Luis Fernandez will take charge of his first competitive match as Israel coach in this week’s Euro 2012 Group F qualifier against Malta but he has already served notice of his intent to encourage his team to play attacking football.
The former France midfielder’s decision to select six recognised defenders in his squad for the qualifiers against Malta at the Ramat Gan on Thursday and Georgia today week was met with surprise in many quarters but Fernandez said: “I’m not going to play with eight defenders.
“I want attacking football and the team to score goals. I want a strong defence, creative midfield and an attack that can find the back of the net.”
Chelsea midfielder Yossi Benayoun is one of five British-based players in Fernandez’s selection for the country’s opening two qualifiers.
Blackpool defender Dekel Keinan has also earned a place in the squad along with West Ham United centre-back Tal Ben Haim, Bolton midfielder Tamir Cohen and recent Celtic signing Biram Kiyal.
“I’ve been working on the squad for two months and I’m confident we can win with these players,” Fernandez, who succeeded Dror Kashtan in May, said.
“These matches will not be easy, but we must start with a win. We have a lot of talent in the team and our goal is to beat Malta and only then we’ll turn our attention to Georgia.”
Despite being hampered by the absence of key players like Roberto Colautti, Elyaniv Barda, Barak Itzhaki and Bibras Natcho, Fernandez is confident that Israel can get their bid to reach the Euro 2012 finals off to a flying start.
“I believe in these players,” he said.
“I really want to reach the European Championships and so do they.”
Fernandez’s preparations for Thursday’s match suffered a blow when strikers Etay Shechter, of Hapoel Tel Aviv, and Eliran Atar, of Maccabi Tel Aviv, pulled out of the squad after picking up injuries.
Gal Shish, the Hapoel Tel Aviv defender, has been added to the pool of players at Fernandez’s disposal for Israel’s qualifiers against Malta and Georgia.
Israel have not qualified for a major tournament since the 1970 World Cup. They finished fourth in their qualifying group for this year’s World Cup.
Meanwhile, the Maltese contingent was due to arrive in Tel Aviv late last night. Malta coach John Buttigieg has selected an 18-man squad for Thursday’s qualifier.
Andrew Cohen is likely to attract a lot of media interest over the next few days as his surname is very common in Israel.
Some sports journalists from Israel have already enquired whether Cohen’s ancestors were Jewish but the Hibs playmaker told The Times that, as far as he could ascertain, his parental grandfather and great grandfather were not Jewish.
“This is not the first time I’ve been asked whether I have Jewish ancestors but my grandfather and great grandfather were not Jewish as far as I know,” Cohen said.
“I guess I’d have to build my family tree to discover whether my surname has Jewish origins. Some years back, when I was still with the U-21s and we were going to play against Israel, I had an interview with an Israeli journalist who was keen to know whether I was of Jewish descent.”
Israel have two Cohens in their squad for the Malta qualifier, Bolton’s Tamir Cohen and Almog Cohen who is on the books of Bundesliga side Nuremberg.
Israel Squad
Goalkeepers: Dudu Aouate (Mallorca), Ohad Levita (RKC Waalwijk), Dudu Goresh (Hapoel Acre).
Defenders: Tal Ben Haim (West Ham), Dekel Keinan (Blackpool), Yoav Ziv (Maccabi Tel Aviv), Danny Bonder (Hapoel Tel Aviv), Dedi Ben Dayan (Hapoel Tel Aviv), Gal Shish (Hapoel Tel Aviv).
Midfielders: Tamir Cohen (Bolton), Almog Cohen (FC Nuremberg), Biram Kiyal (Celtic), Avihai Yadin (Hapoel Tel Aviv), Eran Zahavi (Hapoel Tel Aviv), Gili Vermouth (Hapoel Tel Aviv), Eyal Golasa (Maccabi Haifa), Lior Rafaelov (Maccabi Haifa), Yossi Benayoun (Chelsea), Maor Melikson (Hapoel Beersheba).
Strikers: Ben Sahar (Hapoel Tel Aviv), Shlomi Arbeitman (Gent), Yuval Avidor (Maccabi Tel Aviv).