Israel bounce back to defeat Scotland

Israel v Scotland, Thursday 11 October 2018, Haifa, Israel

by Mark Szczuka

Israel came from behind to secure an important 2-1 victory over Scotland in their UEFA Nations League match in Haifa in northern Israel.

Scotland took the lead early on through a Charlie Mulgrew penalty in the 25th minute before Israel equalised early in the 2nd half. It went from bad to worse for Scotland as Souttar was then sent off after a 2nd yellow card after 61 minutes before Israel took the lead in the 74th minute from a Tierney own goal. It was a deserved victory for Israel who also hit the post twice and the bar during the match.

Expectations before the match for Israel were low, having only won two home matches in the previous five years, and those wins were against the lowly opposition of Andorra and Liechtenstein. This pessimism was reflected by a very low crowd of just over 10,000 which included around 1,500 Scottish fans who had made the 5,000 mile round trip.

Israel’s new manager Andy Herzog, who has only been in the job since the start of August, was delighted. The former Austrian player (who was their most capped player of all time) and the former USA Assistant Head coach from 2011 to 2016, said after the match:

“We’re one nothing down at half time, you have to convince your players that they go out (in the 2nd half) and do everything to win this game, and they did it, and that makes me really proud.”

Herzog admitted it was a tough final 15 minutes as his side pushed to get a 3rd while Scotland tried to get an equaliser. He was asked by one journalist in the press conference after the match

“At one moment I saw you throw your jacket down – you looked nervous.”
“Not nervous”, replied Herzog, just “pissed (off)!”

In contrast, Scotland manager Alex McLeish said after the match:

“We’re obviously gonna get a bit of stick from this”.

He was asked whether the 1,500 travelling Scottish fans booing his team off the pitch at the end of the match was merited. He replied:

“Fans can give players energy so I would urge fans to support our players. Israel deserved to win. We’ve not said we are at level that we should be qualifying for major tournaments. We need to get to a level where we can win matches consistently first. It was roasting out there and our players were dying on their feet. We need to pick up and win our next game.”

The result leaves all three teams in the Group level on three points after to games with one win and one defeat each. Israel have a chance to build on their success when they play host to Albania on Sunday night in Beersheba.

Israel XI: Harush, Dasa, Tibi, Yeini, Tawatha; Kayal, Natcho, Harush, Peretz, Ben Sahar, Dabbur

Scotland XI: McGregor, Tierney, O’Donnell, Mulgrew, Robertson, McGregor, McDonald, Souttar, McGinn, Russell, Naismith