Saturday in Israel comes, however strange it may seem, the day before, on Friday, with the appearance of the first star in the sky, and ends after a day. Thus, the first half of tomorrow’s match at Dynamo will be played under the canopy of the Sabbath, which is regarded by the Israelis not just as the seventh day of the week or a banal day off. To some extent, sinning and breaking the line of one of the main biblical commandments, in Israel they still hope for leniency from the side of the heavenly office. And perhaps even more: that a small sin on Moscow land will turn into a great success.
The Israelis, who identify themselves with the secular part of society, still try to observe the basic Jewish traditions, even when they are outside the country. History knows of cases where, for example, the Maccabi basketball coach Pini Gershon, after completing the Euroleague matches, went to the hotel on foot, even for several kilometers, if the final siren sounded after Saturday, that is, it was no longer possible to use the transport.
Dror Kashtan had never before been seen in a particularly reverent attitude towards the Almighty. Therefore, on October 7, it is unlikely that it will measure the steps between Dynamo and the Baltschug Hotel, where the Israeli delegation is comfortably accommodated. Nevertheless, the coach of the Israeli national team is a superstitious person and appears at the edge of the field in the matches of his teams in the same blue shirt and dark trousers. This, however, will not work in Moscow: the traditional attributes of the wardrobe will have to be supplemented with at least two more layers of clothing - the weather in the Russian capital is still not Israeli. But the usual “hamsa” peeking out of pocket and a bottle of mineral water will undoubtedly accompany the Israeli coach throughout the entire 90 minutes of the fight.
Finishing the topic of traditions and superstitions, we note that there are many among football players who, as far as possible and in reasonable compatibility with the costs of the profession, adhere to the traditional way of life adopted in their families. For example, observes kashrut. This can largely be explained by the fact that the day before the departure of the Israeli delegation to Moscow, the chef of the national team, Eitan Mizrahi, went to the place of the 72-hour Israeli deployment.
The Israeli press is resting on Saturday. More precisely, newspapers do not appear on this day, although the journalists are busy with the preparation of Sunday issues. Therefore, the last pre-match comments were released on Friday. In the three major newspapers published in Hebrew, a lot is devoted to events related to the Saturday Russian-Israeli football rendezvous.
Fighting pathos and lyrical motives were, apparently, dominant in the nightlife of sports reporters of the Maariv newspapers (which in Russian can mean simply “evening”, although it literally translates as the name of the evening prayer, but this reading is already of a completely different sense) and “Haaretz” (“Country”) minutes before the publications were sent to the printing house. The first to choose the headline for the last pre-match issue was the battle cry of the Israeli goalkeeper Dudu Avat “Die, but not lose!”, Which could shed light on morale in the camp of rivals of the Hiddink wards. In the second main topic of the weekend, they considered the problem of participation (or non-participation) in the match at Dynamo the captain of the Israeli national team Yossi Benayun, giving out a line from the hit of the popular Israeli pop artist: “We are nobody without you”.
The sports review of the third whale of the Israeli newspaper market “Yediot Aharonot” (“Latest News”) is called “Benayoun - OUT, Tuama - IN” with a hint of alleged castling in the starting lineup.
Meanwhile, at a press conference, Dror Kashtan, echoing the famous historical character of the last century, made it clear that there were no irreplaceable members in his team and there was an equivalent alternative to anyone who could not enter the field. You can add to this only that only according to the results of the last pre-match training, Kashtan will name the final version of the starting lineup. Judging by the messages received on Israeli online sports portals online, Yossi Benayoun is training in the main group and, apparently, will be announced as the basis.
Not without mini-scandals. In particular, the Israeli press widely discusses an interview with Israeli goalkeeper coach Alexander Uvarov to one of the Russian sports publications. There, he criticized Yossi Benayoun for his excessive passion for individual actions, and one of his wards, Dudu Avat, for over-conceit. Yesterday, in a television report broadcast from Moscow and shown in the evening issue of sports news, and today in an interview with print media, Uvarov tried to play a kickback and make excuses. Like, he was misunderstood or the text was incorrectly translated to the Hebrew players. The author of the interview (by the way, an Israeli journalist) introduced the editor as the culprit of the story, who seemed to put the accents wrong. But the wave went, and many critical arrows flew into Uvarova for daring to criticize the pets in the press of a foreign country. This is unacceptable even for Shura - this is the name of the legendary goalkeeper in Israel by the indigenous people, because in the name Sasha they chronically confuse the first and third sounds.
Meticulous Israeli journalists honestly worked out the pre-match bread, giving out a few mini-sensations from the behind-the-scenes news category. So, they said that members of the Israeli delegation who wanted to quench their thirst in cold Moscow were, to put it mildly, surprised that a bottle of mineral water at the hotel costs 10 euros. In Israel, a similar capacity of mineral water, even at tourist sites, is at least five times cheaper. In addition, it became known that the leadership of the RFU presented an invoice to Israeli colleagues for the use of the training field in Luzhniki in the amount of 2,000 euros. Bargaining (Jews or not?), The parties agreed on 750 dollars. Even on the eve of the newspaper, they wrote that the head of the Israeli delegation, Ariel Sheiman, canceled the reservation of two deluxe rooms, which were reserved for Dror Kashtan and the head of the football federation Iche Menachem. Such a pleasure would cost the Israelis 944 euros per day. If the law of the communication of financial vessels existed in nature, then the funds saved as a result of the three listed operations could be sent as emergency assistance to the Israeli state broadcasting company. For the first time in many years, there will be no broadcast from the official match of the national team. The reason is simple: there was not enough money to equip a full-fledged journalistic team and technical personnel in the Russian capital ...
The main problem of Dror Chestnut on the eve of the Saturday game was the injury of leading players. Deprived on the eve of the first serious test of forwards Yaniva Katan and Omer Golan in the current qualifying round, on the eve of departure, the Israeli medical headquarters also wrote off the midfielder Michael Zandberg from the Jerusalem “Beitar” on the shore. At the last moment, Kashtan tried to call under the banner of the national team midfielder “Hapoel” (Kfar Saba) Guillermo Israilevich. An invitation and order have already been sent to Tom urgently to pack a suitcase. But, when the player’s dossier fell on the table of the head of the federation, it turned out that the 24-year-old player who had repatriated six years ago from Argentina would not be able to play in the Israeli team, because in his youth he was flirted with the youth squad of the country of origin.
Thus, only 19 players flew to Moscow. But the Israelis hope to play at Dynamo with dignity and take away from the Russian capital at least something other than traditional souvenirs. In short, do not hit the dirt in the face. Although, it seems that pretty much to put her on Saturday night in Petrovsky Park still have to. According to Russian weather forecasters, the first October Shabbat in Moscow will be slushy.
Alex PRESKOVSKY