The question may seem like a simple one, but it has divided Israeli soccer over
the past couple of years.
Is the Israel national team better off with or
without Yossi Benayoun?
Benayoun is arguably the greatest player in Israel's
history.
However, there are those who claim that the 32-year-old’s
presence in the blue-and-white squad has harmed rather than helped Israel’s
chances over recent campaigns.
Naturally, Benayoun is not the player he
was 10 or even five years ago.
He has suffered the inevitable decline in
form experienced by every player who has ever grown older and edged ever closer
towards the twilight of his career.
Nevertheless, few people question
that Benayoun remains one of the country’s best players, albeit an aging
one.
So why has Israel coach Eli Gutman lost so much sleep regarding
whether or not to call up Benayoun, not to mention use him in the starting
lineup, since he took the helm in December 2011? Gutman named Benayoun to his
squad at the start of the 2014 World Cup qualifying campaign, but soon dropped
him, as well as the likes of Tal Ben-Haim, Itay Shechter and Ben Sahar, due to
their lack of playing time for their respected club sides.
Following the
4-0 home humbling at the hands of Russia last September, the coach declared that
there was no substitute for playing time and that he would only call up players
who see significant action on a weekly basis.
With Benayoun seeing little
of the field at Arsenal last season and missing much of the first half of this
season at West Ham United due to injury, Gutman felt he had no option but to
drop the long-time captain so that it would be clear that no Israeli player is
immune to the new policy.
Almost 14 years after making his debut for the
national team, the Chelsea midfielder was cut for professional reasons for the
first time ahead of October’s qualifiers against Luxembourg.
The
blue-and-white managed just fine without him, thrashing Luxembourg twice in five
days to climb up to second place in Group F ahead of the powerful Portugal on
goal difference.
The general consensus among experts was that Benayoun’s
absence allowed the likes of Maor Melikson, Bibras Natcho and Maharan Radi to
flourish in the midfield.
Finally they were able to escape the massive
shadow cast by the slenderly-built Benayoun.
However, can matches against
the lowly Luxembourg really testify to any significant change to the makeup of
the national team? Gutman clearly doesn’t think so as he recalled Benayoun, as
well as Ben-Haim and Shechter, for the upcoming qualifiers against Portugal on
Friday and at Northern Ireland next Tuesday.
Benayoun returned to Chelsea
in January after West Ham chose not to renew his loan deal and he has since made
just seven appearances, starting twice.
Nevertheless, Gutman
understandably decided to make an exception to his rule as Benayoun is a member
of one of the biggest clubs in the world, which doesn’t explain the call ups of
Ben-Haim, who has played just once for QPR since February, and Shechter, who has
made only four appearances for Swansea City in 2013.
Gutman has yet to
reveal the role he plans to allocate Benayoun against Portugal. However, the
veteran, who is only four appearances shy of equaling Arik Benado’s Israel
record of 94 caps and is also ranked second all-time with his 24 goals for the
blueand- white, hinted on Twitter that it may well be a minor one.
“I
spoke to Eli and he shard his game-plan with me,” Benayoun wrote. “I’m proud to
be part of the squad. I appreciate and respect the coach’s attitude.
I’m
happy to come to Israel and be part of the great effort and contribute as
captain both on and off the field.”
The early indications are that Gutman
plans to use Benayoun as no more than a substitute against Portugal. That could
change, of course, by Friday, as Gutman continues to grapple with the Benayoun
dilemma.
Benayoun is no longer capable of carrying the side on his
scrawny shoulders the way he used to years ago, but to ignore the extraordinary
gifts he still possesses would be foolish.
Anyway I look at it, Benayoun
should not only be part of the squad, but he should also be in the starting
lineup on Friday.
Finding the right combination to play along with
Benayoun is not easy, but that is Gutman’s job.
allon@jpost.com
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