Reuters Soccer Blog

Angry Beitar fans break into Platini presser

UEFA President Michel Platini got a close-up view of the ugly side of Israeli soccer in Tel Aviv on Tuesday when a small band of angry young men who support Beitar Jerusalem briefly disrupted a news conference he attended with Israel FA chairman Avi Luzon.

The half-dozen irate supporters, including one in military uniform, sneaked in with the media throng to one of Tel Aviv’s top hotels and sat to one side. Security guards were nowhere to be seen.

After a few minutes, the men began making expletive-filled chants against Luzon, as Platini, who did not understand what was being said, looked on bemused.

One of the supporters approached Platini and attempted to place a Beitar scarf around his neck but he was easily thwarted by Luzon who plucked the scarf away. Once the protesters had made their point they began to exit, shouting more abuse on the way. You can see a clip of it here on the sport5 website.

There is little love lost between the often outspoken Luzon, who has boasted big plans and a bright future for Israeli soccer that many critics say are unrealistic, and Beitar, the club seen as a bastion of Israel’s right-wing. Beitar are one of Israel’s most popular soccer clubs with huge support but they probably also elicit more deep hatred from rival supporters than any other outfit.

Luzon called on the police to arrest the hecklers and clearly, far more stringent security measures will be in place when UEFA holds its annual congress in Tel Aviv next March.

It must have been an embarrassment for Luzon and the Israeli FA, who have always touted their ability to guarantee total security for  visiting sides. It was a no-brainer that the main dailies would mention the incident on their front pages — and they did, with the word “disgrace” most prominent.

Dull Israeli season dawdles to a close, improvement in doubt

One of the dullest Israeli soccer seasons for many years dawdled to a quiet close this week with newly-crowned champions Maccabi Haifa and cup winners Beitar Jerusalem sharing the honours in a 1-1 draw that changed nothing.

It was a microcosm of an entire season almost bereft of “champagne moments” and prospects for improvement next season look doubtful.   

The Israeli FA hopes next season will herald a change for the better as the top two professional divisions increase in size from 12 to 16 clubs.

There are many critics who think the opposite and say that more thinly spread TV rights money and club funding from the football pools will actually wreak disaster.

“The league expansion is complete lunacy,” said Haifa owner Yaakov Shahar.

Other critics pronounced that it will make no difference as the same clubs — such as Maccabi Haifa and Hapoel Tel Aviv — will vie for honours with the only difference visible in a larger contingent of mid-table also-rans who will pretty soon have little to play for. (more…)

Riise offers Grant a short reprieve from the media’s glare

Chelsea’s 1-1 Champions League draw at Liverpool on Tuesday was all about Avram Grant getting a reprieve from the hacks who only days earlier said his time under Roman Abramovich was almost up.

No question that Chelsea were poorer on the night. Liverpool should have had one or two more goals in reserve for the return leg at Stamford Bridge before John Arne Riise’s injury time own goal gave the Blues a huge boost. It also lifted the pressure from Grant for now, at least.

If he makes it to the final in Moscow, Grant will have surpassed Jose Mourinho’s efforts with Chelsea in the competition, but will the press notice? Probably not. Grant’s supporters complain that after more than half a year in the job, Mourinho is still getting the credit for his successor’s achievements.

There can be no doubt that former Israel coach Grant has adequate coaching abilities even if some of his critics point to the fact that before the Chelsea hot seat he was never tested at such a high level.

Like many Israelis who regard him as an ambassador of the Jewish state and its soccer, Grant undoubtedly feels that because he is an outsider from a small nation of modest sporting achievements, he will never gain the respect he deserves.

How frustrating it must be when you appear from nowhere, do so much better than anyone imagined, you are still in the running for silverware at the end of the season, and yet you are told most mornings that the axe is about to fall on your head.

Much boils down to Grant’s inability to keep the jounalists on-side and because this rather grey character stepped right into the shoes of Mourinho, their darling.

English players should get out more

Consider for a moment the following: when the draw was made for qualifying for the 2010 World Cup last weekend England and Israel were both ranked in the second tier (of six) of the European nations.

This already shows that while Israel have learned a thing or two and have improved, there is something wrong with England.

In 1992, when Israel entered the European fold, they were treated as little more than minnows, perhaps only a bit better than Luxembourg or the Faroe Islands.

A decade and a half later, Israel are ranked 18th in Europe and 26th among all FIFA member countries. One can argue about the validity of the rankings, but the general trend is undisputable: the gap between England and Israel and many other countries of similar stature to Israel, has narrowed greatly.

My colleague Julien Pretot last week offered a brief outsider’s view on England’s failures in the match against Croatia. If you’ll forgive another intervention, this time from the eastern shores of the Mediterranean, England’s problems seems to me to be about hunger and ambition.

Whenever Israeli players are interviewed before the start of a new season, or alleged details of their contracts are reported, they almost always portray a clear aspiration to move away from home to play in one of the continent’s big leagues.

How many up-and-coming English players look to better themselves by venturing to far-flung corners of the continent? I’ll bet you wouldn’t even need all the fingers of one hand to count them.

Israel prove a point to Russia … as predicted here

It’s nice when your colleagues from abroad call for your “expert advice” when they want to be reassured and it’s even more satisfying when your prediction turns out to be correct.

It’s not often that I feel I can utter the phrase ‘I told you so!’ but Saturday night was one such time — and it felt doubly good when Israel beat Russia in Tel Aviv and kept England alive in Euro 2008.

The form book said that it would not happen and there were many England fans missing a heartbeat at the thought that their already faint-looking hopes would be dealt a killer blow when the Russians stormed to victory against a second-rate team.

I promised that Israel’s exemplary home record — they have lost only once here in seven years — would not be easily wrecked. Of course, I would not stick my neck out to say that Israel definitely would not lose, but their record gave me enough confidence to be cautiously optimistic (see the piece I wrote for this blog after England’s defeat in Moscow).

Saturday’s 2-1 win was not only a great result for Steve McClaren, who was apparently in the bathroom for the last 10 minutes, it was probably Israel’s best home result in a competitive match since 1999 when they destroyed Austria 5-0 in a Euro 2000 qualifier.

As journalists we are impartial when describing the action of any match, but at the same time we are people with feelings. On Saturday I got a double reward — as did so many others who wanted Israel to win so that England could stay alive in Euro 2008.

Israelis have been brought up on English soccer, which has been shown here since proper television began in the late 1960s. Due mainly to this, you would be hard pressed to find an Israeli soccer fan who, as well as supporting his own local outfit, does not follow closely the fortunes of an English and/or Scottish team.

Russia beware: Israel are world beaters when the pressure’s off

England fans should fear not: when Israel play Russia in their Euro 2008 qualifier they will be under no pressure whatsoever — and that is when they are at their fluent best.

Fans and some hacks in England have tried to suggest that because of the Jewish connection with Roman Abramovich, who himself has close ties with the team from his native Russia, Israel will lie down and play dead when they visit Tel Aviv on November 17, thereby sealing England’s fate.

They must be joking. If there is one title to which Israel often claim it is that they are the world champions in international friendlies.

There is no happier place in world football than the National Stadium in Tel Aviv after Israel have just heard the final whistle of an international friendly. Almost invariably, they will have either beaten their opponents or gained a high-scoring draw.

Israeli pundits and fans know all this and they long for the day when the team can perform in competitive matches consistently in the way they do in friendlies and fixtures which for them are meaningless, but that is a dream still to be realised.

England fans still hoping for a miracle in the land which is supposed to have invented them should cast their minds back to October 13, 1993 when a team of “nobodies” together with Ronnie Rosenthal and the young Eyal Berkovic stunned the entire soccer world as they beat France 3-2 at the Parc des Princes. It was a result which subsequently cost the French their place in 1994 World Cup finals.

Whatever England fans may think of Steve McClaren after the loss to Russia in Moscow, he was right about one thing: no team that comes to Tel Aviv has an easy time against Israel.