Israel boss Herzog felt full force of Eck clash

ALEX McLEish made his mark on Andreas herzog when he left the Austrian legend with a dislocated shoulder in september 1989. The coach of israel (below) can laugh about it now. Three decades ago, an old-fashioned introduction to the niceties of scottish defending prompted a rather different reaction. ‘i know a lot about scottish football, especially the coach Alex McLeish,’ said herzog yesterday as he recalled that 2-1 UEFA Cup defeat at Pittodrie. ‘i played against him when he played for Aberdeen and i was at Rapid Vienna. ‘in the home game against Aberdeen he tackled me from behind and i dislocated my shoulder — this was my first experience!’ Laughing off the notion of seeking revenge over the scotland coach in a must-win Nations League clash in haifa this evening, herzog added: ‘it is fine, it was a long time ago. i am not sure he will even remember. ‘This is just a funny part of the game — but i know the scottish teams are always tough to beat. ‘They have a great mentality and i played against them in the Under-21 championships — they were always close games and i expect the same tomorrow. ‘But if we do the right things and move forward faster than we did against Northern ireland (in a 3-0 friendly defeat last month) then i think we will cause some problems.’ Appointed israel coach in August, scotland mark the first competitive home game in herzog’s tenure. An anticipated crowd of around 10,000 in the space-age sammy Ofer stadium will be a sign of the apathy surrounding the israeli national team since last month’s 1-0 defeat to Albania. he said: ‘We have to go into the game with great passion, fighting spirit and with our technical ability and then we will have a really good game. i don’t want my team to put too much pressure on themselves, but if we are to have a chance of qualifying we must win tomorrow. ‘i want my players to convince the supporters of the future and the new team. But first we have to perform well, otherwise it is just talking.’