Barak is back, Israelis Ready for Greeks

March 19th, 2009 | By: Ibracadabra | 2 Comments »

Israeli hitman Barak “don’t call me Obama” Itzhaki is set to lead the attacking line next week in Israel’s crucial World Cup qualifiers against Greece.

The 24-year old Betar Jerusalem striker has returned to the international frame following his superb form for the yellow and black this season.

Israeli fans, of course, will also be hoping that Captain Yossi Benayoun is fit to take his place in the midfield on March 28th in Tel Aviv, and then four days later on April 1st in Athens.

Israel is second in the six-team UEFA Group 2 with eight points from four games, one point behind leader Greece.

With Itzhaki back-i, perhaps the blue and white will have that extra bit of quality in the final third of the pitch to see off the Greeks. Itzhaki has appeared only 8 times for the national team, but is second in the Israeli Premier League this season with 9 goals.

Israel World Cup RSS Feed

del.icio.us:Barak is back, Israelis Ready for Greeks

digg:Barak is back, Israelis Ready for Greeks

newsvine:Barak is back, Israelis Ready for Greeks

reddit:Barak is back, Israelis Ready for Greeks

fark:Barak is back, Israelis Ready for Greeks

Y!:Barak is back, Israelis Ready for Greeks

stumbleupon:Barak is back, Israelis Ready for Greeks

Comments

By Ian | March 20th, 2009 at 5:00 pm

Do you think Israel has a chance? They’ve got a group that anyone can come out of (no automatic heavyweight – 2004 was a fluke), but finishing first will be really difficult. They need to be able to beat teams like Latvia if they want to make it to the World Cup. Everything comes down to the Greece matches, eh? Two in row is a pretty major hurdle.

By Ibracadabra | March 20th, 2009 at 7:11 pm

Ian -

You are spot on – everything comes down to these two matches. Israel need 3 Pts out of these 2 matches – a home win – to stay in the thick of things.

I think this group is the easiest group in Europe- and a draw like this comes only once in a century. If we can take care of business against the minnows, we will finish in 2nd position and have a chance to qualify through the playoff system (2nd place finishers in Europe play each other in a home and away fixture)…

I would LOVE it if we picked up 3 or 4 points from these two matches. LOVE IT.
Fingers crossed.

Comments are closed