Like all the people of Israel, the football team will sit down tonight (Saturday) for Seder dinner – but while we sit down to a family meal, the players will be together in a hotel in Tel Aviv, where they will complete the preparations for the game against Scotland tomorrow in Bloomfield.
According to the players, there is a lot of pressure ahead of the game, when it is clear that losing points in it will make it difficult to achieve the goal set by Willy Rotensteiner: ending the campaign in at least third place. After the charged meeting held last night for the players, which was published on the Sports Channel website, today the team will already concentrate on the tactical preparation for the game against the Scots. Rotensteiner is planning some changes, with Neta Lavie and Sean Weissman in the lineup. If Dor Peretz continues in the link and is not adjusted to the third brake position as he played in the second half in the loss to Denmark, then Ofri Arad or Louis Taha will play alongside Eitan Tibi and Hatem Abdelhamid in the center of defense.
The results of the MRI examination that Eyal Golsa underwent, which was supposed to open against Scotland, caused Willy Rotensteiner to go for Plan B. The team manager summoned Biram Kiel for an urgent corona examination and the delegation waited for the results, which arrived just a few minutes before Shabbat began. Earlier, the national coach spoke with Kiel and made it clear that he is not coming as a first fiddle and it is not impossible that he will not play. Kiel, who went through a difficult season with quite a few injuries, is not interested. He wanted to get back on the team, even if it meant sitting on the bench and waiting for an opportunity. In a conversation between the two, Kiel told the coach that he is aware of the team’s rejuvenation process and that if they need him, he will be at his disposal.
Another player who underwent a corona test at the team’s hotel was Matan Baltexa. The defender, who can also play as a stopper, will get an answer this morning whether it was decided on time or not. In the meantime, he was asked to inform the family that it is not inconceivable that he will not do Seder with them.
Rotensteiner did not like the criticism leveled at him, but also knows that tomorrow’s victory will make people change their minds. The coach will continue with the three-brake line-up, although there have also been complaints from the locker room. In the offensive part, Moanes Dabour will try to train today and if he manages to complete a full training he will be on the roster. The players were given the opportunity yesterday to invite the families to the hotel for several hours. All of the tickets for tomorrow’s game were sold out as 30 percent of them, as well as in the previous game, were handed over to the medical teams that fought the Corona virus day and night.
