Israel Loses All Hope: Benayoun Ruptures Achilles

October 8th, 2010 | by: Ibracadabra | Comments Off

Terrible news for the Israel national team in their quest to reach Euro 2012. The country’s greatest and most visible player, it’s Captain, the man who only a month ago scored a hat trick on international duty, Yossi Benayoun, has ruptured his Achilles.

Benayoun will now miss a large portion of the season for both club and country – and the Chelsea man will certainly see his Israel teammates fall out of the running for a Euro 2012 spot, as the likes of Croatia and Greece eventually sneak by in the group and make it to Russia and Poland in 2012…

It’s sad, but true. It’s just the reality of the situation in Israeli football at the moment. So much comes through Benayoun. He is a leader on and off the pitch. He instills confidence in the younger players (the team is incredibly young in comparison to other teams in its qualifying group). Sad stuff, really, for Israeli football fans everywhere.

To compound the issue, Israel’s “second star,” Baram Kayal of Celtic, is also out injured.

The one silver lining in the situation could be Hapoel Tel Aviv playmaker Gili Vermouth. Vermouth, who has one of the greatest surnames in world football surely, now has the big task of stepping into Benayoun’s shoes to take over the attacking creative midfielder designation. He’s quick and tricky, and can certainly put one in the back of the net, and this could be his “coming out” qualification campaign. With Benayoun fit, Israel were true contenders to finish 1st or 2nd in this group. Now, without their best player in a generation, Israel will still have hope that they can push for a 2nd place spot, but in my opinion, Croatia should run away with this group.