Yossi Benayoun is not going to be playing for his national side Israel in the forthcoming Euro qualifying matches.
The veteran midfielder, who is also the skipper of the Israeli side, had participated in the training camp the previous month, but, he failed to leave any impression on the boss Eli Guttman with his form.
One more big name is missing from the squad named by Guttman. It’s the striker Eden Ben Basat. The 28-year old had found the net 6 times in the World Cup qualifiers that he had played. So, his exclusion is eyebrow-raising to some extent.
As far as Benayoun is concerned, he had suffered muscle strain recently, but, he had shrugged that off to play his first match for his new club Maccabi Haifa. After that game, he had told the press that he expects himself to be in the squad for the Euro qualifiers, but, unfortunately for him, that was not to be.
Tal Ben Haim will probably be wearing the armband on the place of Benayoun.
Israel will also be having a new man standing between the sticks for them. Their regular stopper Dudu Awat has called it a day and it’s Ariel Haroush who would probably be replacing him.
There are a few guys who have been called back as well. Ben Sahar is the most notable name out of those. The striker who had been signed by Chelsea at the age of 17 only is currently playing in Netherlands. He has more than 30 caps for Israel already.
Most of the Israeli players are believed to gather in Shefayim tomorrow. The players, who are playing in Europe, would be coming a few days later, probably next week.
Israel will first play versus Cyprus and then, versus Andorra.
