L:  -.
I:  Itzhak Zohar (10, 81), Tal Banin (56 pen).

GOAL PASSES:  Luxembourg - NONE;
              Israel     - Tal Banin (10, 81).



L:  Paul Koch           5.5      I:  Rafi Cohen              6
    -----------------------          -------------------------
    Jean Wank           4.5          Felix Halfon          5.5
    Jeff Strasser         5          Arik Benado             6
    Marc Bersaunce        5          Amir Shelakh            6
    Frank Deville       4.5          David Amsalem         5.5
    -----------------------          -------------------------
    Jeff Sauvinet       4.5          Tal Banin             7.5
    Luc Holtz           5.5          Eyal Berkovich        5.5
    (Patrick Poussing, 75)           (Ran Ben-Shimon, 46 -   6)
    Thill                 5          Ronnie Rosenthal        6
    Manuel Caudronier   4.5          (Nir Klinger, 83)
    Joel Groff (RED, 72)             Itzhak Zohar          7.5
    -----------------------          -------------------------
    Robert Laungers     4.5          Haim Revivo             6
                                     Eli Ohana               5
                                     (Alon Mizrahi, 46 -   6.5)


THE BEST:  Itzhak Zohar, midfielder, Israel.
           Tal Banin   , midfielder, Israel.

AUDIENCE:  6.000 spectators, Luxembourg, Luxembourg.

REFEREE:   Rene Temming (Netherlands).          HIS MARK:       9.

CORNERS:   Luxembourg    4, Israel   8.

YELLOWS:   LUX - Jeff Strasser (90);
           ISR - NONE.

REDS:      LUX - Joel Groff (72);
           ISR - NONE.

The game vs Luxembourg gave the Israeli National team quite a rare chance to be the clear favourites; however, it was also the case in Cyprus, wasn't it? That's why Israel made a great mental preparation towards the game, and I'm glad to say that this preparation also succeeded. Probably, Israel won't reach the WC'98 in Paris, but the way is right, and the tough battles in the group will continue up to the very end (especially after the home draw of Cyprus vs Russia). A lot of compliments should go to the players for the result (though not to all of them, I should say), but we shouldn't forget the wonderful work of the National Coach Shlomo Sherf as well.

This time, all the decisions of Shlomo Sherf proved to be right. During the break, he wasn't afraid to substitute the two stars, Eyal Berkovich and Eli Ohana, whose participation in the game of the team was simply negative; the substitutes were much more successful, as Ran Ben-Shimon made the midline stable, and Alon Mizrahi used his magic touch to earn a penalty kick. Haim Revivo was left on the pitch, despite the dreadful game of the Celta's star; and after the break, he was better, and his help in the defensive line and the midline was essential. The defence wasn't sparkling, but did its job, and Rafi Cohen in the net was getting cold, but managed to make a sparkling save in a crucial moment of the game, leaving the Israeli lead intact. But mostly, it was Sherf's bet on Itzhak Zohar and Tal Banin to give Israel all the points. Banin, returning to the pitch after a long injury absence, was the dominant man in the midline and started all the attacks of Israel; and in addition, he made 2 goal passes and scored himself from the penalty spot. And as for Itzhak Zohar, he was simply magnificent, scoring 2 fantastic goals of a real star, causing the expulsion of Joel Groff, giving a wonderful ball to Alon Mizrahi on the latter's way to the penalty kick, and giving no calm moment to the defence of Luxembourg. The two real stars shone yesterday brightly in the skies of Luxembourg, making us look optimistically towards the continuation.

As for the teams that supplied the players for this important, although not exactly historic, victory (in brackets you see the number of minutes each man played):

  Beitar Jerusalem      3  (Amsalem 90, Zohar 90, Ohana 45);
  Hapoel Haifa          3  (Cohen 90, Banin 90, Ben-Shimon 45);
  Maccabee Tel-Aviv     2  (Shelakh 90, Klinger 8);
  Celta Vigo            1  (Revivo 90);
  Hapoel Tel-Aviv       1  (Halfon 90);
  Maccabee Haifa        1  (Benado 90);
  Tottehnam Hotspurs    1  (Rosenthal 82);
  Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv  1  (Mizrahi 45);
  Southampton           1  (Berkovich 45).

THE FIRST HALF

The first two minutes after the start of the game were those of the hosts, as they earned the first corner, and the shot of Bersaunce went high. However, after that the initiative passed to Israel. Zohar's free kick from 18 meters met the wall (4), the first Israeli corner performed by Zohar was finished with a bad volley by Revivo (6), and the hosts' keeper Paul Koch denied Revivo after the pass of Amir Shelakh (8) and also cut the pass of Felix Halfon from the right wing (9).

A touching event happened before the game, as the 16-years-old Belgian girl came to the stadium with her mother to see Itzhak Zohar, her favourite player since his days in Antwerp 2 years ago. Zohar met them, signed the album with his photos, talked to the girl and finally kissed her on the cheek with a wide smile. And after just 10 minutes of play, he also caused her a lot of joy with his fabulous deed on the pitch. A great pass of Tal Banin found Zohar inside the box, surrounded by two defenders; the midfielder of Beitar Jerusalem stopped the ball with his right foot, stepped aside, made a bright and unexpected move forward between the two stunned defenders and with the same left foot rolled the ball calmly past Paul Koch. A wonderful execution of a truly European penetration, giving the commentator Meir Einstein a chance to praise Zohar, Banin and Sherf immediately in a live report. 1:0 to Israel.

The Israeli team felt much less pressed in those moments, but it nearly cost it a goal. Rafi Cohen stretched well and took a dangerous flat free kick from 15 meters (15), and 2 minutes later, it was "The Save Of The Game" - a penetration of Thill against the anti-defence of Israel was nearly lethal, but Cohen denied the midfielder superbly in one-to-one, sending the ball to a corner. What is sure - on this keeper the team can rely.

That's hard to say something else about the 1st half. Halfon was placed well enough to deny the ball from Groff inside the box (28), and Rafi Cohen was in place again to deny the ball from Thill (38). And all the other opportunities (if they can be called that way) were those of Israel and Zohar - Koch denied a well-performed free kick of his (32), the other one went high (45), and in between, a great shot of Zohar from 20 meters (43) still missed the frame.

THE SECOND HALF

During the first half, Eyal Berkovich lost nearly every ball that reached him, and Eli Ohana hardly touched any ball at all. Therefore, those two were substituted with Ran Ben-Shimon and Alon Mizrahi, respectively. And right the substitutions were! A wonderful volley of Thill from 20 meters (47) missed the frame, and then the Israeli second goal came. A magnificent pass of Zohar into the box found Alon Mizrahi who freed himself also greatly from Strasser. The defender had no choice but to seize Mizrahi's waist and to send him down; Rene Temming was close to the place and abstained from showing any card to Strasser, but showed without any hesitation to the penalty spot. Tal Banin, who scored the victorious penalty vs Bulgaria, took the shot this time, too, flatly to his right corner. As Borislav Mihailov then, Koch guessed the proper direction and stretched well. As in the Bulgarian keeper's case, several centimeters were missing there to parry the ball. 2:0.

Cardoni shot badly from 20 meters (58), and a dangerous free kick of Thill was bravely blocked by Tal Banin (60), but it was clear already to whom the victory belongs. A wonderful pass of Zohar from the right wing found Ronnie Rosenthal, but the latter was stopped inside the box (64), and Mizrahi freed himself greatly from the defenders, but his bounce inside the box found nobody. Rafi Cohen indeed needed all his skill to deny Thill inside the box (69), but the next two moves of Zohar were to break Luxembourg totally. First, a dirty foul of Groff on Zohar (72) near the midline caused Temming to put the hand into his pants' pocket and to show Groff the red card; in my opinion, yellow would've been enough then, but should I complain? And in another 2 minutes, Zohar curved a wonderful direct corner kick from his right; the fence of legs was passed, but Koch flew back instinctively and parried the ball from the line.

The bomb shot by Jeff Saibene (77) from 25 meters went too high. And then, Zohar produced another masterpiece. The midfielder of Beitar Jerusalem passed the ball to Alon Mizrahi and rushed forward. Mizrahi passed one defender, advanced and gave the ball to Tal Banin, and the latter stepped on it to leave it to the running Zohar. The hosts' defence was totally absent, and Zohar came speedily and shot an unstoppable bomb from 25 meters under the bar of the helplessly flying Koch. 3:0, and what a goal!

The following 10 minutes, until the final whistle, passed under the question of the score, as only Israel attacked. Mizrahi missed a certain goal after the combination of Banin and Rosenthal, shooting above the hands of Koch from a hard angle, but also above the bar (83). Revivo curved a free kick from 18 meters, too high (88). The last opportunity was also of Revivo - Zohar gave him a magnificent ball to leave him at one-to-one with Paul Koch, but Revivo tried to bounce the ball above the keeper with his left, and it ended in the keeper's hands. And here it all ended.

The next game of Israel is against Cyprus at home, at April 30th. And if this game is won, "The Parisien Walkways" of Gary Moore will be probably the melody to be listened to in the Israeli National team's dressroom. Then, we'll reach the situation in which everything will depend on us, during the tough away games against Russia and Bulgaria. Go on, Shlomo Sherf!