The Israel national team's journey ahead of the opening of the Euro 2024 qualifiers (Photo: Shlomi Gabbai | Video editing: Nir Chen)
Also last Thursday, Maccabi Tel Aviv returned to it.
Coaches tend to run away from mentioning players who left, so as not to give legitimacy and an alibi to the failure of the players who stayed, but Aitor Karanka devoted an extensive chapter to Oskar Gloch in his press conference before the match against Maccabi Netanya.
Even those who catch Eran Zahavi for a conversation hear from him that this is the main story of the downfall of Maccabi Tel Aviv.
Gloch's departure to Red Bull Salzburg in January was a big deal for Maccabi Tel Aviv.
It is doubtful if there was a footballer here in the past who had not yet turned 19 and whose parting with him changed such a large and central club in Israeli football, but the longing for Gloch in Kiryat Shalom is felt in every corner.
Oscar, did you believe that Maccabi Tel Aviv would not manage without you until now?
You left after the great victory over Maccabi Haifa and the feeling was that you could close the gap and run for the championship.
"I am in contact with several players all the time. I think that Maccabi is going through a period that is not going well. I do not perceive it as if because of me Maccabi Tel Aviv is not successful."
Don't you feel there is a fall because you left?
"I always gave my best, but there are excellent players in Maccabi Tel Aviv. It is a fact that they also beat Hapoel Beer Sheva without me. This is a bad period that the team has to go through."
Where was Maccabi Tel Aviv located in the Austrian league?
"At the top it's safe."
Maccabi Tel Aviv misses you.
Gloch (photo: Barney Ardov)
We held the interview a few days after his debut goal in the away game against Rapid Vienna.
Gloch said goodbye a few minutes earlier to his grandmother and his brothers, who came from Israel for a several-day visit during which they traveled from Salzburg to Vienna to see him score an assist for a goal for the first time in Austria.
Are you already making a list of things to do when you first land in Israel since you left for Austria?
"I was told by the team that the first night they would let me spend the first night at home with my family in Rehovot and I would only come to the gathering on Tuesday. I hope that this plan will take place and that I will be able to spend one night after two months of not being in Israel, at home. I assume that many friends that I have not seen will come to visit. Some have already come to Austria And they were with me in Salzburg and the family kept coming. In total, for two months I might have been alone for one day because my father's cousin was with me in Salzburg from the moment we arrived. It made it much easier for me to absorb."
Experience the senior team in the friendly matches against Zambia and Cyprus on the eve of the World Cup.
Do you already feel like a national team player or because you can play in several age groups, you are still not sure who you identify with more?
"This team is a team. Wherever they tell me to play, I will play. We are opening the qualifiers for Euro 2024 in the national team, which is a big thing. As a youth, Israel will participate in the Euros, which is a beautiful thing, and of course there is the youth team that will play in the Mondialeto, and I can play there as well. I really don't calculate in my head where I will be placed Or when I will play. I come to play. I will do my best in all teams."
But now we are preparing for the task of the national team and the games against Kosovo and Switzerland.
Does it even occur to a young guy like you that Israel has not advanced to a major tournament since 1970?
"Obviously I know this and think about it. Although I am young in age, I feel that I have already gained experience because I have played quite a bit in the Israeli national teams and in this national team. It is exciting to start a new campaign.
There is a lot of expectation from the front of the team you belong to.
Menor Solomon, Lial Abde, Thai Bribo, Shawn Weissman and you have to pull the team even though you are young.
Do you feel that you pull each
other every week to do beautiful things abroad?
The national team."
Are there disagreements between you? Do you correspond with each other, for example who plays in Austria?
"We are in touch, especially those who play in Austria.
I am in good contact with Doron Leidner who plays in Vienna."
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"Mature, young, youth - wherever they tell me, I will play."
Gloch (photo: GettyImages, VLADIMIR SIMICEK)
You had no problem jumping from the youth of Maccabi Tel Aviv to the adults.
How did the move to a club like Red Bull affect you?
"In the beginning it was not easy at all. We reached a week of minus 6 degrees and snow. The first training sessions were difficult and there is also a new playing method that I had to adapt to. A method that includes a lot of demands. I slowly understood what they wanted from me. A lot of intensity and aggressiveness. A lot of pressure on ball".
What is the main thing we do differently from them?
Where do we need to pick ourselves up to catch them?
"Professionalism. This is the professionalism of life here. There is a day when you train twice and literally all day at the club. Red Bull has a lot of young players and all the training is at a really high pace. Training at Red Bull is more difficult than the games. There is no one who is a star and you watch out for him. If you don't Plays strong and doesn't get into tackles, the coach gives you a warning."
How was Maccabi Tel Aviv?
"Even at Maccabi Tel Aviv, the training is at a high level, but there was not this intensity. The pace in training at Red Bull is really high."
Do you miss Kiryat Shalom?
"It is clear that being in Israel and training with the people you know is comfortable. I took a step at a young age which is an unusual step, certainly for Israelis, but I did it for my goal. Moving at a young age may not be convenient, but after that it will be easier for me to reach even more places tall".
Did you have any fights before signing with Red Bull?
"I was 99 percent certain that I wanted it because I knew that Red Bull is a club that develops the best players and is not looking to keep them but to build and move on. From Red Bull, players have gone to crazy places. There are plenty of examples. Red Bull was the best choice I could have made Of the options".
Mladan Krstaich who gave you the first chance in the seniors, sent you a message after the move to Red Bull?
"A few weeks before the move, Stefan Yankovic, his assistant and who was the interpreter, sent. He corresponded with me and sent me messages. He sent me messages about Maccabi Tel Aviv. I will always remember Krstaich because he gave me the first chance. He believed in me and was not afraid. He gave me all the confidence in the world and even in games where I didn't start, he had conversations with me and explained to me his considerations and what he expected from me. There were games where he let me come off the bench and that's perfectly fine."
"Training at Red Bull is more difficult than the games."
Gloch (Photo: GettyImages, Giuseppe Bellini)
Let's talk about your personality.
I see at the end of the game against Rapid the coach comes to hug you because you cooked for the first time and you don't even smile.
You remain very tough in this situation.
I even remember your toughness after the Euro final in Slovakia when you sat in the press conference.
Where does this roughness come from?
"When it comes to football I don't pay attention to anything. I don't want to say that I'm a different person in football, but there is something about it. I have a different personality when I'm on the field. If I had a bad game and someone talks to me, I can not look at him. I I'm hard on myself."
When did you adopt this feature?
"From the first game in the seniors, I felt that I had to be cool and cut myself off from everything."
What excites you?
When was the last time you cried?
Your grandmother came to see her grandson succeed in Austria.
Didn't that move you to tears?
"No, don't exaggerate."
And in football?
When was the last time you cried in football?
"After the final of the Youth Euro in Slovakia ten months ago. I cried for a minute standing on the grass and then Ofir (Haim) came and hugged me and then I stopped. There was of course a lot of sadness on the grass in the final against England. We were so close."
Eyal Berkovich once said that he likes cooking more.
how is it with you
"I like to conquer more. There is no question at all."
What do you enjoy most in Salzburg?
"It's fun in training because they're really all men and the atmosphere is good. At Maccabi Tel Aviv I only had Dor Turgeman and Daniel Peretz who were around my age. Here at Red Bull the absolute majority are under 23 and it's nice that they're all my age."
Good for you Red Bull because most of the time they win.
You have a very hard time dealing with losses.
"It's really hard for me with losses. It's been like this from a young age."
How is the contact with the fans there?
"The fans here are very polite and pleasant. You can feel them in the stands and at the away games, but there are no organizations here like in Israel. I also feel quite comfortable walking around the mall and the street. Everything is really fine in this section."
"I like conquering more than cooking, no question at all."
Gloch (photo: GettyImages, Guenther Iby)
Let's talk about the team again, the game against Kosovo in Bloomfield.
Option to return to the stadium you like to remember.
"Obviously. It means something to me. It makes it even more special to play in Bloomfield."
In a certain situation you could now make it to the national team when you know in advance that you will be sleeping together with Eran Zahavi in the same room.
How did you take the fact that he wanted you to sleep together until the last night when he insisted on going back to sleep alone?
"I am in a really good relationship with Eran to this day. I talk to him a lot. It's fun that he mentioned me. It's not something that will move me, but of course it's fun that someone like Eran wants to sleep with me and be with me."
It's also points of reference, isn't it?
"It's beautiful, yes. Very respectable."
Did you try to talk to Eran about the room thing and convince him to be with you until the end so that he will be with you on the team?
"I didn't talk to him about the room at all. We talk like friends just in general. We didn't talk about the room."
What is the dream with this team?
Do well in qualifying and go up to the Euros?
"Of course I want us to have a good qualifying tournament and qualify for the Euros, but my biggest dream is of course to reach the World Cup with Israel."
Do you believe this can happen in your generation?
"I really hope so. If there is one cohesive team and we qualify for the Euros, we can build good momentum and reach the World Cup as well."
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Oscar Gloch
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