Time to Freshen Things Up

As Israel has two key Euro 2010 qualifying games approaching, we have learned that Yossi Benayoun will not be available for either of the matches against Croatia or Greece.  Yossi’s goal scoring threat will certainly be missed, but it may come with a silver lining. For too long Israel has been over dependent on Yossi and this has been detrimental to Israel being a successful team. Luis Fernandez came in saying that he wanted offensive football, but soon changed his tune against an average to mediocre Georgia side. Now is his chance to prove that he really wants to shake things up and put Israel on a new direction for success. Fernandez quickly learned in his coaching debut that Yoav Ziv and Klemi Saban are not that answer for the fullback position, easily the biggest weakness on Israel’s team. However his experiment with Dedi Ben-Dayan and Dani Bondarv have been mixed as both players really lack the pace and physicality to help Israel succeed at the international level. Thankfully, I have an answer that may surprise some of you. Israel does have two players that are fast, physical, and have good on the ball skills. Those two players are Ben Sahar and Muhammad Ghadir.  Both players have struggled to learn the technical aspects of the forward position and often make mistakes in those positions. Sahar who in my opinion is a natural winger looks uncomfortable at times at the forward position and would make an excellent left-back. Imagine Maor Buzaglo on the wing and Ben Sahar overlapping, the possiblities are endless. Muhammad Ghadir is extremely fast and could also be a great asset for the National Team as well. His temper has been a problem before, but with the right coaching he could succeed in that position as well. A change of position would offer a fresh start for both players and the National Team.