A very important game this Wednesday at Ramat Gan, a must win match for us. Cyprus have always been our dark horse in the last campaigns but we have to take all 3 points in this game, or the result against France would lose its value.
I think Grant will start with Nimni and Balili, hopefully with Katan in the team as well as Benayoun of course.
We MUST win this game in order to have good positions against Ireland and Switzerland, which are definetly not easy to play and much stronger than Cyprus.
We don't need Nimni to start, the team played very well against France without Nimni and what we need is Balili and Katan up front with Benayoun and Afek coming from the wings. Saban can be moved to his natural position with Ben Haim and Benado alone in central defence. It is a home match and we should play offensive and look to win.
My preferred lineup:
Davidovich; Saban, Benado, Ben Haim, Keisi; Afek, Badir, Tal, Benayoun; Katan (Golan), Balili
Golan is more of a scorer than Katan so it might be better to start him up front with Balili, other than that I think this is the best lineup we can offer at the moment.
I totally agree. I thought it was very wise not starting Nimni and only sending him in for Benayoun in the last 10 minutes if at all. The lineup we have right now looks pretty progressive. I think Katan a little behind with Balili up front, with Golan off the bench looks really good.
Our line up against France was right for that type of game, but against Cyprus we need to be ultra-attacking, and I think starting Nimni could well get a few goals in the first quater of the game.
We also need to make sure we can cross in the Cyprus game. as the Cypriot is very vunreable.
My preferred line-up: Nir Davidovitch, Omri Afek, Tal Ben-Haim, Klimi Saban, Adoram Keisi,Tal, Benayoun, Badir, Nimni, Katan, Balili.
I didn't say I think we should start with Nimni, but I'm pretty sure Grant will, same for Balili. I would like to see this lineup myself as well though.
Lol, I may go the game, it would be good to see a team that is too skillful and too cocky for it's own ego get trounced by us. I predict a scoreline of around 4-0, may'be 7-0, as we have a re-vitalised Israel team and we are playing back at home!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And we have new call-ups to the squad, Grant recruited Roni Gafni from Bney Yehuda to replace the injured Antebi, SC Ashdod's Shay Holtzman and Yossi Shibchon from Hapoel Petah Tikva. Shimon Gershon will undergo a medical this evening to determine whether he'll be fit for this match.
Any thoughts on these call-ups? I don't think any of these three will be in the starting lineup.
BTW: I dont think that Benayoun is that important for this game IMO because Cyprus is not France...Nimni will problably take his place, if he wont play
if he is really out of the game then imo we should keep the exact same lineup only berkovic for benayoun because their positions are pretty close. then we will see if golan or balili will score a few more goals. Please AVI GRANT do not start nimni instead of benayoun.
if he is really out of the game then imo we should keep the exact same lineup only berkovic for benayoun because their positions are pretty close. then we will see if golan or balili will score a few more goals. Please AVI GRANT do not start nimni instead of benayoun.
Thank You for your support Balakov
As for Benayoun's injury, it is indeed a terrible blow for Israel because probably the Cypriots will come very defensively and Benayoun's talent would be important to penetrate in this blocade.
Grant called Holtsman, so it seems he is preparing a more offensive team, hope Israel is beggining to be a versatile team that could play a solid defensive game like against France, but also a offensive one that should be against Cyprus.
Thank You for your support Balakov
As for Benayoun's injury, it is indeed a terrible blow for Israel because probably the Cypriots will come very defensively and Benayoun's talent would be important to penetrate in this blocade.
Grant called Holtsman, so it seems he is preparing a more offensive team, hope Israel is beggining to be a versatile team that could play a solid defensive game like against France, but also a offensive one that should be against Cyprus.
I wouldn't be surprised if Holtsman will be in the starting lineup. I don't think Grant would've called him up if he wasn't planning to use him. Maybe even Shibchon will get his chance. Also, Shimon Gershon is officially out of this match.
Finally, the U21 match is today in Herzeliya, 18:00 local time. A must win after the loss against France, with the entire Arbeitman transfer fiasco at background let's hope they can fully concentrate on this game.
I wouldn't be surprised if Holtsman will be in the starting lineup. I don't think Grant would've called him up if he wasn't planning to use him. Maybe even Shibchon will get his chance.
That's what leaves me confuse. I don't know if this good or bad. What I mean is that Holtsman wasn't even called up before the French match and still there is a possibilty of him beggining the game. Nothing against holtsman, but we have Balili that could start or even keep Golan and Kattan upfront. On the hand each game has its story and player characteristics could change depending on the style of the match. And this is the case we should have more offensive options.
Yes I agree with that, but Grant likes to surprise us lately.
Balili should definitely start as he's our most efficient striker. But the question remains who will start by his side? I'd like Grant to use 2 forwards and 2 wingers but it won't happen and the formation will be similar to the game with France: 2 wing forwards, Katan and Nimni would probably be these two, with Balili upfront. When I think of it, Katan and Balili could become a fantastic duo...two extremely quick players that will cause major headaches for the visiting defense. But I am still worried about the change in tactics. We've all seen what happpened when Greece, our 'spiritual NT' for tactics had to adopt a different attitude in a game where they were favorites, A bunker against Cyprus is the last thing we need, and at least the players who were interviewed are well aware of this. I've got a fear we'll struggle to score in this match, hope Grant proves us all wrong.
I hope that the match against Cyprus will be good.
Cyprus is coming from a horrible loss to the Irish and i think they aren't going to be in the best fit yet. But i hope Israel is not going to also succumb to the Cyprus and manage to tie the game. i think we can beat them if we start to capitalize on there defence early in the game.