Date: 02/09/2011
Competition: Euro 2012 Qualifiers
Match: Israel vs. Greece
Pick: Draw at Half Time @ 2.10
Stake: 6 Units
Venue: Bloomfield Stadium, Tel Aviv
Kick-Off: 14:05
Israel is in a must-win sitiuation here, in order to keep their qualification chances alive. They are currently placed 3rd in the Group F table, trailing leaders Greece by 1 point, yet they have already played one game more than both rivals Greece and Croatia. Israel have dropped precious points so far, suffering defeats from Greece in Athens and from Croatia in Ramat Gan, while they played out a goalless draw in Georgia. Luis Fernandez's team has no other option than to win on Friday, before traveling to Zagreb. New Arsenal signing Yossi Benayoun returns to the squad and the attacking midfielder will captain the Israeli team. Striker Ben Sahar and winger Elyaniv Barda are sidelined with injuries.
It's kind of strange that while Israeli teams have a good tradition against Greek opponents, it's the other way around with the national teams of those countries. It was a few weeks ago when Maccabi Tel Aviv thrashed Panathinaikos 3-0 at Bloomfield Stadium and last year the same team had knocked Olympiakos out of the Champions League. However Israel has not won any of the 5 encounters against Greece, in fact they have lost four and drew just one.
Fernando Santos is aiming to extend the unbeaten run of 12 games. Greece have recorded 7 wins and 5 draws in the 12 games after the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. The next couple of games are crucial and two wins against Israel and Latvia will boost their chances ahead of the clash with Croatia in October. Santos is expected to field a defensive team, looking to avoid early surprises and find a goal from set-pieces or Salpingidis in counter-attacks. The problem is that due to the turmoil in the Greek Super League, some players have not reached the desired fitness level.
In my opinion, Israel are rightfully the favourites in this match, since I also give them the edge over their opponents. However I expect that this will be a low-scoring affair and the draw at half-time is the most probable result (possibly a stalemate).
H2H STATS
28/03/2009 Israel vs. Greece: 1-1 (X)