Soccer / War of attrition

TBILISI, Georgia - With an easy win already in its pocket, Israel's Euro 2012 campaign really gets underway tonight in this Eastern European capital. While Israel disposed of Malta 3-1 last week, Georgia pulled off a creditable 1-1 draw in Greece.

Head coach Luis Fernandez dropped his smiles of the previous day and played the tactician yesterday during practice, refusing to reveal his starting lineup. "Don't pay attention to my practice," he said. "This isn't the starting 11."

	Israel celebrating one of Yossi Benayoun’s goals against Malta last week.
	Photo by: Nir Kediar

Fernandez said he would only reveal the final lineup two hours before kickoff. While he tried out Gal Shish at left-back, Dedi Ben Dayan is likely to retain his starting position despite his disappointing performance last week. Another question mark is whether Fernandez will start with Eran Zehavi, Almog Cohen and Beram Kayal in midfield or bring back Tamir Cohen as a defensive midfielder. Fernandez said that in any case the lineup won't be defensive with the likes of Yossi Benayoun and Lior Rafaelov playing.

Gil Vermouth will likely start the game on the bench. "Vermouth is very talented, he can start and finish a game as well, but if he starts he won't make the difference because they will attack from the first moment," said the coach. "The first half hour will be very difficult for us. The players need to grasp that they are going to suffer because the draw in Greece gave the Georgians a great deal of confidence."

Fernandez added that his plan is to protect the goal, tire out the Georgians and then Vermouth will come in fresh and make the difference.

"Georgia has dangerous, disciplined players and a strong, solid defense," said Fernandez. "I want to win, but a draw would be good, too. One game doesn't decide the qualifiers."

The coach recalled fond memories, such as beating Dinamo Tbilisi and advancing with Athletic Bilbao to the Champions League in the Georgian stadium.

The Georgian side held its final practice yesterday before meeting the Israelis. Temuri Ketsbaia, the national team coach, is credited in the local press for rallying the country around his squad.

Ketsbaia is primarily focused on Benayoun, who joined the Israeli team yesterday. "Benayoun is a great player," he said. "The team has good players, but if we shut down Yossi Benayoun, we basically shut down the Israeli squad. The Israeli team is as good as Georgia."

Some 50,000 spectators are expected for the game, and the fans could make it very difficult for Israel to play.