Team coach: Alon Hazan made the right choices and changes

Hazan lived the game, managed the staff properly and largely signed for the victory in Albania.

Amikam draws optimism from the short format, admires Solomon and answers the fresh question: obviously he still needs Zehavi

Ron Amikam

11/06/2022

Saturday, June 11, 2022, 10:00 p.m.

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Israel national team upon landing in Albania (Football Association)

1.

Let's start with the line after the bottom line - an away win over a better team in a money time game is not something that happens every day - because there is a history in Israeli football full of euphoria scattered with disgust.

Victory in the Parc de France?

Draw and loss in subsequent home games against Austria and Finland;

A victory over Bulgaria and a sensational draw against Russia in the '98 World Cup qualifiers?

An embarrassing loss in Cyprus immediately afterwards;

0: 5 over Austria?

A more embarrassing loss against Cyprus in the next game;

A decisive victory in Cyprus (finally) and a brilliant victory over Bosnia afterwards in the Euro 2016 qualifiers?

A home defeat against Wales afterwards;

A draw against Slovenia, a victory over Austria and a great victory in Latvia in the Euro 2020 qualifiers?

Immediately a 4-0 defeat in Poland.

The Israeli team, like the Israel Defense Forces, specializes more in Bezeq operations.

Give it a long tournament, it will not be able to generate momentum of permanent success.

All of her accomplishments were after relatively short tournaments, not 10 home games, but three-fours: the 1964 Asian Cup (three home games), promotion to the Mexico City Olympics (two home games), promotion to the World Cup (two home games early and two playoffs - Three home games), promotion to the Montreal Olympics (four games), promotion to the 1990 World Cup playoffs (four games) promotion to the young Euro 2007 (two games in the early house and two in the playoffs).

That is, if the team is able to produce a significant win or two, in a shortened home it will be more significant.

This is exactly the format in the current campaign, in the League of Nations, after Russia's expulsion from home.

A draw in Iceland on Monday will bring Israel closer to qualifying for the first tier in the factory (and advancing to the Euro 2024 playoffs), subject to being able to take advantage of the home advantage and beat Albania on September 24 in Bloomfield.

A win in Iceland and a draw against Albania will suffice, maybe even a loss.

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A victory that does not happen every day.

Solomon Manor (Photo: Udi Citation)

2.

In the middle of last night, right after the team soaked up the boundary penalty, my WhatsApp was full of posts like "tin team" and "*** not a player".

Also in this half there were two winking situations (Abda's kick that went past the crossbar and Miguel Vitor's jab) and the Albanians mostly had dubious setbacks, but the people got used to it: must absorb towards the end of the half, silly penalty, potholes in defense, so he grumbles.

But surprisingly - and contrary to all criticism - the Israeli team has a "team coach", who, as with any interpretation produced by this keyboard, will return and refine the concept.

Ladi Riya, the 76-year-old coach of Albania, has 996 games as a coach.

Alon Hazan has 95-901 less.

Ria has coached 29 seasons in the Italian league, mostly in Serie A, including five consecutive seasons at Napoli and also Lazio, Atlanta and Turin.

He has been the coach of the Albanian national team for 31 games, and still has fewer games as the coach of a national team - no matter what - the (relatively) young playwright.

Riya was wrong yesterday, reacting late to the changes Hazan made, and apparently not wondering about their pitcher either.

Unlike Willy Rotensteiner, whose substitutions sometimes weakened the team and in some of them seemed puzzling, Hazan lives the game and manages it - so far - properly.

A yellow squirrel?

Replace it with my story.

These are two different players, so what do you do?

Take down Dor Peretz, who is a physical player but worryingly rusty, be the brake on the link, and put Spori in his place.

The result: The offensive game gets another player who threatens the goal and is accurate in dedication, and this brings about a reversal in the result, in an away game, against a team that has only one player in the local league and nine players in Serie A, while Israel has a total of eight legionnaires, one of whom did not play in December .

Also against Iceland, the entries of Noble Omar and Sean Weissman brought equality.

There, too, Israel emerged from behind, thanks to a change introduced by the coach.

The changes brought victory.

Team players celebrate (Photo: Udi Citiat)

It is clear that Hazan will not make Israel a first-class team - even if he qualifies there in the League of Nations - but at this level, where teams that are grosso-modo play at the Israeli level, he can exploit the potential of the team.

Now say, but what about the defensive game?

The answer is again in the sum of the two games: we conceded three goals, averaging just 1.5 per game, one of them on penalties.

Yesterday, Ophir Marciano had to save one kick, not too many.

Miguel Vitor is of course two levels from all the brakes who have played for the team in recent years, and Sean Goldberg completes it.

The link is there, a lot of steals in the center of the field, a good exit for a passing game, fewer uncommitted mistakes.

Hazan can not teach the team players to make a defense.

This is what they bring from the groups.

The job of a team coach - and again, this is an entity in itself - is to find the 11 most suitable and manage them properly.

And he does.

The 11 who came up yesterday, are the best there are on the roster.

Yesterday, Hazan completely gave up on Muhammad Abu Fani and Omar Atzili, and played 90 minutes with Mahmoud Jaber, a player he usually replaces with Maccabi Haifa, because he is good.

It's hard to argue with this lineup, but the great thing is that the substitutes look even better, which creates healthy competition for minutes of play.

Rotensteiner almost always insisted on playing with the same players and certainly with the same method.

Hazan decided that wing players are better than another brake, and it is better to bring up the best players in each position.

And here: less absorbing, more offensive.

Even without Mons Dabour scoring in his smart bow yesterday towards the end, there are three goals here as a result of a wing game and another goal as a result of a team game.

The Israeli team has a team coach.

Cantor (Photo: Udi Citation)

3.

Solomon Manor is probably a global phenomenon.

A player who has not played since December 11, 2021 wins a double in a national team game on June 10, 2022, a difference of exactly six months.

Let go of the talent, after all it is not always translated into numbers.

Coaches - for many coaches - have a tendency to take the dribblers and put them in unimportant areas to make a mess.

A player dripping near the middle circle is irrelevant near the goal.

It's a waste of space.

Because Willie Rotensteiner gave up wingers - because of the three-brake lineup - but did not want to give up Solomon, he put him in the link, below the two strikers.

Sometimes it was like playing with 10 players, wasting space.

Hazan gave up the brake and earned Solomon, a lethal line player, with a quick exit from the spot, a very successful dribble and a good finish, coming after he gets a ball in the final third and not in the center of the field.

Until yesterday Solomon had four goals in the national team, now he already has six.

Next June, if he stays in that position on the team, he will have twice as much.

Even if Eran Zehavi will be there.

Obviously still need it.

Eran Zehavi (Photo: GettyImages, ANP)

4.

There are already those who ask if they need Zahavi when the team plays like this without him.

Good question.

When he was injured in Albania at the start of the First Nations League campaign in 2018, the team without him defeated both Scotland and the Albanians at home.

Eran Zehavi cannot be measured by the team's achievements, but by his contribution.

Every player is measured like this.

Zahavi did not cover badly on defense, he is not the one who did not take players in stationary situations, he did not drop balls or lose a critical ball that caused a loss.

You could even say that he guaranteed Israel's place in the second tier in the League of Nations (both in the shrinking goal in Scotland in 2018 and in the three goals in Slovakia).

He is a striker, and as a striker he has had 27 goals for the team in the last three and a half years.

It's a lot on a global scale as well.

If you put Zehavi as a striker in this lineup of Alon Hazan - instead of Weissman or Davor - you will not hurt the team.

Even the offensive game may be more productive.

This is of course if Zahavi will play regularly in his new team and keep his numbers.

If not, his competitors for this place are excellent and can quietly play in his place.

The discourse on Zahavi as if it were an elephant in the room, does him an injustice.

This is the best player of our generation, and we have already said that the best players should play.

Anyone who has seen how Weissman came in against Iceland and how Dabour came in yesterday, understands that the hunger of these players produces excellent momentum for the team, in any situation.

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• Israeli soccer

• Israeli national teams

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• Israel national football team

• Alon Hazan