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| Main Page | Soccer Page | EC'2000 Prelim. |
I: Eyal Berkovich (26, 47), Haim Revivo (45), Alon Mizrahi (54),
Najouan Grayib (75).
A: NONE.
GOAL PASSES: ISR - Yossi Abuksis (26), Haim Revivo (47),
Tal Banin (54), Eyal Berkovich (75);
AUT - NONE.
I: Nir Davidovich 7 AUS: Franz Wohlfahrt 5
-------------------- -----------------------------
Alon Hazan 7.5 Walter Kogler 4.5
Arik Benado 8.5 Zoran Barisic 5
Alon Harazi 7 Thomas Winklhoffer 5
Amir Shelakh 7.5 Harald Cerny 5
Najouan Grayib 7.5 Guenter Neukirchner 4
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Yossi Abuksis 8.5 Roman Mahlich 4.5
(Idan Tal, 82) Martin Amerhauser 4.5
Tal Banin 8 (Christian Prosenik, 46 - 4.5)
Eyal Berkovich 9.5 Andreas Herzog 5
(Avi Tikwa, 78) Ivica Vastic 4
Haim Revivo 9 (Eduard Glieder, 55 - 4.5)
-------------------- -----------------------------
Alon Mizrahi 7 Christian Mayrleb 4.5
(Nir Sevilla, 76) (Mario Haas, 68)
THE BEST: Eyal Berkovich, midfielder, Israel.
AUDIENCE: 43.000 spectators (including myself), Ramat-Gan, Israel.
REFEREE: Lubos Michel (Slovakia). HIS MARK: 8.
SHOTS TO FRAME: Israel 10 (5 before the break), Austria 8 (3).
OTHER SHOTS: Israel 6 (2), Austria 4 (2).
FOULS MADE: Israel 34 (20), Austria 23 (16).
OFFSIDES: Israel 2 (0), Austria 4 (2).
CORNERS: Israel 7 (4), Austria 4 (2).
YELLOWS: ISR - Amir Shelakh (84), Tal Banin (88);
AUT - Roman Mahlich (13), Andreas Herzog (36), Ivica Vastic (42).
REDS: ISR - NONE;
AUT - NONE.
2 days before the game, a provocative interview was given to a local newspaper in Haifa by Eyal Berkovich, the midfielder of Westham and the Israeli National team. "I will take the game on myself", boasted the extremely talented, but sometimes problematic star, "and we'll tear them apart, that I can promise". 43,000 spectators at the stadium, including myself, attended the game to support the team they deeply believed in, and a belief was big in taking all the 3 points; however, there was no one who could refer to Berkovich's words without a cynical smile. And guess what? The playmaker of Israel was right, scoring 2 incredible goals, making a fantastic goal pass, arranging a free kick to Haim Revivo and registering his biggest personal game ever, even greater than his 6:3 victory with Southampton over Manchester United (1996-97 season, 2 goals and 3 goal passes) or the 5:0 victory in February over Maccabee Tel-Aviv with Maccabee Haifa (1993-94 season, 1 goal and 2 goal passes). And he led the National team to the heights unthought of before...
The victory over France in Parc des Princes, in October 1993, remained for a long-long time the best ever achievement of the Israeli National soccer. No more, as this game sets the new standards - unlike the victory over the current World Champions, now it was a game of a big competitive value, and the National team passed it and wrote its name in the golden letters into the history book. And a huge credit, of course, goes to Shlomo Sherf, the coach moving the National team to the great heights from a deep abyss. Do you remember the first Israeli game in Europe? Correct, it was against Austria in October 1992, and we lost glorilessly 2:5. Now this was the same Austrian team standing against us, with several players from both sides meeting again after 6.5 years - Alon Harazi and Andreas Herzog, Eyal Berkovich and Christian Prosenik... And how different it was! And how different it can be very soon!.. It might be hard to dream about the 1st place (after all, Spain is in the top form now, and its last official record of +3=0-0, 24-0 (!) talks for itself, even if partly achieved against San Marino), especially after the pitiful loss to Spain at home (oh, Rafi Cohen, Rafi Cohen), but the 2nd place is nearly taken, and with the acceptable draw in the play-off the mission can be accomplished...
It's impossible to say any bad words about anybody, although some points have to be covered. Amir Shelakh was quite hesitant in many of his moves, but can we criticize the man who totally eliminated the threat of Ivica Vastic? Nir Davidovich could also be more secure - but can we be mad at the man who was playing injured and denied a couple of Austrian chances before the Israeli volcano of attacks erupted? Alon Harazi didn't help the attack as he could have done, but his defensive work was flawless. Najouan Grayib and Alon Mizrahi were also quite mediocre, but didn't they score 2 goals out of 5? In short, let me criticize people only after such the games, and I'll be happy.
And now - to the players who were sparkling like champagne, and left the taste of more for all the true fans of the beautiful soccer, no matter their nationality. Alon Hazan, hardly getting any minutes in Watford during the season but still scoring a decisive penalty to promote this surprising squad to the Premier League, was never as free at the right wing, and the results were clear to all. Tal Banin, making as usual all the dirty job and moving his team forward time after time, gave Mizrahi a 4th goal on a golden tray. Yossi Abuksis, a winning card of Shlomo Sherf, was the best player before the break, with a clever playmaking and an incredible goal pass, and also participated in creating the 3rd and the 4th goals. And Arik Benado - oh my God, what he did to Cristian Mayrleb and Mario Haas! A huge asset of Maccabee Haifa, he can be put after this game in one line with the current world stars of his amplois - Jaap Stam, Lothar Matthaeus, Fernando Hierro... [Out of the opening squad players, aside of Yossi Abuksis and Amir Shelakh, everybody has Maccabee Haifa in the resume. Can you imagine what team it could be now with all of them gathering under the Green-and-White colors again?]
And of course, those were the 2 maestros once again. Haim Revivo, not very active before the break, still used his touch of one and only to finish the game in the 1st half injury time; and the 2nd half, oh dear, what the 45 minutes he gave! [And I feared that Valeriy Karpine's performance in the Russian victory against France would be the best performance of Celta's players in this European round]. His involvement in the 3rd and the 5th goals taught us why Louis Van Gaal scratches the walls in order to get him into Barcelona, and he prepared another great opportunity missed by Alon Mizrahi. And even so, the biggest hit was the other player. I can not find the words, ladies and gentlemen. Eyal Berkovich!!! Eyal Berkovich!!! Eyal Berkovich!!!
Several words should be said about the Austrian National team, after the superlatives for the blue-and-white flew free. It's incredible to see that both Israel and Spain achieved the same results against Austria and ... San-Marino! 9:0 or 5:0, Herbert Prohaska or Otto Baric, the story stays the same. The line-up is just old, there is no spirit of fight anymore, and this seems to be the long period of generation changes that will have to pass for the 2-headed eagle to return to the glory of the late 70-ies. But the fact that the Austrians looked so pathetic, happened also due to the extraordinary skill of the hosts. Let's only hope that this game has a proper continuation.
As for the teams that supplied the players for this truly historic and magnificent victory (in brackets you can see the number of minutes each man played) - for the first time ever the majority of the Israeli players came from abroad, and their overwhelming skill clearly made the difference:
Maccabee Haifa 3 (Davidovich 90, Benado 90, A. Harazi 90); Beitar Jerusalem 3 (Shelakh 90, Abuksis 81, Sevilla 15); Brescia 1 (Banin 90); Celta Vigo 1 (Revivo 90); Tottenham Hotspurs 1 (Grayib 90); Watford 1 (Hazan 90); Westham 1 (Berkovich 77); Nice 1 (Mizrahi 75); Grasshoppers 1 (A. Tikwa 13); Hapoel Tel-Aviv 1 (Idan Tal 9).
THE FIRST HALF
When the game started, nobody in the whole world (except maybe Berkovich) could dare dreaming about the result to come. However, the probable indication for the Austrian problems came only 2 minutes in the game, from the Israeli right wing. Berkovich supplied Hazan with a clever ball, Alon rushed at his wing totally undisturbed and raised the ball into the box, and Kogler sent a ball to a corner. No Austrian cure for Hazan's penetrations was ever found, and it became even worse in the 2nd half when Hazan and Revivo swapped sides.
Austria answered with some dangerous attacks of its own - first, an unexplicable penetration of Herzog allowed him to produce an undisturbed shot (8); Davidovich dived to parry the ball hesitantly, but Arik Benado dived to clear it away before Vastic's rebound. And 4 minutes later on, the far-ranger of the same Herzog was less dangerous, and Davidovich was more secure. It was also a fabulous shot of Vastic from 25 meters after a free kick, narrowly missing the frame (15). It was also another shaky reaction of Davidovich after a dangerous guests' corner, but the ball was finally parried (25). This actually summarizes the Austrian attacks during the 1st half.
Roman Mahlich was booked after a foul on Berkovich (13) at the right Austrian wing, but "the magician of Westham" was just warming up. 5 minutes later, Israel performed a first dangerous attack, with Revivo volleying the ball wide after a great preparation of Hazan from the right wing. And 24 minutes in the game, Arik Benado advanced forward, the ball reached Berkovich and then Banin, and from there continued to Alon Mizrahi. Well-closed by Winklhoffer, Mizrahi lost the duel to Wohlfahrt and tried to buy a penalty by diving, in vain.
"We need to slow the game down for 20-25 minutes, and then we will take the initiative", stated Otto Baric before the game. When this time passed, however, Austria was forced to go forward as it was already down. A foul on Eyal Berkovich was performed in the midcircle, and Yossi Abuksis performed a free kick. A magnificent 40-meters pass inside the box found there ... Berkovich again! The small genius ran away from his defender and lobbed the ball under pressure over the badly positioned Wohlfahrt. Mahlich tried to scissor the ball away, but in vain, and the stadium erupted in ecstasy, still unaware of the fact that in just another 80 minutes it will have no forces to erupt anymore. 1:0.
Austria should've become more active after such a blow, but Israel started playing as if it got wings. 3 minutes after the goal, a brilliant combination of Berkovich and Hazan was stopped by a defender and caused just another corner. And 34 minutes from the start, a quick series of jumping of joy and seizing head in disbelief happened to all the stadium, myself included, with the latter reaction finally prevailing. Tal Banin kidnapped the ball and passed it marvellously to Alon Mizrahi who passed the keeper and rolled the ball into an empty net; Zoran Barisic, in his National team debut, somehow cleared the ball away from the line, Mizrahi got first to the rebound only to find the stretched hands of Wohlfahrt, and the ball deflected to Tal Banin and afterwards back to the keeper. "Let us hope not to regret this miss", said Meir Einstein after this moment (the beauty of the game was so huge that I watched it on video the next day, fully again). Oh, how far was he from the truth!
Ivica Vastic, the biggest disappointment of the game, was booked after a back foul on Alon Hazan (42), but the serious referee's mistake happened 6 minutes before. Andreas Herzog, the distinguished veteran and the 2 World Cups participant who scored the first 2 goals Israel conceded in its official European history, tried to penetrate at the left wing and was stopped by a foul of Tal Banin; Herzog, whose old age throws shame on his youth, fell on the ground, but succeeded to kick Banin violently before... A huge confusion followed, with the stadium roaring in disgust at first and standing in anticipation later. The referee waved the surrounding players away, stretched his hand to his pocket and took out ... a yellow card! What a ridiculous decision!
Israel was clearly the better team, and the stadium clearly lacked the 2nd goal. And finally it came, God, it came! Alon Mizrahi, moving slightly backwards, passed the ball to Eyal Berkovich who penetrated into the box and was knocked down centimeters from the line. When a referee whistled, the stadium knew it would come, although Haim Revivo didn't sparkle until then - this season in Spain, the top World keepers like Carlos Roa and Farid Mondragon could do nothing against his free kicks from more or less the same point. The wall took its time to be organized, but Revivo didn't care - only now he preferred a gentle curved touch to the cannon shots he usually takes. Wohlfahrt looked at the ball indifferently, and the stadium knew it was over. 2:0. Austria was so famous for spoiling the joy of the eventual winners during the injury time, but when it conceded a 2nd goal of deficit in such a timing, it was clear the guests wouldn't come back. A break emerged, and my friend said: "You know, we've seen 2 goals just below our seats, and I think it is enough - when they change the goals, I don't want to see the disaster near, and I'll renounce on seeing the joy far". He was also mistaken, but who could be not?.. Who could expect such the fountains of talent operating?..
THE SECOND HALF
Remembering his awful mistake in Moscow 3 months ago, Davidovich was the 1st Israeli player to return to the pitch, quite early in the break; the veteran Alexander Uvarov, the National team keepers' coach who knew many days of glory at the National stadium as the keeper of Maccabee Tel-Aviv, forced him to jump here and there to keep in shape. And I couldn't help recalling one of the advertisements for this game. There, the mighty game of Maccabee Haifa vs Maccabee Tel-Aviv (2:2, 1995-96 season) was shown, with Uvarov falling the victim to a great combination of the 2 then young and just promising Green players - a pass of Berkovich to Revivo, a great penetration of Haim at the right wing and centering the ball with a great precision, and a mighty blast of Berkovich who hammered the ball home between the defenders' legs. "Let them lead us forward", said the dictor, the camera concentrating on the two heroes embracing each other.
Just 2 minutes after the break, I almost believed in the time machine. Yossi Abuksis kidnapped the ball in the midcircle and quickly passed it to Berkovich, who opened a propeller and rushed towards the goal. Seeing Haim Revivo at the right wing, he sent him a great ball, and Haim made a misleading move and entered the box undisturbed. Quickly evaluating the state of affairs, the Spanish star rolled the ball back to Berkovich with the external side of his left boot to see the unbelievable curved blast from 12 meters between the two defenders' legs. The ball bent just inside near the left post of the poor Wohlfahrt who was stunned, and the orgasmic spectators couldn't believe their eyes. 3:0!!! Just after the break!!!
As if to stun the world completely, in another 7 minutes it was already a huge humiliation. This time, Tal Banin kidnapped a ball from Herzog, and after a double pass with Abuksis rolled it ruler-straight to Alon Mizrahi. The offside trap of the Austrians was pathetic, and the Nice forward beat it easily and approached Wohlfahrt; even in a very mediocre day of his, Mizrahi had no problems to pass the keeper and to roll the ball into an empty net. 4:0, and at this point, I think, there was nobody who didn't feel some sympathy for the keeper of Stuttgart, an experienced and distinguished professional with a rich career lying behind. Just imagine getting 9 goals from Spain, not entirely at his fault, and now this... Wohlfahrt just stayed lying on the ground, where Mizrahi left him, in a final surrender, not able to get up or even to move, for probably a minute. Finally, he got up, but his mood contaminated the whole team, a bitter excuse for a National team anyway, but now with no wish and forces left. The hosts, on the other hand, became hungry, as the appetite comes during the meal - the tribunes started counting till 10... And the team went on, trying to make those 90 minutes even more remarkable.
This was a shot of Tal Banin from a far range, too high (62), and his wide ball found no continuation of Mizrahi or Revivo (72). Another combination of Berkovich and Revivo resulted in a brilliant pass of Haim to Mizrahi, but the latter shot centimeters over the left crossbar of the miserable Wohlfahrt. At last, Mizrahi got a fantastic ball from Berkovich and was pulled down vehemently by Cerny; a clear penalty was justified, but the referee marked to continue playing, disregarding Mizrahi's pleas. During all this time, the only opportunity of the Austrians belonged to Christian Prosenik, who volleyed the 18-meters-ball high.
15 minutes from time, the story was over with another masterpiece. Alon Hazan's right wing penetration earned Israel a throw-in, and Hazan passed the ball to Berkovich not far away from the corner flag. Eyal, getting the ball, passed one defender, then another one, and moved backwards and to the center. Passing a ball to Revivo, he got a breathtaking heel one-touch back, just inside the box, and took a second to direct a highly precise pass into the keeper's box. Najouan Grayib, rushing to the ball, had no other choice but to score, the last nail into the Austrian coffin. 5:0.
The Austrians looked for a prestige goal, but even that was a task too big - Davidovich dived well to parry the threatening ball of Neukirchner (80) and Alon Harazi failed to score an own goal (83); one shot of Herzog went high (85), whileanother one was stopped by Davidovich (88). Even the yellow cards shown to Amir Shelakh (84) and Tal Banin (88) couldn't spoil the mood. Before the end, Hazan penetrated at the right wing and found the post, and then, the joy yet unknown finally erupted fully. And I was honored to be at this game, the huge historic game of a brilliant team which deserves to climb higher.
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