It is difficult to call the favorite team opposing the away team, which did not lose in their own walls for two qualifying rounds. From the British, rather by tradition than by inertia, they expected victory. But after the final whistle, no one who had sober eyes watching what was happening in Tel Aviv should have had doubts not only about justice, but also about the regularity of the result.
England from the first minutes made it clear that she was not at all embarrassed by the fact of playing on a foreign field. Steve McLaren’s wards firmly took possession of the territory, attacked with great forces and owned the ball more. There was no "academicism" in sight, so the claims that were made to be made to the actions of the British under the leadership of Sven-Goran Ericsson would have been unfair. Maclaren tried to show that he did not intend to repeat the mistakes of his predecessor.
According to many, the unproductive ligament in the center of Gerrard-Lampard was broken by moving the liverpool to the flank, where he (regularly, however, shifting to the center) could concentrate exclusively on attacking actions, and the functions of the defensive midfielder were assigned to the two-core Hargreaves. Motor Lennon (one of the best players of the match, by the way) tormented the Israeli defense on the left, and Rooney and Johnson made a bunch of attackers - which, in the absence of Peter Crouch, looked like the best option.
Israel, in turn, was able to demonstrate why it is so successful at home. The players clearly performed the installation, playing in a disciplined and pragmatic way - from the first minutes it was felt that not to miss in this fight was more important for them than to score. The Israeli team clearly understood, due to which it is possible not to yield to the British. The recipe is simple: winning horse duels and smooth running without a ball, because of which the British lost the selection, and the Israelis, thanks to Benayoun, who has an excellent first pass, could organize dangerous counterattacks.
England players did not have a clear idea of how they were going to score. The main threat to the gates of Dudu Avat came from standard moments: one of Jamie Carragher's shots hit the crossbar. There was still a good shot of Lampard from a half-flight, a couple of inaccurate punches by Gerrard and Johnson, but nothing that would make Israel fans frantically clutch their heads. No less, but no more dangerous looked the rare counterattacks of the hosts, where the nineteen-year-old Toto Tamuz stood out - the naturalized Nigerian spent only the fourth game for the national team, but at the same time showed good understanding with partners.
Maclaren could complain about injuries of the main extreme defenders (Phil Neville on the right and Carragher on the left are not an adequate replacement for Harry Neville and Ashley Cole, especially when it comes to connecting to the attack), fans - swearing that they did not give a chance to Gareth Barry and Kiron Dyer, but when it comes to such a team as the English - all this is an excuse for the poor. If England, after an unsuccessful start in the qualifying group, still wants to break through to Euro 2008, it cannot afford to lose points in games even with such strong opponents as Israel.
Failures of the British may please fans of the national team, but they may also alert - it is likely that a new head coach may head the British for the autumn matches against Russia. And this, as you know, is usually beneficial at first - remember the fast start of McLaren. We hope they will let him finish it before meeting with Hiddink ...
ISRAEL - ENGLAND - 0: 0
ISRAEL: Avat, Ben-Haim, Gershon, Ziv, Benado, Shpungin, Badir, Benayoun, Ben-Shoshan (Alberman, 87), Tamuz (Barda, 75), Saar (Balili, 69).
ENGLAND: Robinson, F. Neville (Richards, 72), Ferdinand, Terry, Carragher, Gerrard, Lampard, Hargreaves, Lennon (Downing, 83), Rooney, E. Johnson (Defoe, 80).
Warnings: Benado (10), Carragher (13), Rooney (62), Ben Haim (63).
March 24. Tel Aviv. "Ramat Gan." 9.30 p.m.
Judge: Tom Henning Erebe (Norway).