Soccer: National team to play local foreigners in friendly match

The match will be Israel's last ahead of the Euro 2008 qualifier against Croatia next Saturday.

By ALLON SINAI
israel soccer 298.88 (photo credit: Asaf Kliger)
israel soccer 298.88
(photo credit: Asaf Kliger)
The Israel national team will play a side of foreign all-stars on Tuesday in Ashkelon in an exhibition match for the children of Sderot and the Gaza periphery communities. The match will be Israel's last ahead of the Euro 2008 qualifier against Croatia next Saturday. The national team will have to manage without its foreign based players Yossi Benayoun (Liverpool), Tal Ben-Haim (Chelsea), Dudu Awat (Deportivo La Coruna), Roberto Colautti (Bourussia Monchengladbach) and Pini Balili (Sivasspor), who remained with their clubs. Squad members from Hapoel Tel Aviv will also not take any part in the match, with Hapoel flying out to Sweden on Tuesday ahead of its UEFA Cup match against AIK Solna on Thursday. Ze'ev Haimovitch and Itzik Azuz of Bnei Yehuda were called up to the squad for the first time, with Maccabi Netanya midfielder Tamir Cohen also set to make his Israel debut on Tuesday. The foreign all-star team is made-up from players based in Israel, with national team goalkeeping coach Alexander Uvarov set to guide the side. Tvrtko Kale, Derek Boateng, Gustavo Boccoli and Yannick Kamanan are four of the players who are expected to play a major part in Tuesday's match. One player who will not be playing in Ashkelon, but could be taking part in a similar kind of match in the near future is former Betar Jerusalem player Jose Ramalho. The Brazilian midfielder, who only played for Betar for half of last season, agreed personal terms with Maccabi Tel Aviv on Monday and is expected to sign with the club after Tuesday's training session.