R:  Vladislav Radimov (8), Alexei Kosolapov (38).
I:  -.

GOAL PASSES:  Russia - Dmitriy Cheryshev (8), Igor Yanovskiy (38);
              Israel - NONE.



R:  Sergei Ovchinnikov       6      I:  Rafi Cohen           6
    --------------------------          ----------------------
    Timur Tsveiba          5.5          Felix Halfon         5
    Yuriy Nikiforov          6          Amir Shelakh       5.5
    Victor Onopko            6          Arik Benado        5.5
    --------------------------          David Amsalem        5
    Alexei Kosolapov       6.5          ----------------------
    Igor Yanovskiy         6.5          Alon Hazan         5.5
    Dmitriy Aleinichev     5.5          Ronnie Rosenthal     5
    Sergei Grishin           6          (Alon Harazi, 46 -   5)
    Vladislav Radimov        7          Eyal Berkovich     5.5
    --------------------------          Avi Nimni          5.5
    Dmitriy Cheryshev      6.5          Haim Revivo          5
    (Yuriy Kovtun, 83)                  (Itzhak Zohar, 57 -  5)
    Vladimir Beschastnykh  5.5          ----------------------
    (Andrei Tikhonov, 61 -   5)         Eli Ohana            5
                                        (Alon Mizrahi, 74)


THE BEST:  Vladislav Radimov, midfielder, Russia.

AUDIENCE:  27.000 spectators, Dinamo Stadium, Moscow, Russia.

REFEREE:   Gerd Grabber (Austria).          HIS MARK:       9.

CORNERS:   Russia    6, Israel   4.

YELLOWS:   RUS - Vladimir Beschastnykh (43), Timur Tsveiba (70);
           ISR - Eyal Berkovich (30), Eli Ohana (38), Alon Harazi (59).

REDS:      RUS - NONE;
           ISR - NONE.

41 years ago, the games vs Russia brought Israel a great disappointment, as the young nation lost 0:5 away and 1:2 at home. This time, it was the 1:1 home draw and a painful loss 0:2 away. Building the arithmetic progression, we can easily see that the year 2038 will be lucky for us, with two minimal victories of 1:0 over the Russian Bear...

An awful field condition after the pouring rain, and the two teams not in the best form (Russia was playing, for example, without most of its stars) - the reasons for the game of quite a bad quality we've seen were more than enough. However, the home stadium was supporting the Russians (and I was quite ashamed of the fans' behaviour, whistles and anti-Jewish slogans), and besides, their players seem to be in better shape than the Israelis after the finish of the National League. Without justifying the huge ranking gap between the two teams, according to FIFA (Russia is 12th, and Israel is 43rd), the hosts were better, and there was no question of doubting their victory already after the first half.

Playing without Kaprine, Kanchelskis, Kolyvanov, Simutenkov and Shalimov (and this list isn't full yet), the Russians presented a sometimes sparkling line of attacking midfielders - Kosolapov, Yanovskiy, Grishin and Radimov; those helped creating the attacks to the forwards Cheryshev and sometimes Beschastnykh (quite dull). The decision of the coach Ignatiev to play with an ancient Tsveiba in the defence was risky, in my opinion; however, the defence didn't have much to do, and when needed, Nikiforov and Onopko were well-placed. In the net, it was the turn of the raising star of the Russian soccer, Sergei Ovchinnikov, to prove his much spoken of level internationally; and he succeeded well in that, preserving his net clean.

The Israeli defence was scandalous, the mistakes were childish, and twice the holes there made Rafi Cohen (good, as usual) take the ball out of his net. Eli Ohana in the attack was thinking much more of his law problems (the investigation about him hiding income from the tax authorities isn't over yet) than of the match, and the substitute Alon Mizrahi hadn't enough time to influence the game. Eyal Berkovich and Alon Hazan weren't bad, but their penetrations weren't decisive enough; Ronnie Rosenthal and Avi Nimni were quite hesitant as well. As a matter of fact, Israel had no real opportunity to score during the moments of play; the only chances (though quite numerous) came from the free kicks. Haim Revivo and his substitute Itzhak Zohar took the shots from every possible range; most of them were even quite successful, but not enough so to beat Ovchinnikov (or his post).

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

  Beitar Jerusalem      3  (Amsalem 90, Ohana 73, Zohar 34);
  Maccabee Tel-Aviv     2  (Nimni 90, Shelakh 90);
  Hapoel Tel-Aviv       2  (Hazan 90, Halfon 90);
  Maccabee Haifa        2  (Benado 90, Alon Harazi 45);
  Hapoel Haifa          1  (Cohen 90);
  Southampton           1  (Berkovich 90);
  Celta Vigo            1  (Revivo 56);
  Tottehnam Hotspurs    1  (Rosenthal 45);
  Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv  1  (Mizrahi 17).

THE FIRST HALF

After the very first moments of play, it was already clear who was the boss. Cheryshev (2) opened the shooting practice with an awful turning shot that missed the frame, and the next Russian attack was developed immediately afterwards from the right wing, ending in the secure hands of Rafi Cohen. After just 5 minutes of play, Beschastnykh misled Halfon and shot a killer from a really hard angle; Cohen flew acrobatically and sent the ball to a corner.

In another 3 minutes, however, even Rafi could do nothing against the stupidity of his own defence. It started well enough, when a quick counterattack of Israel sent Ronnie Rosenthal into a great penetration on the right wing; however, there was nobody inside the Russian box to give the pass to, and the opportunity was lost together with the ball. The Russians developed the quick counterattack of their own, also from the right wing. Aleinichev found Cheryshev to the left of his, and Cheryshev made a touch of genius to send Radimov into one-to-one with Rafi Cohen. Amsalem, Shelakh and Benado stood still and admired the ball passing through their crowded, but so helpless legs. Radimov rushed into the box, stopped the ball and rolled it past the helpless keeper, opening the score. 1:0 to the Russians.

If Israel ever thought about playing a close game, it had no choice left but to open it. Halfon and Amsalem started their wing penetrations, and although those were successful, they were lacking in the defence - Halfon's imprecise shot (14) was answered by imprecise header of Kosolapov (15) and imprecise shot of Radimov from 25 meters (18). However, in between Israel had its first (and actually, the last) playing opportunity to score. A magnificent combination of Nimni and Amsalem ended with a wonderful centering of Amsalem to Haim Revivo; Revivo tried his luck and shot without stopping in a turn, but a defender deflected the ball to a corner.

Then the keepers were operated in order not to get cold and wet. The 19th minute was of Rafi Cohen who stopped Cheryshev and immediately afterwards took the flat and dangerous roll of Beschastnykh. Another preparation of Amsalem ended with a header of Revivo (21), and Sergei Ovchinnikov was placed well; the Russians performed a great counterattack and even scored, but the goal was disallowed because of the foul on Rafi Cohen. And finally, there started the Israeli story of free kicks - Ohana was knocked down 25 meters from the net, Revivo took a perfect kick that passed the wall and was making its way to the left corner at half a height, but Ovchinnikov flew greatly to parry the ball to a corner.

No opportunities followed during the next 13 minutes; it was just the imprecise shot of Beschastnykh (32), and in between, two Israeli players were booked (Eyal Berkovich, 30, for a "smart" foul from behind to stop the Russian counterattack, and Eli Ohana, 38, for some excessive arguments with the Austrian referee Gerd Grabber). And then the second blow came. Yanovskiy penetrated at the left wing without any disturbance (where, for Sherf's sake, was Halfon?) and centered the high ball; Alexei Kosolapov's head was the highest there, sending a killing header from 10 meters to the right corner at half a height. Rafi Cohen had no chance again, this time 7 minutes before the break. 2:0.

Revivo shot another great free kick from 30 meters (41), but Ovchinnikov jumped to parry the ball from under his right crossbar. The final accord of the 1st half was of Beschastnykh, who brutally kicked Arik Benado from behind without a ball. The referee didn't even stop the game, but then after the natural stop (the ball left the field frontiers), he booked the Russian forward. In my opinion, the red card would be more appropriate. A break.

THE SECOND HALF

Thinking of all the opportunities during the break, Sherf decided not to give the team additional blows, to think about the goal differences and also to prepare for the game vs Bulgaria (BTW, the Israeli chances aren't yet totally lost). Therefore, Ronnie Rosenthal was taken out and Alon Harazi put in. The game became more equal, as the defence has been made stable; however, in the attacking line Israel had still no opportunities but the free kicks. Another threatening one was shot by Haim Revivo from 30 meters (50); this time it was flat, and Ovchinnikov dived and took it tight from his left corner.

Ohana and Revivo didn't succeed to finish a great Israeli counterattack (56), and then it was clear that Revivo was injuired and couldn't continue the game. Itzhak Zohar entered the field, and immediately tried his luck with a free kick. He only earned a corner.

A magnificent central penetration of Radimov, "The Best Of The Game", was stopped only by means of foul performed by Alon Harazi (59); Harazi was booked, and a free kick was awarded. Yuriy Nikiforov, with the reputation of "The Russian Koeman", shot flatly and mightily; Rafi Cohen dived well to stop the ball from penetrating into his right low corner.

20 minutes from time, Tsveiba was booked after fouling Ohana from behind; Beschastnykh was substituted with Tikhonov (61), and Ohana with Mizrahi (73). Immediately afterwards, it was a threatening shot of Aleinichev from 20 meters to touch the leg of Benado and to deflect into the bar, to a complete surprise of Rafi Cohen and all the fans.

The Israelis continued attacking too, but it was impossible to beat Ovchinnikov; the Russian keeper caught the ball of David Amsalem (77) and dived well to stop the dangerous diagonal ball from 20 meters of Alon Harazi (81). Just once Ovchinnikov was beaten, and still, his net stayed clean. Zohar curved another famous free kick of his from 20 meters (76), but he was imprecise by centimeters. The ball kissed the right post and went out.

A magnificent flat shot of Radimov from 35 meters (84) was totally unexpected by everybody, except Rafi Cohen; the keeper, being quite out of the net, managed still to dive and to stop a dangerous ball that threatened to penetrate into his right low corner. However, the last accords were those of the Israelis - and of the Russian defence. Nikiforov (86) blocked a threatening ball of Hazan; a corner was performed, David Amsalem produced a good shot of his own, only to see Victor Onopko blocking it to the corner again. The very last effort was this of Zohar (89) from a free kick, but Ovchinnikov fisted it away. After all, the Israelis registered quite a decent performance, but the Russians definitely deserved the victory.

Currently, the Israelis have one game against Bulgaria left, in Sofia on August 20th. The loss eliminates any Israeli chances to catch one of the first 2 places, but just a loss! In case of a draw, the two Russian victories over the Bulgarians (or even one Russian victory and one draw) give Israel the 2nd place. In case of the Israeli victory, Israel always gets the 2nd place, and if both games between Russia and Bulgaria end with a draw, Israel even grabs the 1st place. So, the victory is definitely an aim. Good luck, boys!