Reply With QuoteWhy are Israel in the euro qualifiers? Geographically and morally speaking. Seems a bit rich that the Russians get booted out of international sports competitions yet a nation responsible for slaying 5k kids in a fortnight just carries on as normal.
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Poland have been poor in a group won by Albania.Originally Posted by Pearcey3
Why are Israel in the euro qualifiers? Geographically and morally speaking. Seems a bit rich that the Russians get booted out of international sports competitions yet a nation responsible for slaying 5k kids in a fortnight just carries on as normal.
Take it to the politics forum you boring kent
Because none of the Arabs will play them.
They have been in it since 1958 the Arab teams refused to play them and FIFA gave them the chance to qualify by playing us, that is how we qualified for the World Cup that year through the back door so to speak
Belgium was drawn out but they refused to take part, so another team was drawn and this time Wales were chosen. The Welsh had never made it to the Finals before. Having finished second in their three-team group to Czechoslovakia they must have thought their chance had gone. But they hadn’t reckoned on the farce in Africa/Asia and the lottery of a draw.
Wales campaign in itself had been interesting. They were managed by Matt Busby’s right-hand man at Old Trafford, Jimmy Murphy. They beat the Czechs in their opening game and then travelled to East Germany. This was the East Germans first ever competitive fixture, but to save money Wales only took 12 players. You can probably guess this backfired. Arsenal’s Derek Tapscott was injured and couldn’t play, and John Charles arrived late due to commitments with Juventus. Wales lost 1-2.
Just six days later Wales tried to take the same group of players to Prague but eventually called up two reinforcements. They lost 0-2 and so when the Czechs beat the East Germans twice, Wales thought they were out.
Then came the withdrawals and the short-straw draw and Wales had a reprieve.
In January 1958 the two met in Ramat Gan, to the East of Tel Aviv. As if to illustrate the slightly primitive nature of international football back then, an administrative error meant the Welsh squad arrived in Israel without a ball.
With only physical training the option, they also had to contend with the heat. But Swansea’s Ivor Allchurch put the visitors in front before the break. Arsenal’s Dave Bowen grabbed their second midway through the second half and Wales had won their first match outside the UK.
Three weeks later the two rocked up at Ninian Park, Cardiff where Israel struggled to lay a glove on their opponents. Goalkeeper Hodorov won plaudits for his performance in keeping out the Welsh attacks. His bravery was particularly noticed as at one point he received a broken nose and concussion from a collision.
The tie was goalless going into the final quarter of an hour before Allchurch put Wales further ahead on aggregate. With just ten minutes to go Cliff Jones made things certain for the Welsh. A week later Jones was a Spurs player and would go on to become a club legend in their famous double side.
Wales won 2-0 on the night and 4-0 on aggregate.
That tie most probably saved the life of Jimmy Murphy otherwise he could have been on the Munich plane disaster
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