A raw, passionate take on Israel’s tough night against Ireland. This video goes beyond tactics to ask what pride, leadership, and fighting spirit should look like in a national team—and what the rematch could mean. Watch and join the conversation.
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0:00 - The Match and the Players’ Troubling Prematch Conduct
1:13 - A Disgraceful, Submissive Performance
2:51 - Players Failed to Defend Their Honor
4:21 - Tactics Cannot Replace Leadership
6:11 - A Lack of Grit and Self-Respect
7:20 - Expectations for the Return Match
We're now available on Spotify! Listen now https://open.spotify.com/show/033HmOTGXdiIuqLgsDJijd
Subscribe for more soccer talk.
Comment what stood out most to you.
#Soccer #Football #Sports #Israel #Ireland
👉 This channel was created in collaboration with https://www.youtube.com/@pinibarel
0:00 - The Match and the Players’ Troubling Prematch Conduct
1:13 - A Disgraceful, Submissive Performance
2:51 - Players Failed to Defend Their Honor
4:21 - Tactics Cannot Replace Leadership
6:11 - A Lack of Grit and Self-Respect
7:20 - Expectations for the Return Match
We're now available on Spotify! Listen now https://open.spotify.com/show/033HmOTGXdiIuqLgsDJijd
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PeopleTranscript
00:00It's hard for me to even know how to start this video, because honestly, I don't remember the last time
00:03I made a video like the one I'm about to make now.
00:06After all, I cover soccer and basketball here. At least I try to do it as professionally as possible, to
00:10talk about all the games, less about the sensational stuff or going into cliches like war, not wanting it enough,
00:16playing for pride.
00:17But this game between the Israel national team and Ireland was a game that was much more than just another
00:21game. It wasn't just another game.
00:23And what we saw here from the Israel national team, specifically in this game, was in my opinion the most
00:27disgraceful performance and truly a huge embarrassment, the likes of which I don't remember seeing from the Israel national team.
00:32I can't remember when the team or any team made me feel the way I felt in this game against
00:36Ireland.
00:37And I really don't like to use these words, but these words are completely fitting in the current situation, because
00:41what the players did here from the moment they stepped onto the field was simply to grovel.
00:45And you know something? It was even before they stepped onto the field, because I'm recording this now, you know,
00:50one take after the game against Ireland, I don't have any script or anything here, but even before the game
00:54started, there was all the behavior at the press conferences, a very weak attitude that I found very hard to
00:59relate to.
00:59That's why even before the game I didn't comment publicly, because I wanted to respond, and I was already reacting
01:03very emotionally even before the game.
01:05I made a video and shelved it, because honestly the video was very emotional in my eyes, and I said,
01:09wait, wait, hold on, maybe I'm reacting the wrong way here, and maybe they're actually doing things right.
01:13But all this weak behavior against a racist team, and yes, we should call them racists, not just anti-Semites,
01:20racists, who aren't even willing to shake our hands, and we come to the press conference and say, we want
01:25peace, we want to be nice.
01:26That's exactly what the players did when they got on the field, their intentions were peaceful, they didn't go into
01:31tackles, they avoided physical contact, and I know people are going to write to me now, listen P, their team
01:35is more physical than ours, so what?
01:38There's a difference between being physical and being aggressive, and our players from the start of the game were unbearably
01:43and unacceptably soft, especially when you're playing against people who hate you the way the Irish hate us.
01:49Calling the Irish a limited team is actually a big compliment.
01:52The differences between us really aren't that big, even though they have Premier League and Championship players, Championship, it's all
01:56true, and they're more physical than us.
01:58But seeing our players, really, it looked like they were being careful with their own legs, seeing an Israel national
02:03team player commit a foul on someone, and then reach out a hand to help him up, only for the
02:08other guy to look him in the eye and just wave him off.
02:10This lack of self-respect just drives me crazy, really, it drives me crazy, these are things I just can't
02:15accept, I have no problem losing, I have no problem with the island national team beating us, I have a
02:19problem with the way we lost.
02:20It's a huge stain on every single one of the players, and also on Ranben Shimon, I know a lot
02:24of criticism will be directed at him, but on every single one of the players who wore the national team
02:28jersey today.
02:29In my opinion, it's a stain on their entire careers.
02:32To come to a game of such importance, to come to a game where people are basically spitting on you,
02:36disrespecting you, belittling you, and then to grovel like that during the game itself, that's something I personally will never
02:42forget.
02:43I hope the players themselves won't forget it either, because even if they win next week against Ireland in the
02:47second match, I don't think it will erase the stain from this game.
02:49Because blaming Ben Shimon is the easiest thing to do, but in the end, Ranben Shimon wasn't the one who
02:54went out on the field.
02:55The players are the ones on the field, and they're the ones who turn their backs, and they're the ones
02:59who, you know, even the little things, Shknikovski, someone grabs him, gets into a little tussle with him, and then
03:04suddenly an Irish player comes right over, stands close, and gives him a bump.
03:08Not a single Israeli player came close.
03:10In one of the recent games of the Israel national team, Oskar Gluch, after he scored against the Albanian national
03:14team, went and made a shushim gesture to the crowd.
03:16All the Albanian players came over, jumped on him there, and pushed him to defend Albania's honour, right?
03:20Why? Because the crowd booed, and they want to defend the crowd. They're there for the crowd.
03:24I didn't feel the players were there for the fans, the country, or anything at all.
03:28Now it's clear to me that they wanted to win.
03:29On the third goal, the Irish player took off the black armband, kissed it in front of the Israeli crowd,
03:33and provoked the Israeli crowd right to their faces.
03:35Was there an Israeli player who approached him, who ran to him, who pushed him, who tried to defend our
03:40honour, or are we, God forbid, just trying not to provoke?
03:42Let's just be good Jews who don't want to start trouble, and only reach out for peace.
03:47No, this submissiveness is what bothers me most about the national team, and it's something I can't just ignore.
03:52Oh, I wish there was something I could do.
03:54You know, this thing bears inside me so much that my dream was to have some way to influence it,
03:59and it's hard for me to explain how disappointed I am with the behaviour and conduct of every single player
04:04on the Israeli national team.
04:05There's not a single exception here. Not one player I felt had come to fight for the country, for the
04:10flag, for the badge.
04:11And yes, these are clichés, I know these are clichés.
04:14But that's what I wanted to see here after they've been trashing us for a week, after talking about us
04:18the way they do, that's what I expected to see from the Israeli national team.
04:21Let them finish with seven or eight yellow cards, and two reds, I honestly don't care.
04:25We would have lost this game anyway? No problem, at least keep a bit of your dignity.
04:29There's no tactical element here for me to talk about.
04:31And that's why I'm not going after Ran Ben Shimon either, because in the end, Ben Shimon can give the
04:36players tactical instructions,
04:37and you can argue about the squad he called up, about the players he brought in, about the players who
04:41are playing.
04:41But in practice, what does it matter?
04:43Why, if someone from the bench had come on, would it have looked any different?
04:46When Doe Peretz came in, yes, things looked a bit different in the attacking part,
04:50and he got into scoring positions.
04:52Maybe the only one who helped create chances with his runs in behind, and physically he can match up with
04:56them too.
04:56But in the end, we keep going on about all these players we have playing abroad,
05:00and how they're all in great form, just to see Manor, Oskar and Halayli, for half the game in my
05:03opinion,
05:04yes, you might not agree with me, avoiding physical contact, shying away from physical contact.
05:08The Irish, every time they got the ball, there were two players in front of them, a few dribbles back,
05:13and a pass backwards.
05:13And don't get me wrong, I never had any illusion that we were going to tear apart the island national
05:17team here,
05:17or that we're better than them.
05:19I expected the Israel national team to come and play for its honour as a country,
05:22after the way the Irish team behaved.
05:24And not only did I not get that here, in my opinion, I got a slap in the face from
05:27both the Irish and the Israelis.
05:29You know, we follow these players in their clubs for this very day, when they join the national team.
05:33We look at them, and root for them at their clubs day in and day out for moments like these.
05:37But to see them disappear into themselves, to see the fact that there isn't a single leader here,
05:41not a single real leader to grab this team by the balls after the first goal, after the second goal,
05:46after the third goal.
05:47For all the things I mentioned, also about being aggressive, also about self-respect.
05:51To see them shrink into themselves is just embarrassing in my eyes.
05:54There isn't a single real leader in the Israel national team.
05:57The only one who maybe, maybe tried a little, even though he didn't really contribute anything extra in the game
06:02itself,
06:02is Daniel Peretz.
06:03You can see him even after the game against Austria, after we conceded the second goal,
06:07and also here, trying to encourage them and telling them, keep your heads up, move forward, keep playing.
06:11But besides that, nothing.
06:12Nothing? Where are all those players, really?
06:14You know, I look at Ayal Berkovich, they're talking about him as a potential national team coach.
06:18I'm really against it, really against it.
06:20But if there's one thing I can say about Ayal Berkovich, he was a real motherfucker the moment he stepped
06:24onto the field.
06:25He loved the national team, he wanted to play, and he didn't care about anyone.
06:28Anyone who stood in his way.
06:30He definitely wouldn't shake hands with someone who hates him and talks about him in such an anti-Semitic and
06:34racist way, like the Irish.
06:36We don't have any player like that here.
06:38We don't have any player like that here.
06:40No one who will take that yellow card, who will throw an elbow to the stomach without being seen.
06:44Those little things that happen in every soccer game.
06:46They happen in every sports game.
06:48Especially when there's rivalry.
06:50Especially when there's this kind of rivalry.
06:52Here we took the hits and avoided contact.
06:54You know, like good kids, when they get hit, they step back.
06:56No, no, I don't want to get hit.
06:57And I'm careful not to say they're protecting their legs, because in the end, I'm sure the guys did want
07:01to win.
07:01But there are players who have it, and there are players who don't.
07:04If the players, each one from the Israel national team, wants to somehow be remembered here as one of the
07:09greatest players who grew up here in Israel, this is not the way.
07:12This is not the way.
07:13And it's a huge stain on their careers.
07:15It's a stain, by the way, that I will remember even if this team somehow qualifies for the Euro in
07:19two years, through the qualifiers.
07:20To me, it's a stain.
07:21And I'll never forget how they made me feel that evening as I watched the national team play.
07:26And yes, I don't have many expectations from the Israel national team in terms of achievements.
07:30I don't expect us to reach the World Cup.
07:32I don't expect us to qualify for the Euro.
07:34Every time, because, you know, we're not good at soccer.
07:37We have to tell the truth.
07:38We're not a good soccer team.
07:39We're light years away from the highest levels.
07:41But I do expect to see a team that has some kind of identity.
07:44A team that knows how to fight for its honor, and a team that refuses to be walked all over,
07:48only to say thank you and extend a hand in peace.
07:50To be honest, the game against Kosovo now interests me less.
07:53Right now, I'm looking at the game against Ireland.
07:55In six days, there's their last chance in my eyes to regain some of their self-respect.
07:59Even if we win 3-0 in the return match, I won't forget what happened here today.
08:02And it's not just about winning for me.
08:04I'm interested in winning.
08:05But more than anything, I'm interested in seeing the Israeli national team look the way I want it to look.
08:09And that's not related to the result of the game.
08:11And here we failed big time.
08:13That's it, sorry.
08:14This video isn't typical of me.
08:15I usually don't make emotional videos.
08:17But that's what I have to say right now.
08:18And honestly, I'm speaking here from the bottom of my heart about the situation.
08:21There are no tactical issues here, even though we could talk about them until tomorrow.
08:25In the end, these are matters that go way beyond that.
08:27And I'm not even going to add music to this video.
08:29I'll just upload it as it is.