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Soccer / Spirits sky-high as Israel readies for Cup qualifier against Latvia By Moshe Boker Israel's national team, fresh off Saturday's 3-1 defeat of Luxembourg, will meet Latvia today in Riga in its next World Cup qualifying Europe Group 2 encounter. The players' spirits are high ahead of the match, not least Dudu Awat, who has turned into the team's king of comedy. During the flight from Luxembourg to Riga he serenaded his teammates in song, and on the earlier flight from Israel to Luxembourg he delivered a stand-up routine that had his teammates rolling in the aisles. Advertisement The fact that Nir Davidovich, his chief rival for the goalkeeper's shirt, has been sent home secured Awat's position for the next two games and may have played a part in his elevated mood. "This team has players with tremendous heart. It's fun to come play with them. There are young, talented players here, and the social situation is the best there has ever been," Awat said. Yossi Benayoun, recovering from an ankle injury, trained yesterday in a personal session with coach Dror Kashtan and assistant coaches. "We decided to hold a private training session with him so that he could feel the ball. That's very important, because he didn't participate in the last practice in Luxembourg," said a member of the coaching staff. Both Benayoun and Gal Alberman, who is also suffering from an ankle knock, underwent physiotherapy in recent days, and Tal Ben Haim has recovered sufficiently from his own leg injury to play in tonight's match. When asked yesterday about what the future would hold for the team should it win in Riga, Kashtan kept mum - perhaps because he'd rather not provide the press with ready-made headlines, or perhaps because he is simply thinking ahead. What is clear is that Kashtan, ever superstitious, is not one to mess with a winning roster, and the line-up assembled to take on Luxembourg will remain largely intact. In Monday's practice, Maor Buzaglo filled in for Benayoun while the Liverpool midfielder underwent X-rays. After doctors gave Benayoun the all-clear, Buzaglo resigned himself to opening the Latvia match on the bench. Yesterday Kashtan said he hopes the team can put away Latvia and fill Ramat Gan National Stadium for the March 28, 2009 game against Israel's next opponent, Greece, should that team win or draw against Switzerland today. He said that Israel's supporters should take a page from the Swiss fans, who continued to back their team unconditionally even after its ignominious 2-1 loss last month to the Lilliputians of Luxembourg. "Yesterday the guys watched footage of the Latvian team, and they will again today. They will learn Latvia inside and out. This is their third straight away match. If we win, any result from the Switzerland-Greece game will be in our favor," Kashtan said. "Everyone here sees the atmosphere that's taken hold of the team. These are players with a strong commitment to the team. I enjoy being with them every minute," the coach added. Midfielder Biram Kiyal echoed Kashtan's sentiments. "From my perspective, being on the Israeli national team is a dream. This is the greatest place in the world for me," he said. "I'm only 20. Imagine what a feeling it is that in a year I'll play for the under-21 team in the European Championship and in two years in the World Cup with the senior team. There are players who didn't accomplish that much in 40 years," he added. "This isn't a team that has the mannerisms of stars," Kashtan said. "It's a quiet team, a team of nice boys." Bookmark to del.icio.us   Israel policy Obama camp dismisses Jesse Jackson's remarks on ridding the U.S. of 'Zionist control.' Welcome to AqsaTube The Palestinian militant group Hamas launches its own version of YouTube.

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