Israel will be familiar test for Scotland
SCOTLAND kick off their Nations League campaign tonight against a familiar adversary, and one that they will face once again in a month’s time for our do- or- die Euro 2020 play- offs.
Since the two sides last met in November 2018, both nations have changed manager with Alex McLeish and Andi Herzog being replaced by Steve Clarke and Willi Ruttensteiner respectively, and both will be determined to ensure the new international campaign gets off to winning start.
The change in the away dugout might leave some to believe that Israel could represent something of an unknown quantity when the take to the Hampden turf tonight but Israeli football expert Raphael Gellar reckons the system employed by Scotland’s opponents tonight will be a familiar one – and pointed out a couple of crucial areas where the match will be won and lost.
Gellar said: “They’ll play three at the back and two very, very attacking wing- backs in a 3- 5- 2. The wing- backs are players that are very capable of good crosses and take over the spots of the wingers that would otherwise be there.
“They’re guys who have played basically their entire career really far up the pitch, which is also where they play for their clubs. Eli Dasa is at Vitesse in the Eredivisie and Taleb Tawatha is at Ludogorets in Bulgaria, and he played in the Bundesliga for Frankfurt.
“Dasa was probably one of the best players at Maccabi Tel Aviv before he moved to Vitesse. In terms of the midfield, I’m not exactly sure but it will probably be Dan Glazer and then up top, Eran Zahavi is always going to start no matter what.
“If Bibras Natkho is starting in the middle – which I think he will because he’s our captain – then yeah, it will be very attacking. At Partizan, they’re scoring a lot of goals and he plays as the playmaker even though he’s a number eight, he’s not a ten by any means.”
Zahavi, in particular, will be a key attacking threat for Israel tonight. The 33- year- old plies his trade in the Chinese Super
League but don’t let that fool you into thinking he’s simply enjoying one last pay day. As Gellar explains, nothing could be further from the truth – and it would be unfair to suggest that Israel are a one- man team in attack.
“The thing about him that’s always made him different from any player I’ve spoken to or met is that he always cares,” he said. “If he’s playing with his three- year- old kid in his garden he’s just as competitive.
“The reason that in China he scores 30 goals every season and is voted the best player in the league when there’s lots of better players than him in terms of their CVs and where they’ve come from is because he actually cares about playing. Every game is like a cup final.
“Next to him will probably be Moanes Dabour, who’s at Hoffenheim. He was a superstar at Red Bull Salzburg and got a move to Sevilla. It was a weird move, he signed in the January window to come in the summer and in that time, new people came in and didn’t want him.
“There were three strikers ahead of him and he didn’t really get any playing time, even though they bought him for 17 million euros. Then he got sold to Hoffenheim in the Bundesliga and has been doing good.
“An interesting thing to look out for is Shon Weissman, who was recently sold to La Liga. He was linked with Celtic but signed for Valladolid. He was sixth in the Golden Boot last year for Europe, he had 33 goals in the Austrian Bundesliga playing for Wolfsberger.”