Last update - 00:00 05/09/2006
Coach bars Israeli national soccer team from Madonna concert
By Moshe Boker
NIJMEGEN, Netherlands - Israel Football Association chairman Itche Menahem has voiced disappointment with the decision by national team coach Dror Kashtan to turn down his request to allow team players to travel Monday night to Amsterdam to attend a Madonna concert.
The affair began with an offer from Israeli businessman and Hapoel Tel Aviv sponsor Amnon Barzilai, who lives in Holland, to treat the players to the concert in Amsterdam, some 100 kilometers from the team's base in Nijmegen, where they're slated to host Andorra Wednesday in the second game of their Euro 2008 qualifying campaign.
"I don't understand Dror," Menachem said Monday. "Why is he opposed to the team going to the concert? There are two days to go until the game and there is no morning practice session tomorrow."
On hearing of Kashtan's decision, Barzilai was also disappointed: "It's a shame. I had 15 places in the VIP box and more tickets, at 500 euros apiece, for everyone in the squad; and it also included a festive dinner," Barzilai said.
"It could have been a wonderful evening, but I understand the commitment because of the game. The main thing is that they are successful."
The IFA officials with the squad were very unhappy with Kashtan's strict approach. "We could have given the players a great evening - a Madonna concert and dinner. All told, we have a game in two days' time against Andorra, which our second team could beat," said one.
As for the preparations for the game itself, the morning practice session saw Kashtan try out a lineup that included just one change from the team that beat Estonia on Saturday night - Gal Alberman in the midfield in place of Michael Zandberg.
Tomer Ben-Yosef, who did not train in the morning, tried to do so in the evening session but pulled out after only a few minutes. The defender, who has water on the knee, will not play tomorrow.
Team captain Yossi Benayoun gave his coach and teammates a bit of a scare toward the end of the evening session, when he went down with an injury, but it turned out to be only minor, and he should be fit for the clash.
Kashtan made his players sit through two viewings of their performance against Estonia in an effort to get them to learn from their mistakes.
"We are not talking about goal difference; we want to win," assistant coach Moshe Sinai said of Wednesday's game.
Asked to comment on the criticism the team has been under since Saturday, Sinai said: "It is already behind us, and I'm not interested in what people are saying or what happened. Against Andorra, we will try to win and put in a better performance; but the most important thing is to take the points."