[Lior]

Well, a few days away.

Luxembourg has a few key players out, not that they would have made much of a difference anyways. Their win against Switzerland was impressive. Dont see it happening against Israel though. With all respect to the Swiss, Israel CURRENTLY is a better team then them.

With that being sad, I have a dilemma. Start Davidovitch or Awat?

Davidovitch didnt play this past weekend but hes in form. Awat is probably training with Deportiva, but will not play for them this year, unless of course all of their goalies go down with injury.

I would love to see this lineup.....

*******Colautti*****Barda*******
**Benayoun***********Shechter****

********Alberman*****Bruchian*******

**Ben-Dayan***Ben-Haim****Strul**Meshumar

*************Awat*****************

Subs: Buzaglo, Saban, Golan, Tuama, Davidovitch, Ohayon, Keinan

Shechter will be a star, I love this guy. He makes it look so easy. Him and Benayoun playing behind the strikers will cause our opponents alot of problems.
Alberman will be solid, he will be too much for Luxembourg.

Prediction: 4-0 (Benayoun, Shechter, Colautti x 2 )

 

[Crackedpleasures]

OK, so Luxembourg won its first World Cup game in over 35 years... Very nice, but one victory in over 35 years?? With all respect for them, but Israel should hammer this team. Luxembourg is like the sort of team who have their moment of glory once or twice every 10 years. In 1996 they had about 10 points in the Euro Cup qualifiers and even beat Czech Republic (who would later win the silver medal), but then afterwards they had to wait about 7 or 8 years before the next victory. Now they beat Switzerland, but maybe it will take another 5 years before they experience victory again.

The worst attitude possible would be to suddenly fear this team. This is Luxembourg of all teams, one victory does not change their usual minnows status. As the strength of Israel lies in its attacking department while the weakness of Luxembourg is swallowing lot of goals, this means Israel should have a goal festival here. Anything less than victory is a scandal, but as I said before the goal difference may be decisive in case Israel would finish on equal points with Greece or Switzerland. Because of that I would not just calm down once it is 3-0 or so, the more goals scored against Luxembourg and Latvia the bigger chance to proceed even if it would be on goal difference. Ideally, I would aim at 5-0 at least, and keep attacking all game to try to get an even bigger scoreline.

My bet (I know this is risky): Israel/Luxembourg 7-0

 

[Kappa21]

I think that Israel shouldnt fear. That match with Switzerland was a fluke. A clear fluke on the Swiss half..... a team which is good and proved to be good in the Euro Cup this past summer.

None the less, Luxemborg plays with passion, or whatever passion they got.... but they would always come and play.
Israel played amatures like them before - especially Malta where we ran after the ball and were lucky we tied them - back in Grants days.

I feel that since its going to be our last game of 2008, we should use our players to the fullest and take it seriously and try to capitalize on the goal opprotunity and try to sack as many goals in as we have been turned away from lucrative tournaments before because of GD...

 

[Crackedpleasures]

Luxembourg is below the level of Malta. Malta has often grabbed at least 1 or 2 points in a campaign, even against highly rated opposition sometimes (last campaign they even got a draw against Turkey). Luxembourg wins an average of 1 game per 5 years or so, along with San Marino they are the last real minnow. Israel has attacking force so anything less than 5 goals should not be fulfilling ; goal difference could be decisive and Israel has a better frontline than Greece or Switzerland so in games like this, scoring as much as possible is key. I hope the coach also tells that to the players, and not to sort of relax and take it easy once it is 2-0 or 3-0 ...

 

[Kappa21]

Percisely,

and with that being said - We should bring 100% force to the game. Make the game look friendly as much as its an important step to our qualification and come away with an insane win...
we beat them 5-0 last time around. This time around well beat them in the same fashion...

 

[Crackedpleasures]

To answer the question from the opening post: I know I am not the most neutral person to answer this since Dudu is by far my favourite goalkeeper in modern football (I am not saying he is better than the likes of Casillas or Buffon, but he is my personal favourite) but obviously I still have confidence in Dudu and would want him to play. Good performances in the NT will help him to get exposure and find a new employer who treats him with the respect he deserves. Besides, the goalkeeper issue is the least worrying when playing Luxembourg, it is not like he will have a lot to do.

But without saying Davidovitch is not good (he left a good impression in any game when I saw him), I keep my faith in Awat and would let him retain the nr 1 jersey.

 

[Daweed]

Davidovitch was released from the squad due to injury, so Awat will definitely start. Here's my 11:


---------------------- Awat -----------------------

Saban ---- Ben-Haim ---- Keinan ---- Ziv(Ben-Dayan)

----- Bozaglo(Ohayon) ---- Alberman ---- Tuama ----

--------------------- Benayoun ---------------------

---------- Colautti(Barda) ---- Sahar ----------------


The reason I opted for a 4-3-1-2 formation is because we are away. Otherwise, I would go with a 4-3-3 at home. Sahar and Bozaglo have to start, they are the only ones with a "winning mentality"(like the U-21 team). Greece beat Luxembourg away 3-0, so we need at least a 4-goal winning margin to keep up with them. EL EL ISRAEL!!!


And BTW, gmar chatima tova!!!

 

[Crackedpleasures]

While playing away, should the topic title not be edited by the moderators... It now looks as if there is a home game scheduled.

But anyway, when ther opponent is Luxembourg, home and away does not make a difference. A win, a huge win, is the only acceptable result. I would definitely go for 4-3-3, in regular away games I agree with taking things cautious but this is Luxembourg of all teams. It should be a tsunami of shots on goal, with hopefully enough balls going in. Given how Israel has bad experiences with goal differences at the end of qualifiers, the coach should learn his lesson from that and play as attacking as possible in order to boost the goal difference. A 0-1 or 0-2 win in Luxembourg is quite worthless really, this is the opportunity to cause a huge gap in terms of goal difference (the Greeks have their strength more in organisation and a tight defense, they will not score 6 or 7 in Luxembourg... Israel has its strength more in terms of attack, so this is exactly the type of opponent where the goal difference can be boosted)

 

[tinoisawesome]

i'm hoping for a ben sahar hattrick

 

[Daweed]

But anyway, when ther opponent is Luxembourg, home and away does not make a difference. A win, a huge win, is the only acceptable result. I would definitely go for 4-3-3, in regular away games I agree with taking things cautious but this is Luxembourg of all teams.

You're right. Unlike Greece or Switzerland, Israel's strikers have the ability to blast the Luxembourg net out of the stadium. We should go for an all-out attacking 4-3-3 formation. However, Benayoun's natural position is a central attacking midfielder, right behind the strikers. He plays better in that area. We're not playing a classy opponent, so I would like to see how this formation works out. I'm hoping for a Ben Sahar double hat-trick... :hopeful: :excited:

 

[Lior]

Yeah I agree, Benayoun is a natural central attacking mid-fielder. He plays well on the wings, but he cant create as much out there (at least thats what i've noticed)

What about playing with 3 strikers? Colautti, Sahar and Shechter or Colautti, Shechter and Barda??

Shechter can play behind the strikers as well, but he can also be a out and out striker too. I just wanna see goals!!

 

[Kappa21]

same!
GOALS! GOALS! GOALS!!!!

Im having this idea of having 10-12 goals in 2 games over the Luxies..

btw..i was supposed to go to this game
But i didnt...

 

[Daweed]

Although Shechter is a talented prospect, he should be with the U-21 team for a much more important clash with Italy. There's no doubt he can hold his own against a team like Luxembourg, but there's no way he's starting ahead of Sahar, Barda, Colautti, or Golan. It's just not happening. Kashtan might put him on the field late in the game just to give him a cap, but that's it. He won't be playing against Latvia. He would gain more experience by playing against Italy, whose players are of higher standards and quality.

It was a mistake to call him up now when the U-21 team obviously need him more. He could've been called up next month, when the U-21 campaign is out of the way and he could get acquainted with the senior level in a much more relaxed friendly match with less pressure and intensity. It would be more beneficial to him.

 

[Golasa12]

Does anyone have a list of the players that Kashtan called up?

 

[Crackedpleasures]

Sorry for going slightly offtopic, but does anyone know where to find a live stream of the game? I want to see the goal festival live, rather than a short highlights video. Is any site broadcasting the game live? IFA website maybe? Or any other site??

 

[Gilli]

1:0 after one minute...Benayoun

 

[Kappa21]

1-1

 

[Nivcheret]

Looks like Dudu was a little late to react to the free-kick. This is proving to be a more difficult game than we thought it would be.

 

[Haimrevivo1]

Our team is disappointing me again

 

[Haimrevivo1]

What a shi!. What we play today is total crap, we need minutes to get the ball into the box.

Alberman, Ben Haim, Kiyal WHAT THA ****KKK!