I:  Ronen Harazi (35), Tal Banin (63 pen).
B:  Krasimir Balakov (2 pen).

GOAL PASSES:  Israel   - Tal Banin (35);
              Bulgaria - NONE.



The marks in brackets are those of YEDIOTH AHRONOTH, and those before the
brackets are mine.


I:  Rafi Cohen          6 (5.5)      B:  Borislav Mihailov     7 (6.5)
    ---------------------------          -----------------------------
    David Amsalem     6.5 (6.5)          Cvetan Cvetanov       5   (5)
    Amir Shelakh        6   (7)          Peter Houbtchev       5   (5)
    Arik Benado         6   (6)          Radostin Kischischev  6   (5)
    Felix Halfon        7 (6.5)          Trifon Ivanov         6 (4.5)
    (Alon Harazi, 89)                    (Daniel Borimirov, 70)          
    ---------------------------          -----------------------------
    Ronnie Rosenthal  6.5 (5.5)          Zlatko Iankov         5   (5)
    (Eyal Berkovich, 81)                 Ivailo Iordanov     5.5 (5.5)
    Avi Nimni         7.5   (8)          Jordan Letchkov     6.5   (7)
    Tal Banin         7.5 (6.5)          Krasimir Balakov    6.5   (6)
    Alon Hazan        6.5 (6.5)          -----------------------------
    ---------------------------          Georgi Donkov       5.5   (5)
    Ronen Harazi      7.5   (7)          (Ivailo Iliev, 63 -   6)  (6)
    (Nir Klinger, 78)                    Emil Kostadinov       6   (6)
    Haim Revivo       7.5 (6.5)



THE BEST:  Tal Banin, midfielder, Israel.
           (Avi Nimni, midfielder, Israel, as for YEDIOTH AHRONOTH).

AUDIENCE:  24.000 spectators, Ramat-Gan, Israel.

REFEREE:   Alfredo Tartalenga (Italy).       HIS MARK:       9.

CORNERS:   Israel   5,  Bulgaria   3.

YELLOWS:   ISR - Rafi Cohen (2), Avi Nimni (49);
           BUL - Ivailo Iordanov (14), Radostin Kischischev (52),
                 Zlatko Iankov (58).

REDS:      ISR - NONE;
           BUL - NONE.


STATISTICS:			Israel			Bulgaria
(first half + second half)

Shots into frame:               2 + 6                   2 + 3
Shots missing the frame:        1 + 2                   2 + 2
Headers into frame:             1 + 0                   1 + 1
Headers missing the frame:      0 + 1                   0 + 0
Losing the ball:               11 + 7                   9 + 12
Gaining the ball:               4 + 5                   7 + 4
Fouls:                          5 + 3                   3 + 6
Yellow cards:                   1 + 1                   1 + 2
Red cards:                      0 + 0                   0 + 0
Offsides:                       3 + 1                   2 + 1

The road to WC'98 is still very-very long, and it will be too early and arrogant to make early summaries, no doubt of that. But one thing I can tell. The Israeli team started its European official games 4 years ago, beginning badly and advancing a lot afterwards; and I followed all its games. There was an historic victory 3:2 in Parc des Princes, a wonderful draw 2:2 in Sofia, a home victory 2:1 over Poland, two important home draws vs Romania (1:1) and France (0:0)... The game we've seen yesterday was THE BEST OF THEM ALL! A terrible mistake of the first minutes, followed by 88 minutes of the best soccer Israel ever played in the International level during the last 4-6 years, devastating one of the top teams of the world. No, this is not a mistake of mine - the word "devastating" was put here deliberately.

The Bulgarian team played indeed without its best player, Hristo Stoichkov, but even without him, the new coach Hristo Bonev could rely on his other sparkling stars - Trifon Ivanov, Peter Houbtchev, Georgi Donkov, Emil Kostadinov and most of all, Krasimir Balakov and Jordan Letchkov, in a superb form in their clubs... And the Bulgarian team didn't press, but was definitely a rival to respect; it was a real participant in the game and not just a stunt to see himself mercilessly beaten without doing anything to respond. Thus, the warmer words should be said about the Israelis who were just better and could've ended the game with a humiliating score hadn't it been for the wonderful Borislav Mihailov, preventing at least 6 (!) certain Israeli goals.

And as for the Israeli team, nobody should be mentioned without the compliments. Gadi Brumer was injured, and so Arik Benado and Amir Shelakh were hesitant for the first minutes, which cost their team a goal conceded; but then they were calm and secure as they usually play in their clubs. Rafi Cohen was directly responsible for the Bulgarian goal, but then denied several great opportunities of Letchkov, Kostadinov, Balakov and Donkov. The penetrations of Felix Halfon at the right wing finally brought the victory to Israel, as he was knocked down in the box, earning the Israeli penalty. No calm life for the guests was at the other wing, too - the penetrating force of David Amsalem and Ronnie Rosenthal was combined with several glorious moves of Avi Nimni in the 2nd half; definitely a good return to the National team for this talented midfielder of Maccabee Tel-Aviv. Alon Hazan was secure and very responsible in his deeds. Ronen Harazi gave his usual bright International game, scoring a magnificent goal and threatening the Bulgarian net time after time. The same can be said about Haim Revivo, whose time in Celta Vigo definitely served him well; during the hard minutes of being down, these were the magic moves of Haim to bring the team back to life, and in the 2nd half he created several dangerous moments either. But above all, it was Tal Banin, with a magic work to start all the attacks and to help the defence. Tal invested a lot of energy, and he was rewarded - a goal pass to Ronen Harazi, a great short ball to send Felix Halfon into the box after 63 minutes of play, and finally a mighty shot from 11 meters at half a height to the right corner of Mihailov, after Halfon had earned a penalty kick. The shot of victory.

Finally, several words about the refereeing. After the total failure of EC in England, there was such a pleasure to see a professional dealing with the game. Well, he should've sent Iankov off instead of just booking him, but as for the rest - Kostadinov's goal disallowed because of an offside, the pretence of Iliev not bought, numerous offsides whistled against the Israeli forwards and the most important rush of Ronen Harazi seen as the one in the frontiers of rules, and finally the two penalties, both the tough calls - the Italian man in the black suit was just close to perfection. Nice for a change.

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

  Maccabee Tel-Aviv   3  (Nimni 90, Shelakh 90, Klinger 12);
  Maccabee Haifa      3  (Benado 90, Berkovich 9, Alon Harazi 1);
  Hapoel Haifa        2  (Cohen 90, Banin 90);
  Hapoel Tel-Aviv     2  (Hazan 90, Halfon 89);
  Beitar Jerusalem    2  (Amsalem 90, Ronen Harazi 78);
  Celta Vigo          1  (Revivo 90);
  Tottehnam Hotspurs  1  (Rosenthal 81).

THE FIRST HALF

I won't exaggerate saying that nobody expected such a disastrous Israeli start. Israel started pressing from the very first seconds, but the very first counterattack made it concede. Balakov sent Kostadinov into the box, Shelakh and Benado were still dreaming, and Rafi Cohen tried in vain to save the lost situation; he rushed towards the forward and met him at his right frontier of the box, Kostadinov passed him, and Rafi had no choice but to knock the forward down. Kostadinov fell outside the box, but the impact had been centimeters inside; it resulted in booking Rafi Cohen and a penalty kick, a perfect referee's decision. Rafi Cohen went to his left, and Balakov shot an unstoppable bomb to the opposite high corner. 1:0 to Bulgaria, after 2 minutes.

A perfect start for Bulgarians, and everybody expected them to continue the trend; instead, they went into a total defence, and Israel fully conquered the midfield to develop calm and clever attacks from there. The man of those minutes who gave Israel the lost security was no else but Haim Revivo, the one and only. After 8 minutes of play, he passed two defenders and shot out from 20 meters with his powerful left. And then (11), he conquered the ball in the Bulgarian box, confused Letchkov, Houbtchev and Iankov on a tiny square and passed a perfect wide ball; unfortunately for Israel, Trifon Ivanov was there half a second before Ronen Harazi and sent the ball to a corner.

After another 10 minutes (21), Mihailov started to show his fantastic skill: Alon Hazan sent Ronen Harazi into the right wing penetration, and Harazi entered the box and raised the ball to Revivo near the left corner; Revivo shot a powerful left-foot volley from 6 meters diagonally, but Mihailov with a perfect instinct interfered with his right knee, sending the ball to a corner. Rosenthal was mad at Revivo and claimed that he should've got the ball right in front of the net. This way or that way, a great save by Mihailov.

Another great moment was given to Israel, this time to Rosenthal. Hazan (25) penetrated at the right wing and passed the ball above everybody's heads into the box, Rosenthal met it there with a left-foot volley, but Ivanov blocked it, and the ball went to the Bulgarians.

From that moment on, it was a swing of dangerous moments near both nets - Israel continued its pressure, but the Bulgarians showed a real class on the occasional counterattacks. Kostadinov (27) tried his luck with a header from 18 meters (!), to the hands of Rafi Cohen, and on the other side, Nimni rushed forward and shot it high (28). A wonderful double-pass between Letchkov and Donkov put Letchkov at one-to-one against Rafi Cohen, but the keeper stopped him in a fantastic way, paying in a certain way his debt for the team. And Houbtchev (31) saved his keeper from the threat of Nimni, after the great preparation work of Haim Revivo; just a corner.

Despite the Bulgarian counterattacks, it was clear the Israeli goal was the question of time. And it really came, after 35 minutes of play. Tal Banin got a ball from Felix Halfon and sent a pass of genius to Ronen Harazi inside the box. All the Bulgarian defence stopped stunned, waiting for an offside whistle to come, but IT WAS NO OFFSIDE! Mihailov tried to save his goal and rushed towards Harazi, but the best Israeli International forward raised his right foot and shot a flat ball past the keeper. The ball kissed the net, Harazi looked at the referee, saw the center-pointing finger and raised his hands in triumph. No offside. 1:1.

And again, it was a ping-pong going on until the break. Rosenthal (37) tried his luck from 20 meters and missed the frame; on the other side, Balakov (39) missed a wonderful opportunity after a great preparation work of Letchkov. Hazan passed a wonderful ball to the box (41), but Ronen Harazi interfered with Rosenthal and finally headed it weakly to Mihailov's hands. A great pass of Donkov (43) found a threatening diagonal right-foot volley of Kostadinov; Rafi Cohen reacted an instant later than needed, but the ball shortly missed the frame. Just another shot of Nimni (44) went high, after Nimni himself created a dangerous moment. Finally, Donkov, with a great help of Letchkov, entered the box and shot flatly (45); Rafi Cohen stretched well enough to hold the ball tight. A break.

THE SECOND HALF

The break ended, and it took Israel just two minutes to create 2 great chances to score; however, our guys met a great keeper in his great day. 46: Ronnie Rosenthal penetrated at the left wing, leaving the weak Kischischev behind, and centered the ball to Ronen Harazi who stood at the far corner of the keeper's box; Harazi leant forward and shot a threatening right-foot volley under the nearest crossbar, but Mihailov instinctively raised his hand up to deflect a ball to the bar and outside, what a perfect save! And a minute later, Haim Revivo gave Harazi a perfect long pass into the box; Harazi stopped harshly to throw the ball above Trifon Ivanov, one of the best defenders in the world, but Mihailov flew to Harazi's legs to collect the ball before Ronen, a brave action.

Avi Nimni, very active in the 2nd half, got booked after knocking Letchkov down 22 meters, diagonally from the net (49); Balakov curved the ball well, but Rafi Cohen stood at the right place to grasp it tight. 52: Kischischev got booked for stopping the counterattack led by Nimni. Unfortunately, the Bulgarians kidnapped the ball from a free kick and developed a cool counterattack, ending with a brave rush of Amir Shelakh to deny Letchkov in front of Rafi Cohen, a corner.

After 57 minutes, Alon Hazan penetrated at the right wing and centered the ball into the box, Haim Revivo volleyed it with his left from the hard angle, but Mihailov was there again to stretch well. The counterattack began, and Kostadinov managed to find just the secure hands of Rafi Cohen, who denied the forward's shot from 5 meters. Nimni rushed forward again with a counterattack, but was knocked down by Iankov from behind; and then Iankov kicked vigorously the lying Nimni's legs. A classic case of a red card; however, the referee preferred just to book Iankov. Kostadinov tried to finish another Bulgarian attack (60), but his flat shot found Rafi Cohen again.

And here the comeback was completed. Tal Banin controlled the ball deflecting from Revivo (63) and made a short and precise pass to Felix Halfon; the latter screwed himself between the two defenders into the box and tried to change the direction there, but was knocked down from behind by Houbtchev. The referee had no single second of hesitation, and the stadium roared excited. Tal Banin shot a bomb to his left corner at half a height, Mihailov took the proper direction and flew well, but couldn't reach the ball. 2:1 to Israel.

On May 12th, 1993, in Sofia, with a score of 2:2, Ronnie Rosenthal made one of the gravest misses of the soccer history, passing Mihailov and missing the empty frame. Yesterday it was less critical, as the team still won, but Rosenthal proved again his reputation of "The Great International Misser". 68: a great penetration of Avi Nimni resulted in passing 3 players and shooting well from 13 meters, Mihailov made the impossible to parry the ball in a great stretching, Ronen Harazi was surprised but managed to heel the ball right to Rosenthal (maybe he did it with no clear intention, just a pure deflection, I don't know), and Ronnie shot it mightily from 6 meters to the nearest low corner; however, Trifon Ivanov slid back perfectly to parry the ball to a corner with his left knee. What a miss for Rosenthal; just a corner! A corner was performed, Revivo got the ball at the right wing, turned around his own axis to swing a defender and suddenly shot an incredible left-foot curved shot to the far corner from the side box line; however, Mihailov made a truly acrobatic flight to fist the ball away, both the shot and the save shown time and again all over the world. The ball went to Nimni who passed 3 players again but was denied by Iankov inside the box; the crowd demanded a penalty kick, but I tend to agree with the referee here: no serious foul, just a legal push.

Nimni stayed the best player of those minutes, making two brilliant passes to Ronen Harazi; however, Ronen wasn't concentrated twice, first volleying it away (74) and then shooting a flying header far outside the frame (76). Harazi was substituted by Nir Klinger, and both got the warm applauses, as Klinger became the man to repeat Mordechai Spiegler's Israeli record of 79 games with the National team. And on the other hand, Iordanov tried his luck from 20 meters, but in vain, too high.

Two wonderful decisions of the referee followed. First, a penetration of Kischischev (83) resulted in a header of Kostadinov to enter the goal; however, the goal was disallowed because of the offside, and rightly so. And 4 minutes later, a fresh substitute Iliev entered the box, Rafi Cohen reached the ball first to deflect it aside, and Iliev tried to buy a foul, not making any impression on the referee. In between (85), the referee had to stop the game for several seconds, as some kid penetrated the field during the Israeli attack! What a peculiar situation! What a jerk, to be honest!

Eyal Berkovich (88) even managed to touch the ball and to pass 3 players, but his last double-pass with Banin didn't succeed. After another minute, a good Israeli attack resulted in a high shot of Felix Halfon. And finally, the last effort was of Kostadinov, but he missed the frame. Israel won! Unbelievable but true! What a start!