The moment he was called up to the Israeli senior team Muhammad Canaan Will not forget for a long time. He was convinced that Sharan Ben Shimon was working on him. Another one of the cynical exits of the coach who has promoted him quite a bit in the last year. After the victory over Betar Jerusalem in the cup and the immigration to the quarterfinals, while players celebrated in the locker room, Ben Shimon called him and quietly told him about the summons. “Stop arguing with me,” Canaan replied. The coach took out his mobile device and showed him a message It is the only summons of the Ashdod player to play against Denmark, Scotland and Moldova.
Canaan, who celebrated his 21st birthday in January, could have played for the young team, but like Orr Balorian and Liel Abda, it was decided to bounce him a grade. Ashdod’s great season and his ability have not gone unnoticed by Willy Rotensteiner. Although he scored only one goal and cooked three more, his ability is far beyond numbers.
“My darling is one with eyes open for learning. Once you are open to it, there are people around him who will help him,” he says. Ben Shimon, Who helped Canaan’s breakout, “Hamudi is an educated child, fun to work with such a person. His potential is much higher than where he is. When you walk into a locker room and ask who wants to succeed, everyone will raise their hand, but he will also be willing to do anything to succeed”.
“I chased him when he played in Nahalal,” he says Avraham Aboukaret“I wanted to bring him in earlier, but they did not release him because he was a key player there. I saw that he had the style of Biram Kiel, both defense and offense. I felt that a player grew up here, and he got the “I have the whole stage. Understanding his game, the ability to take the ball and go from defense to attack, is not something that can be taught.
When he was in the fifth grade, even before he came to Nahalal, Canaan came to be tested at Maccabi Haifa, but was not accepted. At the age of 18 he hired the services of his uncle Dahan, who took him to exams in Belgium. Haifa did not like it, and in the end Jackie Ben Zaken jumped on the bargain, which cost him only 450,000 NIS. This was the highest amount Ashdod paid for a youth player until then. Ben Zaken transferred 12 checks to Yankele Shachar and the deal was closed. “If he had stayed at Maccabi Haifa, he would have ended up in the Galilee landscape, at best,” says a player close to the player.
Canaan was born into a football family in Majdal Krum, not far from the home of Dia Seba and Ataa Jaber. His brother Amir still plays as a brake and left defender in the locality and his father, Muniv, was a back contact and a prominent player. Until the seventh grade, Canaan hardly knew Hebrew, but from the beginning he was labeled one who could go far thanks to explosive power, work ethic and a powerful kick in both legs. Problem: Sometimes it drips too much.
When a player gets a summons he is on the way gets a call from the national coach or his assistant. Canaan did not seek it. We did not call Rotensteiner or confusion, but it did not matter. For him, he fulfilled another dream of both his own and his father’s. Upon receiving the summons the phone exploded from messages. Prominent was that of the good friend from the sector, Muhammad Abu Fani, who is more or less playing for his team squad.
Canaan is now in a natural place for him. He went through all the young teams, with Alon Hazan being the one who believed in him the most. He is not currently considered the national coach’s favorite, but the foothold is already a start. He told his friends that if they had asked at the beginning of the season if Ashdod would be in the top three at the end of the regular season, probably no one would have gambled on it. He was also not gambled on as a legitimate player on the team. Now he will wait for the opportunity and if she arrives, as in Ashdod, he will not let her slip out of hand.
