Israel and Scotland have been going hand in hand for the past three years.
Meetings in the League of Nations, in the Euro qualifiers and a critical meeting in the semi-finals of the promotion to the Euro.
So even in the World Cup qualifiers, following the collapse of the Austrian team, we once again found ourselves in a direct battle against the Scots on the ticket to second place leading to the playoffs promotion to the World Cup.
Willie Rothsteiner made five lineup changes relative to the game in Copenhagen, with the three brakes and the back midfield replaced due to injuries and dismissals.
The team started with Bitton as the main brake, Abu 'Abid on the right with a debut in the lineup and Ofri Arad, who is going through a difficult personal and professional period on the left.
Dor Peretz joined Natcho in the link and Davor was preferred to Weissman by the edge.
Steve Clark, like Rotensteiner, believes in the three-brake line-up, which has shifted McTominy from the team's midfield position to the national team's brake position and he also enjoys two Premier League top-flight defenders, Tierney from Arsenal, who plays as a stopper and of course Liverpool captain Robertson from the world.
The first half of the team was conducted in a dreamlike manner also thanks to the great preparation of the professional team. A perfect opening with a great goal in a stationary position (and here come congratulations to Eran Zehavi who equaled the mythological record of Motley Spiegler with 32 goals), a quick response to the Scottish equalizer with another goal in a stationary position (screen judges flowed with Peretz's hand touch leading to the goal) and stopping Marciano's penalty just before the break. And yet, it was clear that the second half would be conducted differently and the team would need extreme transcendence to maintain the advantage and that did not come. The second half took place in one side (10 corners vs. 1, 16 kicks versus 5 on the Scottish side) as the Scots pushed further and further forward and without the tremendous ability of Marciano (9 kicks per frame of the Scots) the game would have ended long before the 93rd minute.
But the Israeli team, like the Israeli team, probably had to justify all the clichés surrounding it. Absorb a goal that leads to a deep loss in extra time, absorb a goal from an unnecessary corner, succumb to the power of the opponents and two touchdowns in the box after a corner kick. There are many circumstances that led to this goal that decided the game. One of them is the late entry of Davidzada A.H. Menachem, who is not clear what the thought was behind it and it created a very problematic defensive left wing when the combination with Peretz as a brake was destined for failure and yet, absorbing such a goal is the most painful thing possible.
Overall Rothsteiner does a good job on the team and tries (sometimes even succeeds) to cover the huge quality differences between the defensive players and the attack. A kid who starts playing football and is qualifying for a big tournament.Maybe in the next tournament it will happen, because if there is something that can not be taken from us, it is the hope that next time it will happen anyway.
