his turn was too slow and full of pain, and the defenders stopped Celta's midfielder.

The Israeli attacks went on. 33 minutes in the game, Tal Banin sent a great ball to Najouan Grayib who fell inside the box; the referee, in still a decent performance by then, marked to continue playing, as there was no foul, indeed. And in another 3 minutes, Berkovich threw Revivo into the box, and Haim used all his virtuosity to overrun 3 players and to release a wide ball; Panaiotu dived well to intercept it before Ronen Harazi, and was injured a bit on his head. For Harazi, this miss cost a place on the pitch, in what turned out to be another bold and beautiful decision of Shlomo Sherf.

Arik Benado got a yellow card (34) for a foul on the young Mikhail Constantinou, and Walid Badir made a stupid late foul on Charalambous (39) and was booked as well, a yellow card which will prevent him from playing against Austria in June. But the most scandalous moment was during the stoppage time, when Costas Malakos elbowed Amir Shelakh without a ball; the referee walked to the Cypriote slowly and showed him with a wide smile ... a yellow card!

THE SECOND HALF

Offer Talker substituted Walid Badir, and Alon Mizrahi substituted Ronen Harazi. "The Best Cup Winners' Cup Scorer" wanted to show something from himself in a new European era of his, and he had to wait for just 2 minutes to make the stadium roar again. It started with Eyal Berkovich who got a ball close to his own box and started with an unstoppable and centered sprint. Leaving 2 defenders behind and attracting the 3 others to stop him, the Westham midfielder rolled the ball to Revivo who rushed into the box from the left. Haim centered the ball with an one-touched left-footer, and Alon Mizrahi was there before the defender and the keeper with what he knows to do in the best fashion, 2:0.

5 minutes afterwards, it was a miraculous goal to seal the score, and also one of the strangest ones lastly seen on such a high scene. Banin's pass into the box was out of reach of Eyal Berkovich, and the tall Ioanis Ioanu took the ball before the compact midfielder who didn't intend to give up. Ioanu, controlling the ball and thinking comfortably about developing an attack, never understood how Berkovich kidnapped the ball from him and rolled it to Mizrahi. The forward, surrounded by 3 defenders, managed to produce a mighty shot from 7 meters under the bar of stunned Panaiotu, 3:0.

The guests' attack? You gotta be kidding... From that moment on, it was only the question of the goal margin, and this is really a pity Israel had to stay content with just 3 pieces. Mizrahi showed us the quality of the goal-passer as well, and Najouan Grayib's killing shot passed near the left post of Panaiotu (56). 10 minutes afterwards, a great double-pass between Mizrahi and Revivo resulted in the former's awful shot near the post, and a minute later, Panaiotu won the duel with Mizrahi in one-to-one. A sharp shot of Alon Harazi went over the bar (73), and Panaiotu had enough time to deny another 2 Israeli goals, from Haim Revivo (84) and his Swiss-based substitute Avi Tikwa (87). And 13 minutes from time, it was a double handplay of the guests' defender inside his box, completely overlooked by the referee. Even in such a score, it's a scandalous decision, to put it very-very mildly.

Israel showed its clear superiority over the Cypriotes, and it's a pity that it couldn't score more, even not talking about the 9:0 this Group has already seen. Let's hope that the goal difference won't be the Israeli disadvantage later on, although after the Austrian humiliation Israel can be very proud of its goal margin. The game between the two in June in Ramat-Gan will be a decisive one for the runner-up of the group (it's quite plain that Cyprus isn't the competitor, as well as it's plain Spain has no competitors), and according to the last developments of Israel and Austria, the favourite is quite clear.

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