I:  Gadi Brumer (63).
R:  Igor Kolyvanov (79).

GOAL PASSES:  Israel - NONE;
              Russia - Vladimir Beschastnykh.



I:  Rafi Cohen          7       R:  Stanislav Cherchesov   6.5
    ---------------------           --------------------------
    David Amsalem       6           Nikolai Minko          5.5
    Amir Shelakh        7           Victor Onopko            7
    Gadi Brumer         8           Yuriy Nikiforov          6
    Felix Halfon        6           Omari Tetradze           6
    (Arik Benado, 80)               --------------------------
    ---------------------           Evgeniy Bushmanov      5.5
    Eyal Berkovich      7           (Vladislav Radimov, 66)
    (Itzhak Zohar, 86)              Andrei Kanchelskis       6
    Avi Nimni         6.5           Valeriy Karpine          7
    Tal Banin           8           Igor Kolyvanov           6
    Alon Hazan        6.5           --------------------------
    ---------------------           Vladimir Beschastnykh    6
    Ronen Harazi      6.5           Dmitry Radchenko         5
    (Ronnie Rosenthal, 78)          (Andrei Tikhonov, 46 - 5.5)
    Haim Revivo       6.5



THE BEST:  Tal Banin, midfielder, Israel;
           Gadi Brumer, defender, Israel.

AUDIENCE:  35.000 spectators, Ramat-Gan, Israel.

REFEREE:   Marc de Batta (France).          HIS MARK:       9.

CORNERS:   Israel   3,  Russia   8.

YELLOWS:   ISR - Haim Revivo (65);
           RUS - Dmitry Radchenko (31), Vladimir Bestschastnykh (81).

REDS:      ISR - NONE;
           RUS - NONE.

40 years ago, Israel and Russia (then - still the Soviet Union) had their only opportunity to meet in two official games, the Melbourne'56 Olympic games preliminaries. It ended 5:0 to Russia in Moscow and 2:1 to Russia in Ramat-Gan; and in Israel, the 2nd game was considered for a long time nearly as glorious as an historic victory, due to the header of Nakhum Stelmakh to land in the net of the fabulous Lev Yashin. One of the stories says that 70,000 people (!) were then in Ramat-Gan.

New world, new standards... 40 years have passed, and yesterday half a number of spectators in Ramat-Gan saw the Israeli home draw 1:1 against Russia with a mixed feeling. On one hand, Russia was a better team, and its pressure during the last minutes of play was terrible and luckily for us didn't result in a goal; but on the other hand, Israel seemed capable of preserving the advantage gained with a tremendous shot of Gadi Brumer. Just 10 minutes more to hold on...

The Israeli team faced the better team, and it was felt; and here a lot of warm words should be said for our guys. Rafi Cohen in the net made hardly any mistake, forgetting about his League troubles. Eyal Berkovich wasn't bad at all, and Amir Shelakh did his job in defence. Felix Halfon and David Amsalem saved a certain goal each, and on the other side, Haim Revivo and Ronen Harazi managed to create several good moments against the cool Russian defence (though I personally waited for more from those two). Alon Hazan and Avi Nimni were effective and helped to a defence. But a head above everybody, there were Tal Banin and Gadi Brumer. Banin was, as usual, the brain and the spirit of any Israeli move, and Brumer, returning to the National squad after an injury, made the difference in the defence; and in addition, he was the man to bring Israel the point, scoring with a superb free kick that was shown again and again in Europe.

As for the Russians, their stars proved once again that they deserve to be in top European clubs. Kanchelskis and Kolyvanov could've shown more of their skills (though Kolyvanov scored an equalizer), but Nikiforov, Onopko, Beschastnykh and above all Karpine were superb. And a lot of Russian "spasibo!" should be given to Stanislav Cherchesov, who showed a good game for a change, saving the Russian net several times.

Two words about the refereeing. It wasn't flawless, with several mistakes here and there, but after all, no bad words can be said about the man in black. The strange thing is that several months ago, during the EC'96 game between England and Spain, the same person ruined the fun completely with a bitter parody on refereeing. Was it the same Marc de Batta yesterday?..

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

  Maccabee Tel-Aviv   3  (Nimni 90, Shelakh 90, Brumer 90);
  Beitar Jerusalem    3  (Amsalem 90, Harazi 78, Zohar 4);
  Hapoel Haifa        2  (Cohen 90, Banin 90);
  Hapoel Tel-Aviv     2  (Hazan 90, Halfon 80);
  Celta Vigo          1  (Revivo 90);
  Southampton         1  (Berkovich 86);
  Tottehnam Hotspurs  1  (Rosenthal 12);
  Maccabee Haifa      1  (Benado 10).

THE FIRST HALF

From the very first minutes, the Russians started to press, and it was clear they came with 2 natural forwards to play for the victory. However, the first shot was the Israeli one - Haim Revivo (8) shot from 20 meters, and Cherchesov took it without a problem, as a warm-up.

The first Russian opportunity was registered after 14 minutes, and just a miracle saved Israel. Karpine performed a corner kick, Onopko headed it mightily to the ground from 8 meters, the ball was parried somehow from the goal-line, and the flying header of Bushmanov as a rebound missed the frame. It seemed at first that the sparkling save was of Rafi Cohen, but after 2 replays it became clear - the head of Felix Halfon carried the ball away.

The following 25 minutes were pretty boring, with nearly no opportunities. Kolyvanov could've scored from inside the box (19), but Rafi Cohen stretched well enough to catch the ball; and later on, he took the ball of Minko (30). After another minute, Radchenko was booked for stopping a speedy counterattack of Tal Banin; Radchenko was a disappointment, and the coach Ignatiev substituted his after a break with Andrei Tikhonov, who was better and was also involved in an equalizer. But let's return to the first half: a sharp diagonal bomb of Kanchelskis (36) beat Rafi Cohen, but missed the frame, and on the other hand, a penetration of Hazan (38) found a curved header of Revivo from 14 meters, but Cherchesov was well placed.

The Israeli attack was, after all, non-existent through the first 40 minutes. But still, the last two moves of the first half were of the hosts. Haim Revivo (42) penetrated through 2 Russian players, seemed to lose the ball inside the box, regained the ball again, and passed it high to Ronen Harazi between the two other players. Harazi, closed by his personal guard Minko (pretty good), tried a scissors kick, Minko blocked the shot, and the ball rolled to Eyal Berkovich who volleyed it from 5 meters. Cherchesov managed to fall instinctively and to parry the ball which was going near him, a fine save, but also a great miss. And after a moment (44), it was Felix Halfon with a mighty flat shot from 22 meters. Cherchesov was there again. A break.

THE SECOND HALF

As usual, Israel was better in the 2nd half than in the 1st; Russians stopped pressing, but every Israeli attack was immediately followed by a counterattack of the guests. This way, another shot of Revivo (49) was taken again by Cherchesov, and a fast move of Nikiforov - Bestschastnykh - Karpine found the latter immediately in the box of Rafi Cohen; Karpine managed to shoot precisely between the defenders, but Rafi Cohen reached it under the bar.

Kanchelskis (52) shot it high, in another counterattack; but we should talk here mostly about the attack which preceded it. Tal Banin found Revivo at the right wing, and a fabulous penetration of Haim resulted in a magnificent pass to Avi Nimni, free in the box. Nimni advanced and shot half a shot, half a bounce; Cherchesov saved it in a spectacular acrobatic flight, with his right hand over his head, and the ball went into the chest of Ronen Harazi and deflected centimeters outside the right Russian post. Harazi didn't quite expect the ball to reach him. What a miss!

Nimni tried his luck again (56), but his shot went high. However, after another 7 minutes, Israel opened the score. Haim Revivo was knocked down by Yuriy Nikiforov, 18 meters straight from the net. Banin, Revivo and Brumer stood near the ball, and Berkovich tried to interfere with the mighty Russian wall being built. Finally, Revivo ran as if to bounce the ball with his left over the wall, Cherchesov made a slight move to his right, Berkovich rushed out of the wall, and Gadi Brumer sent a magnificent sharp flat shot wholeheartedly into a created gap. A desperate dive of Cherchesov against his original movement couldn't prevent the ball from penetrating into his low left corner. 1:0.

After the game, Cherchesov was asked about that moment. With a wide smile from under his black moustache, the keeper answered: "Did Uvarov really teach you there were no balls a keeper couldn't reach? What could I do against such a ball? It was just perfect!" And it was. Gadi Brumer, scoring a magnificent goal vs Tenerife some weeks ago, continued with the trend.

Haim Revivo was booked for a foul over Karpine (65), but a free kick of Nikiforov wasn't precise. A brave flight of Rafi Cohen denied the pass of Valeriy Karpine from reaching Beschastnykh (70), and the shot of Karpine himself (71) went too high. However, the best opportunity of those clearly "Russian" minutes was of Israel - Haim Revivo shot a mighty bomb from 25 meters, but Cherchesov was well placed, falling back into his net from the might of the shot, but saving it again.

The next Russian attack worth mentioning resulted in a goal. Beschastnykh played a great double-pass with Tikhonov, entered the box and found Kolyvanov there; the forward was confused for a moment, but then managed to roll it forward, the ball touching the leg of David Amsalem and misleading Rafi Cohen. 1:1, after 79 minutes of play, and the Russians started to press mightily. Immediately after 90 minutes, we were rather relieved with a result than disappointed with it.

Two more moments should be mentioned here. First, a great timing of Rafi Cohen denied Vladimir Beschastnykh who dived and was justly booked for that (81). And later on (89), Amsalem saved a certain goal, blocking the shot of Beschastnykh from 3 meters. After all, the result made a certain justice for both teams. It could be better for Israel, but it isn't that bad at all.