Nimni: Fans could inspire win
Israel captain Avi Nimni believes the country’s supporters could carry the side to what he feels would be one of the best results in their history.
For the first time since a World Cup play-off game against Colombia in 1989, no tickets will be on sale on the day for Israel’s Group Four match against the Republic of Ireland as the Ramat-Gan Stadium is a 41,000 sell out.
The reason is two fold: Israel are riding the crest of a footballing wave as they are in with a chance of reaching their first World Cup finals since 1970 following an unbeaten start to their campaign, trailing Ireland and France on goal difference after four games.
The match also follows hot on the heels of the festival of Purim, which began today and is one of the most-celebrated dates in the Jewish calendar.
Israel follow this Saturday’s match with another home fixture on Wednesday against the French, with the back-to-back games pivotal to their hopes of qualifying.
Maccabi Tel Aviv midfielder Nimni said: “The whole country is going crazy for these two matches, which is good for morale.
“We believe we have a good chance to get a result because we’re playing at home and we have the support of our fans.
“But we are not getting excited more than we need to. We will simply play the match and hopefully succeed.”
Yet Nimni, who once played five matches in a two-month loan spell for Derby at the end of 1999 and start of 2000, believes Ireland pose the greater threat to Israel’s ambitions than France.
“Qualifying depends on what we do in these two games,” added Nimni.
“We take the Irish side seriously because we know they are a good team and playing well at the moment, with Damien Duff their best player because of what Chelsea are doing in the Premiership and Champions League.
“I certainly think Ireland are the better team right now than France. They are strong in attack with Robbie Keane, Duff and Clinton Morrison, while their spirit is dangerous for us.
“Because Zinedine Zidane no longer plays for France they have a problem, and with Thierry Henry out injured they are not as good right now as Ireland.
“But both Ireland and France are better teams than us. There is a gap, although we have our fans and we will try and feed on that.”
There is almost the feeling, though, that after holding France to a goalless draw in Paris – as Ireland managed – then drawing at home to Switzerland and beating Cyprus home and away, Israel have already peaked.
“Our coach, Avraham Grant, deserves a lot of credit for getting us to this stage where we are level with teams who are better than us. It is a big achievement,” said Nimni.
“When we arrived in France, everybody thought we would be turned over, but we weren’t. We played a good defensive game and we got what we wanted.
“We also got an historic victory in Cyprus which no-one ever predicted we would do, and now we will have to wait and see how we stand at the end of this game.
“But to beat Ireland would be one of the best results in our history.”
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