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Eran Zehavi: "World Cup? It will be a splash" | Israel today

2021-04-14T21:01:48.256Z


| You sat down "One week I am compared to Cristiano Ronaldo and a week later - 'he should not be on the team'" • "The lack of paragon does not make me want to return to Israel" • Eran Zehavi breaks the silence  "They write about me, because putting the name Eran Zehavi in ​​the title attracts entries." Eran Zehavi Photo:  Efrat Eshel Last month, Eran Zehavi scored his 25th goal for the Israeli national team


"One week I am compared to Cristiano Ronaldo and a week later - 'he should not be on the team'" • "The lack of paragon does not make me want to return to Israel" • Eran Zehavi breaks the silence 

  • "They write about me, because putting the name Eran Zehavi in ​​the title attracts entries."

    Eran Zehavi

    Photo: 

    Efrat Eshel

Last month, Eran Zehavi scored his 25th goal for the Israeli national team, which brought him second place in the table of Israeli scorers of all time, eight conquests away from the historical record of Motle Spiegler.

This happened in a 1: 4 victory over Moldova in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers. But that goal did not forget the harsh criticism leveled at Zahavi in ​​the days before it, against the background of the first two games of the campaign.

Called him "the number one actor and arrogant," and determined that he "broke the records of selfishness."



"They write about me, because putting the name Eran Zehavi in ​​the title attracts visitors," he says when we meet at a hotel in Tel Aviv. "Over the years I have learned to treat criticism matter-of-factly and filter the rest. I know what is involved and what is not. When I score goals, most credit comes To me, and when not good - most of the shit comes to me.



"Now, let's ask a question. Did you see in a game a player standing alone in front of the goalkeeper and not getting a ball from me, because I preferred to kick myself from 40 meters? I may have taken a kick or two too many, but how many goals have I had in the last two years? So I am allowed to kick more than others, including kicks that someone else would not take.



"When the ball goes in between the connections, no one speaks a word.

When the ball stops in the brake, because two defensive players wanted to block you, then they say 'he kicked and kicked and blah blah blah'.

OK.

Mourinho put it best: "You will not see many people arguing about missiles with NASA scientists, but everyone allows themselves to interpret football and argue about football as if he had played a hundred times in the Champions League."



The criticism came because of the draw with Scotland, especially after the excellent first half.



"This is our level. A draw reflected the game, even though we could have finished it earlier. But to say 'big disappointment' that we did not win? In our last four meetings with Scotland they failed to win. They did win on penalties in the playoffs, but not beyond that, and we did win. Them.That's why I think we did take some step forward, in the end.



"But the country is not looking at it.

Here you only see results, and you are set as a goal to qualify for the World Cup, even though in this campaign only one team will advance, and there are three teams with us at home that are ranked ahead of us.

We're not just a Level 4, so get that out of your head.

We should not come up from first place.

And if we rise, it will be a splash.

Let's be real. "

Coach Willy Rotensteiner has received tons of criticism.



"We are world champions at bringing strangers to our football, and then telling them what to do. If you bring him to the artist to tell him what to do and judge him - do not bring him. If you have decided that Willie is the right professional, let him chart his path. To criticize him and not to see the good things he does.



"Willie did amazing things for Israeli football, he changed his attitude in the national team, made a change in professionalism and everything.

That's why you brought him, didn't you? "



There were reports of power struggles and criticism of you from the locker room.



" I read that players on the team said so and so.

If you're a male journalist, write down who said that.

Do not try to make us a salad in the locker room.



"" These are people who are only trying to hurt the team, bad people, "he shouts, and rarely loses his composure for a few moments and knocks on the table," These are people who should not be reporters because they are driven by personal interests .



"The person who wrote it sent me 300 messages in the last three years and I didn't answer him. So when it's bad - that's what happens. It passes me by, it does not interest me at all. But the public does not know it. The public does not know that much in the industry is driven by interests. That's not true. "

* * *

Commentators are united in the opinion that after we only took a point from home games against Denmark and Scotland, this campaign is lost.



"It's normal in our country. Either you are lifted to heights, or you are lowered very quickly. As a team, we made critical mistakes in these games - in defense, attack, standing and position. These are mistakes that selected teams like Belgium and Denmark do not make. .



"There was an expectation that we must beat Denmark.

But Denmark is 12th in the world, and we are 87, and its players play in teams from the top of the world.

So let's commentators who are convinced that we will win, that they will bet their money on the game, and we will see what result they will bet on.



"Obviously we want to surprise. But I hear commentators talking on TV, past players who got 8-0 in two games from the same Denmark. It's convenient to talk a lot on the microphone, but when they were on the pitch, they did not do too much. Talking is easy, on the pitch it's hard ".



You mean Berkowitz?



"You said. He's one of them, he's not the only one who said we should win. In the end there are differences in levels and qualities, and if we give our one hundred percent, and they give their one hundred percent, they will probably win. That's the situation.



" Eyal was a great player.

What he is doing in the media today is something else.

Many times his style of criticism is wrong and inappropriate, not necessarily towards me.

To me he is usually accommodating.

I speak the language.

He is currently a public figure, he represents something, so he should also state his criticism in a matter-of-fact manner.

And he knows how to say factual criticism whenever he wants. "



Maybe he was hurt because you claimed you were the best footballer in the country's history.



" I did not say that, it's a headline out of context.

I was asked if I was the greatest player of all time, and I said that even if I am not the greatest, I am among them.

No I decide, and no need to compare players between periods.



"Everyone is caught up in the headline, but whoever read the article understood exactly what I was saying. If you ask me 'are you the greatest who has been here?', What does that mean? That the question is legitimate. I am in this category. I can say anything about myself, but others will judge "In the end, there will be those who will say that I am the greatest, there will be those who will say that Berkowitz is the greatest, and there will be those who will choose Benyon or Eli Ohana."

Why does Alon Mizrahi visit you all the time?



"That's the only thing that leaves him in the headlines. Honestly, I do not know what he has. Oded Makhanes, for example, sends me messages of 'Congratulations', 'Keep it up', constantly praising. But there are people who do not know how to praise. "Your problem with yourself. It sounds very childish and very silly. Let's put things on the table: do not compare us, for one simple reason: because we are not on the same level. Simple."

* * *

How important is the performance for the Israeli team to you? 



"I grew up on Yossi Benyon, Berkowitz, Revivo. In the anthem before a national team game I am much more excited than in the Champions League anthem. Even when we play against Malta or Latvia. My biggest dream as a child was to play for the Israeli national team. I remember going to stadium games. Raj, when it was blown up by 40,000 people, and I was encouraged even when losing.

I was not interested in the team losing.

And that is what I am missing today in our country. "

It is said of you that you request and receive a private room at team gatherings, while other players sleep together.



"It was published in the past only out of a desire to hurt me and try to make headlines on my back. The fact that you do not hear it today, because when you score, no one cares if you are in a room alone or in the royal suite. When you give exiles, you can ask what you want.



"This request did not come from a place of one superiority or another.

I asked for a room alone because I get up early, go down for breakfast before everyone else.

I will not disturb my sleeping friend and I will not open the curtain in his room because I have to pray.

The things I asked for are the most normative in the world, for the simple reason that for four years in China I was alone in a room, and I have my habits. "



Lior Rapalov could not help you?



" Lior is an excellent player, who made a huge European career and made a great season, not just player of the year In Belgium at the age of 34. He should be invited.

But the team has a coach who decides on the summonses.

He sees ahead and does not want to stop the development of other players, and I can respect that too.

Willie said, most openly, that if he brought Lior to sit on the bench, he would rather not bring him.



"I can understand that everyone wants Lior to be on the team. Always those who are not invited, are missing. There are other good players left out."



What do you think of Solomon Manor?



"Manor is an excellent player, who is in a team that knows how to sell players to big teams. In the end, if he continues to develop as a footballer, he will definitely be able to reach the high places he is aiming for."

* * *

Zahavi plays this season at PSV Eindhoven, ranked second in the Dutch league, and lives in Amsterdam with his wife Shay and their children, Roy (8) and twins Dor and Gil (6).

His list of records and titles is overflowing: for five seasons in a row (2019-2014) he was the top scorer, in Israel and China, and in both countries he broke the record for conquests per season (35 in Israel, 29 in China);

He won four championships (one at Hapoel Tel Aviv, three at Maccabi) and three state cups. Three times he was chosen as the footballer of the year (twice in Israel, once in China). 



He grew up in Rishon Lezion with his brother Avi, who is one year older. As a child his parents separated, returned, separated Again, and for years they lived together only for the sake of the children, until they divorced, when their hair was about 14. For most of his life his mother Ettie raised him and his brother alone and made a living from working in a barbershop. He spent part of his childhood with his grandmother, who lived in Jaffa. Studied to concentrate on football, and graduated without a matriculation certificate and with a bag of discipline problems.



At the age of 7 he started playing in the children's team of Hapoel Tel Aviv.

At the age of 16, he left the club, after a confrontation with the coach, and was promoted to the youth department of Rishon LeZion. Two years later, he returned to the youth of Hapoel and enlisted as an outstanding athlete



. The friction in Leumit, made its way into the lineup of Hapoel Tel Aviv.

At the age of 23, he scored Hapoel's championship goal, in the 92nd minute of the final round ("One of the special moments of my career. Crazy and very exciting").

A season later he promoted them to the Champions League, and even scored a rare goal against Lyon with a telling kick.



In 2011 went to play in Palermo, but failed to impress, scored only twice, and after a year and a half has signed with Maccabi Tel Aviv. "Period in Italy steeled me very nature and methods of work," he says, "I got there a lot as a player and as a person."



He He played for Maccabi for three and a half seasons, and in 2016 he signed with the Chinese Guangzhou R&F team, which according to reports paid him about $ 8 million, with a huge salary. It is estimated that he earned about $ 50 million during his years in China.



"Obviously I went to China For the money, and if they had not paid me as they paid, I probably would not have come.

It is likely that the other football stars who play there would not have come either.



"The question is what do you do with all the money you have received. Do you continue to create and do, or do you say: I have already done mine, come on, now they will pay. Money is neither my motivation nor my fuel for success. Absolutely not. I have the right to do my home and think how To run my career, and in retrospect, I think the decisions I made were the right ones.



"Money is a means to a good life, a means to help my family.

You will not see me in ostentatious things, maybe here and there.

I do not live for the money and I do not have to show everyone how much I spend, and what I have and what I do not have.

not interesting.

I have a nice car, and I have everything I need.

I know what I have and what I do not have.

It did not change me.

I was not educated to be a person driven by money, which is all he is looking for in life. "



Could it be that you are stuck for too long in the Chinese league?



" Football has contracts, there is timing, and a lot of things have to work out.

Should be in the right place at the right time.

When I was in the Israeli league, I did not receive an offer from PSV, even though I did a few things and won in the Champions League and the European League.

Chinese football has opened a door for me to an offer from PSV.



"After breaking the record of conquests there and seeing the problems in Chinese football and corona matters, I knew my challenge was over, and I needed a change. I had a big challenge to succeed in Europe and score goals, because there were all those who said 'he does not score at high levels, he was not in Europe, Blah blah blah. I can get you the statistics of exiles in Europe, and I think I won the most of all Israelis - I won the Champions League, the Europa League, the national team. So to say such things is not serious.



"In the end there are facts and opinions, and opinions are not interesting. Me because the facts speak.

For some people this is their way of grabbing headlines.

It's like a roller coaster.

When I do not score it is a tragedy, and when I score it is a wow.

One week I am compared to Cristiano Ronaldo, Holland and Lewandowski, and a week later - as after Scotland, for example - 'he ruined the game', 'he should not be on the team'.

It will always be extreme. "

* * *

The last year, during which he fell ill in Corona and recovered, he describes as "an unparalleled nightmare."

When the plague broke out, the league in China was on hiatus.

Zehavi took off for a vacation in Thailand, visited Dubai, made isolation in Israel, and last April, at the height of global uncertainty, returned for another round in the country from which the virus spread.



He is still talking, and two women in masks and with markers enter the room, ask him to open his mouth and do 'ah', put the sample in a plastic bag and disappear.

UEFA guidelines, European Football Association.



“I was already sick in Corona, enough for me.

I have a green mark, and I still usually get two tests every week.

Two days before a game a test must be done, and when there are two games a week, it is not over.

I got used to it already.

Right now I just want the corona to run out and get back to full routine.



"You know I haven't seen my mother in half a year? I think since last June I've only visited her twice. At first it was impossible to visit us in China, then we moved to the Netherlands and thought the family could come. But since we got there, everything is closed. , And everything closes at nine in the evening.



"So you can not come to us, and we can not go to Israel because we need isolation.

A year without a family is really difficult, but we keep in touch in video calls. "

* * *

PSV has won the Dutch Championship 24 times, and in 1988 also picked up the European Champions Cup.

But in recent years it has struggled to cope with Ajax's dominance in the league, and Zahavi was supposed to be the X Factor in that fight.



"I actually started well, won and cooked in the first games," he says, "and then I went to the team, I came back with Corona, and for three weeks I was not in business. Until I got back to myself - I was injured. From there it rolled, and as usual, reviews started. With periods like this. There is a way, and if you persevere in it, it will bring results. If you lower your head and think that everything will work out on its own - it will not happen.



"In retrospect, I think the injury did me good.

I took a few days off, I worked closely with my fitness trainer, Eran Sado, we made a really good preparation for my return, and really everything worked out the way I wanted. "



But you have already missed the championship, there is no way you will catch up with Ajax.



" I'm in pain.

We had a very difficult season, with 15 players infected with Corona.

Each time other players do not play.

I'm with an injury, I've with an injury.

I am not judging this season by any criteria.

No players, no coaches, no clubs.

With all the restrictions the plague was really hard to produce something that could be judged.

We are currently fighting for second place, which is worth a ticket to the Champions League qualifiers. "

Jordi Cruyff brought you to Maccabi Tel Aviv. He is one of the most significant people in your career. Maybe he will be in Barcelona.



"I appreciate that.

If not in half a year, then in a year.

He has a contract until January in China, but as long as Laporta is the president of Barcelona, ​​Jordi will get there.

He deserves it.

He has the abilities of a very high level sports manager, he knows the job and can help them. "



Maybe Jordi will take you with him?



" Come on, Barcelona does not need Eran Zehavi.

Zahavi will not make a difference there.

If you put me there on the field, I'll give exiles.

But to get there?

There are things that are beyond football.

I currently have a contract at PSV for another year.

I'm happy where I am, and that's the most important thing. "

* * *

Eran Sado, the personal fitness trainer, who also functions as a kind of personal manager, accompanies him everywhere.

He lived with him in China and accompanied him for the first few months in Amsterdam.



"He knows how to push me to the limit in training. He will not give up on me because we are friends. It is the easiest, but does not lead you anywhere. A coach must put truth in your face and not allow you to give up."



Give up what?



"The temptations are endless. Once you say 'I will not get up for training', then: 'Well, I'll eat this cake'. Like I have a devil and an angel on every shoulder. One says to me, 'What do you need it for, you got it like this. , did you do this, you have everything, and you can rest now. "and the other says, 'this is your way, it got you here, keep her until the end. this is the example that I have to give to young children being looked at.



" sometimes the hard labor Mentally exhausting, but the pain I feel when I give up is greater than the physical pain.

I like to get the most out of myself.

I love that I am almost 34 years old and in this shape.



"Today football is a science. You know everything about it, you take data from every game and training, and I must show that even at my age I am in better shape than young players. It is important to me, and I check the numbers. Every training and every game I compare myself to others, I always have to To see that I'm in the top. "



How long are you going to play?



"I can play at the highest levels today. How long will it last? Everything is mental. I do not want to retire when I am over the top, that is not the goal. I do not want to play until the age of 38, but I may reach the age of 37 and still feel at the level. "My plans? No. As soon as I see myself coming down, I will start considering my steps. When I decide it's the end, it will be the end."

* * *

He has been close to Shai for nine years, and she protects him as much as possible.

For example, when Zahavi was arrested last year following a heated argument with police at a karaoke party they organized at a rented house in Savyon, Shai went out to the media to protect him from the barriers of public criticism.



"I won a good and supportive woman, who also contains all the mess I have in mind. It's not that easy with me. She has a bachelor's degree in psychology, so she manages to support me, to do her own things, like starting a business (a brand of sportswear for women). , Ruze; N.W., also take care of the children, and make sure there is food at home properly.

She cooks and does everything.

She is a multi-talent. "



They live in the quiet Oud-Zuid neighborhood, an area populated by families, very close to the city center and on the banks of the canal." The children love Amsterdam, speak English and attend international schools.

All the transitions between the countries were not easy for them, but to my delight, both in China and in the Netherlands they are in good educational frameworks, and that is the most important thing. "



Between the transition from China to the Netherlands, Zehavi managed to be photographed in Israel for docu-reality" Abala ", which examined his conduct for a week without His wife. "It was very difficult," he smiles.

In the show he also told about his complex relationship with his father.

In the period after the parents' divorce, his father was injured in a work accident while working as an air conditioning contractor.

In the operating room he contracted a carnivorous bacterium and was hospitalized for an extended period, and the family used to gather around his bed on Saturday evenings and perform kiddush together.

Later, after his social security benefit was rehabilitated and stopped, he found himself on the street, and together with the social activist Israel Tuito led the two-year homeless protest, dubbed "Bread Square." The father devoted his time to social struggle and severed ties with the children. To this day, the connection between him and his children is sensitive and fragmented.



"He saw the program and wrote to my brother about the things I said there," says Zehavi, "maybe there was a lack of communication between us, and he did not hear my side like that.

When I talked about it on TV, he probably understood all sorts of things.



"I too have grown up and changed over the years. What I was missing from him ten years ago, I no longer miss. Today I understand more, and do not judge people. I was not in his shoes so I do not want to judge him. He went through a difficult life, which can sometimes lead You to places you do not know how to fall and how to rise. As a child I did not understand it. Maybe it was his way of dealing at that point in time, and maybe he too regrets and regrets and in retrospect would have done things differently.



"We talk to him sometimes, we do not hate him.

No bad blood, no war or quarrels.

There was something and it was over.

No one should apologize.

In my character I am forgiving, not getting stuck on things.

Need to know how to approach me.

But it is also impossible to erase everything that was and continue as usual.

It's a relationship that needs to be built. "



Did it affect you in fatherhood? Did it make you a better father?



" Everyone takes fatherhood differently.

The environment taught us that Dad is Dad, and he has to support the family and blah blah blah.

Today I do not believe in this sentence.

Dad needs to be present, there is nothing to do. " 

* * *

Who will take the championship in Israel this year?



"Right now Maccabi Tel Aviv seems to me the favorite, it is very organized, strong and orderly. It has the best staff in the league, and coach Patrick Van Leven has made a very big change. Factually, when there is a foreign coach at Maccabi - it brings success."



When will we be able to launch Israeli football to the highest levels?



"There are between 30,000 and 50,000 children in the country who play professional football, but they do not have pitches. This will not happen until there is a government investment in football, on the order of hundreds of millions. In infrastructure, in coaches, in youth departments. Do not invest, we will not achieve anything. 



" Come to PSV Academy and you will see that the training complex for children and youth is better than the complex for adults.

They have ten courts, breakfast and lunch, a huge gym, a place to do homework.

In Israel, there are ten teams that train on one field.

So tell me, where do we get players from?

Do not tell stories.

It does not work. "Does the



lack of praise for the team affect your thoughts on returning to play in Israel in the future?



" I admit that it does not make me want to return.

Because you know what it's like in the country, you do not score a single game - and criticism begins.

If I return to Maccabi Tel Aviv, I will expect 50-40 expatriates a season, minimum. 20 expatriates will be a disappointment. I'm not sure I want this pressure week after week.



"If I return to Maccabi, it is not to please anyone, but solely to Make a season or two and close a circle.

Right now I'm good at where I am. "



And what about the comeback to Hapoel?



" I grew up there, but that means nothing.

I have no circle to close in practice.

I have no hatred for the club or anything against them, but things happen throughout my career.

There is a club where things happened and I do not want to return to it, and there is a club that I was good at, and I would like to close a circle in it. "



What is your position on the subject of Dor Micha and Noble Omar?



"

Whatever I say, I will not get out of it well.

Anyone can take the story however they want.

"Both sides have been harmed, and in the end it is impossible to get out of it well, neither here nor there."

* * *

One thing the critics will also agree on: Zehavi is the greatest Israeli footballer of the current generation.

The determined character, the charisma, and above all, the amount of gates, made him a man who could not walk five minutes on the street without being stopped by dozens of people craving selfies.



"When I was in Tel Aviv with the team, I left the hotel for a moment with my wife and child to walk around the promenade and buy ice cream. On the way they took a hundred selfies with me, and everyone cheers. I get a lot of love, a lot of warmth. That's what's special about our people. But that's the character of the Israelis.



"I recorded for myself a database of dozens of birthday greeting videos, which I will have when needed," he says, "They are sorted by a field phone, by the changing name of the happy groom.

That way, as soon as a request arrives, he can send a video. "



Why do you miss Israel?



" I really like the weather.

I have not been in the country for five years, and I hardly come.

I made a disengagement.

When I'm in the country it's usually for the team, and only for a week or two.



"In the end, I really like how my and my family's life looks outside of Israel. Then, when I come to visit, I see the whole family and friends together, in a concentrated way, and return to the Netherlands for my simple and calm life. As much as I love Israel, it's not calm enough for me Right now. "



Do you watch Israeli television in the Netherlands?



"Yes, we have sites that can be seen through. I do not have much time, but when there is, I sit with my wife and see. Trying as little news as possible, because they just show what is not good and grind the mind. I prefer not to waste my time. So I "I see football and series. I recently saw 'The Cops' and I loved it."



What Israeli music do you listen to?



"All kinds. Omar Adam, Eyal Golan, Dudu Aharon, Yuval Dayan, Idan Amadi, Shlomo Artzi. I love them all and I like to praise them. When they release an album, I praise a story. This is an example of a paragon. Tag me. I'm just cheering. "



Who did you vote for in the election?



"I did not vote. And I was in the country with the team and I could go to the polls. But I will not go to the polls four times. Let them learn to get along, they are big kids. Let them do a unity government, do what they want and get along, and not spend huge money for four elections, maybe five. .



"citizen going to vote for the fourth time he's a fool.

He's not a sucker, he's stupid.

I am not interested in the interests of right, left, center, I am not interested in who is to blame.

Get along, form a government and take care of the people.

That's your job. " 

nirw@israelhayom.co.il

Source: israelhayom

All news articles on 2021-04-14

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