Turkish foe reminds Netanya of its woes

For Maccabi Netanya, meeting Galatasaray tonight in the third Europa League qualifying round is like looking in a mirror and seeing just how much the club is in dire straits.

During yesterday's practices, one could see the vast differences between the teams - greater than the differences in the resumes of Netanya coach Nati Azaria and his Dutch counterpart at the Turkish club, Frank Rijkaard.

Netanya, the host for the first leg of this round, is on the edge of an abyss, on the road to financial ruin. Officials are helpless amid the uncertainty about owner Daniel Jammer's future. Selling off players added NIS 2 million to club coffers, but the German owner put a moratorium on new deals and is busy getting the books in order. Club officials say the team is being strangled and they don't know what is happening with him.

Azaria, who replaced Lothar Matthaus two months ago, refused to throw in the towel. "The balance of forces is clear, like David and Goliath," said the coach in a press conference yesterday. "We'll come out brave and determined. We'll try to hurt them with a pebble between the eyes." He added that he doesn't know the meaning of hunkering down on defense and vowed that the team would take to the attack against the Turks.

Coach Rijkaard was blunt yet cautious in his talk with reporters yesterday. "It's understood that we are the favorite, but these kinds of matches - between a small team and a big team - are always tough," he said. "I haven't seen many games in the Israeli league," he conceded, "but I watched the national team compete against the elite national teams of other countries, and I know the Israeli players who play in Europe. Soccer is developing here."

Afterward, Rijkaard took his first steps on the Tel Aviv pitch, making polished passes to his goalkeeper coach. And while residents of Netanya were bemoaning their team's murky future, Turkish fans who already arrived in Israel came out to watch their idol.

Hundreds if not thousands of them will fill the stands at Bloomfield Stadium tonight. As for Netanya, not even Daniel Jammer plans to show up.