Maor Rahmani 25/01/2021 12:00
Willy Rotensteiner (Football Association)
For the first time since it was decided that he will continue in his role as coach of the Israeli national team in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers, Willy Rotensteiner spoke today (Monday) for the first time at a joint press conference, which was held due to corona restrictions, with the chairman of the Football Association, Oren Hasson. The national team in the upcoming campaign as well, on the continuation of Rotensteiner’s path as a coach and the search for a new professional manager.
As a reminder, Rotensteiner was unable to lead the Israeli team to the Euros to be held this summer after the team surrendered 5: 3 to Scotland in Glasgow in a penalty shootout after 0: 0 in 120 minutes in the semi-finals of the promotion to the Euros. The team also finished in third place at home which included the Czech Republic, Scotland and Slovakia in the second tier of the League of Nations, which led to the team remaining in the tier in the next League of Nations campaign as well.
Rotensteiner He said: “I look forward to the upcoming games and hope the crowd can come in. It is a great honor and a great pleasure for me to coach the Israeli team. The main question is what we want to achieve this year and that is a difficult question, but I worked and marked seven goals. Obviously we have a certain philosophy and I will do my best to assist the new technical manager to continue on our path. The Israeli team is the business card of Israeli football and my goal is to lead the team to success, this team fights to the last second and we never give up and give everything for the audience and the country. We are 87th in the world rankings, so we want to advance and we have a big vision to climb in the rankings to the top 30 area. My goal is to move up at least to the third tier in the rankings for the next campaign, we played well against Scotland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, but the goal is to keep moving forward to achieve our goals. We want to play at a higher intensity and move the ball faster. The improvement in the Israeli league is very positive for me, we want to move forward on the way to achieving our goals. It is not right for us to mark goals in terms of position in the campaign because we have strong teams with us like Denmark, Austria and Scotland. Our goal is to take points already in the upcoming game against Denmark. We want to believe in Israeli football, the Israeli players and our team, we focus on our abilities and our qualities and not on problems, we can make it happen if we believe, we have excellent players. Young players get a tremendous opportunity with us, not just Manor Solomon. Giving the stage to such players and building them into international football is the sixth goal. We also have Sean Weissman in Spain and other players. The seventh goal is the crowd, a lot of people love the team and we want that when the corona issue is resolved we will attract a crowd to the pitches, that is a very big goal for us. I started working on these goals to make them a reality. I also ask the media to take part in this process, obviously if things do not go right you can criticize, but it is important to me that you support our path. We have the motivation and strength to do it and achieve our goals and that is what I ask of every player and team member, I want to see these goals reflected in the upcoming World Cup qualifying campaign ”.
Continue his career as national team coach: “The committee has made a decision and there is a certain philosophy about my future and the decision to appoint a new professional manager so I don’t think I should answer that.”
On the condition of Lior Rapalov, who was not cashed for the national team despite being selected as the player of the season in Belgium: “You are right that the Israeli team only succeeds when everyone stays together, but it is very important that everyone works in order for the team to look good and succeed. I have no problem with Lior Rapalov, I congratulate him on his impressive achievement in Belgium, he showed great ability. I try to call the best players in my eyes and know the professional team, the players who will integrate in the best way and help the team. If I see fit, I will also summon Raphaelov, the door is open. We follow all the players and then make the decision about the summonses, our decision will be in March and it could be that Lior will be summoned and it could also be that not, we are watching but everyone. We examine each week the productivity and ability of the players and ultimately invite those who are most suitable for the team. I appreciate him very much, he is an experienced and great player and I congratulated him on his achievement, we will see what happens next “.
About Liel worked: “I was in the game of Maccabi Petah Tikva and it was a good game, but I do not want to treat a single player. I want to help young players get better and develop and such players are always welcomed in the national team. I also concentrate on watching the young teams and we have excellent young players and we want to develop them and if it is possible to include young players in the senior team, this is of course a goal for us. “
About Alon Hazan: “I have a high quality team and it is important to me that the professional team remains like this, but it is clear that there are more options but there may be options open and I always want first and foremost the success of the association on all the different teams.”
About Beavers Natcho: “I had a good conversation with Beavers and he is an excellent player, from the captain to the young players, the summons to the team comes according to the ability of the players. I can not say in advance what will happen, but I appreciate our leaders in the team. “
sturdy He said: “As inconceivable as it sounds, we are preparing for the third time to start football in the Corona period and it requires a lot of preparation financially and logistically and it is not a simple challenge for us. To my delight, the operation of the teams has been maintained as it is at the international level. We signed an agreement with the United Arab Emirates Association in accordance with the peace agreement between the countries and even appointed a project manager, Yariv Tepper, for that purpose and I hope to see results soon. As you know, Willy Rotensteiner has been appointed coach of the team and our tasks are quite many to appoint coaches for the various teams. “
“I was asked after we appointed Rotensteiner if we lost the road, then we did not lose the road, we have the Israeli road led by Rotensteiner and we stand behind this road. Everyone who joins the association will adopt the compass of this Israeli way because we have built something for the coming years. When I took the job I said I would invest in children and youth and turn the pyramid upside down and so I do. We are in the year of Corona and we established the first academy in Mikhmoret and there are 23 children from the 2007 yearbook who are already there and working and it was a very difficult task and for us it is the spearhead. In addition, we have opened three centers of excellence in the Galilee, Ashkelon and Ramat Gan landscapes, and I think that this investment gives us hope for the continuation of the work of the young teams. We are going to double the team house in Shefayim and we will clean two more development houses for the teams in Mizra and Ashkelon, it was a difficult task this year and we met it. As for the locating committee, there was a very big cloud whether we could carry out the international activity when we set up the locating committee and set two goals, one goal to qualify for the euro, which we did not succeed and another goal, to stay in the second tier of the League of Nations. To my great joy, we managed to meet this goal. “
“We were debating whether to continue the collaboration with Rotensteiner, whether he would be technical director or continue as coach, and in the end, we decided that he would continue as coach of the Israeli team. We knew that for a long time he would not be able to serve as both the national team coach or the technical director. Of course he will continue to assist the technical manager who will step into his shoes and in the coming weeks will be a manager for the young teams and will be responsible for appointing the coaches. When we talked about the goals for the 2022 World Cup qualifiers we saw the change in the team during this period and our team is run today in a very professional way and I think we see the results and reap the rewards. We were drawn for a very attractive home and the goal is very clear, to be competitive and to accumulate enough points in order to earn points to return in the next campaign to the 3rd level we lost in the last campaign. The two games against Denmark and Scotland will be held at Bloomfield Stadium as we very much hope it will be possible to allow the crowd to enter. We are in dialogue with the Ministry of Sports and the Ministry of Health regarding the situation. There are two more months and we are seeing the pace of vaccinations and our ambition is for the team to connect in this campaign again to the fans who are sorely lacking. “
The decision to appoint Rotensteiner as national team coach and look for a new technical director: “First of all, I will say very clearly that from the moment I arrived at the association I think it is true that the technical director will be fully engaged in the development of football and will have a coach who will focus on the team. This is what we decided on in the selection committee as soon as we decided to appoint Willy Rotensteiner as the team coach. You are welcome to come to the team houses and see the activity. The goal is for the professional manager to concentrate on the young team and below, there are very many tasks there. We have invested huge sums of money there compared to what was customary in the past, so our decision is to make a separation. Our path is known and very clear and that is what we are aiming for. “
What made Rotensteiner the national team coach: “I think the last campaign was a very good campaign, I do not remember the Israeli team playing seven games so well against teams that are ranked above us, the Israeli team was equal between three very good teams and I enjoyed seeing the Israeli team in recent months, against other members The committee, although we were unable to rise to the euro. We were far from penalties for this purpose. I think Willy proved that he brought the Israeli team to play good football against teams much better than us and so he continued as the team coach. It was claimed that Rotensteiner had almost finished his journey and I do not want to comment on gossip, the dispute between us was economic because of the Corona crisis and we finally reached an understanding and therefore, I think it is not correct to say that he was a step away from ending his journey. “
The affair of Omer Atzili and Dor Micha and the possibility of being summoned to the team: “If and when the coach decides they deserve to be on the roster then we will be required for details because I do not know the details of the event. If and when we are required to do this we will look into the matter. I am not a judge, but it is clear that the victims in this incident are the girls. “
The search for a technical manager: “We are in the process of appointing a technical director and the ambition is to appoint an Israeli technical director, we are looking for someone who was either a coach or a player, we built a very neat profile that we built at the time with Willy, this is our goal in the coming month. We are at the beginning of the process. The ambition is to appoint someone Israeli, whom Willie will accompany and help him get into the position, we are looking for someone for the long term, it is a move of years. I believe and hope that this will happen in the coming month. “
The saga of the sale of 50 percent of Beitar Jerusalem to Sheikh Hatem bin Khalifa and the Committee for the Transfer of Rights: “I am not a member of the Committee on the Transfer of Rights, it is an independent committee headed by a judge that examines the documents and the whole issue. But I can say that we will not move an inch from our requirements and our criteria. What you know you already know and what is not better to stay on the committee. There are very clear requirements and everyone has to meet the requirements. “
The actions taken to restore football activity even in the lower leagues: I, too, the general manager of the association and everyone who wraps up the football work to restore activity as quickly as possible in all the leagues. We managed to bring football back and proved that the contagion in football is very low. “We prepared in advance and determined that this season will be a leaner season and we also dealt with a scenario where the season will not end, but we will not get there, we will finish the season, we will do everything to end this season, we work around the clock so that football in all leagues returns.”
The investigation into the association employee suspected of theft: “Since this is a personal matter of a person, I can say that irregularities were discovered and we acted very harshly, we said goodbye to that person and filed a complaint, although no I can not deal with it beyond that.”
Appointment of the coach before the technical director and the candidates for the position of technical director: “I think we have a staff of very talented players and a team that overall has done well. When I came to the association, I said that if we want to bring hope and change to Israeli football, we need to invest in children and youth, our level of investment today in issues has risen very, very high. I have no doubt that we currently need to appoint the same technical manager and the system, which consists of a lot of people, is currently working well, we are not in a hurry, we will find but the right technical manager. I had conversations with Yossi Benyon and that unfortunately did not happen, but we will find the technical director we want to appoint. “
The transfer window and the closing of the sky: “This is a new reality that we encountered and also acted in the previous transfer window and we even managed to create another transfer window and we are working on the issue with FIFA and hope we will be in line, we have already acted and I hope we can announce the results soon.”
Why does not want a foreign technical manager: “We had a dilemma in this matter and we have not yet made a final decision, we will not compromise until we find the right person to fit the profile. I consulted with Willy Rotensteiner on the subject and there is an advantage in an Israeli technical director who can accept the overlap from Willy and enter the position properly. We are in the execution stages of our program and with Willy I believe we will find the right person, who can come in and be built in this role. We want to make sure in front of the candidates that they will continue on our path and be able to get the support from Willy. “
