I watched Israel's World Cup Qualifier against Switzerland yesterday with great despair and frustration. Here was a distinctly average Switzerland team (the excellent Philippe Senderos excepted) that was there for the taking. If Israel had won the game last night, it would have been in pole position to finish top of Group 4, thereby qualifying automatically for the 2006 World Cup Finals in Germany.
Unfortunately, Avraham Grant, the manager of Israel's national side is less interested in winning games than in avoiding defeat, as we could see so clearly last night. It was disgraceful to see Grant's cowardly approach - rather than try and win the game when the game was level, he took off his best attacking players and urged his players to maintain a defensive bunker. In fact, I noticed on a couple of occasions that when the Israeli team were on the attack, they got scared and retreated.
Of course, there are people who will point out that an Israeli draw away from home against Switzerland is a great achievement. Maybe it is - for a team with limited objectives, and very little adventure that has little hope of competing in Germany 2006. That is the trouble with Israel's national team and its clubs in European competition. They are chokers! As soon as the summit comes into view, they freeze. And this is before we've even discussed the drab defensive football that Grant serves up.
With a little more attacking adventure, I believe that Israel could have caught the Swiss off guard, and could certainly have scored a second goal. With a manager as over-cautious as Avraham Grant, it was never going to happen. It now means that the rest of the World Cup qualification campaign is no longer in Israel's hands. We are basically hoping that Switzerland, France and Ireland take points off each other, letting Israel in through the back door. Even if Israel were to finish second, they are likely to face top notch opposition in the play-off spot. Let's not forget it.
Now I want to see Israel play in the 2006 World Cup as much as anyone else, but it might help our cause if the team actually showed some desire to score goals and even win a game or two.
