was somebody for whom the flag meant a lot

not admiration for Israel’s 1964 heroes

DUBAI (Reuters) Fifty years ago this week, a group of mostly blue collar workers and army conscripts led Israel to its only senior international soccer title, winning the 1964 Asian Cup in front Canada Goose online of rapturous home crowds.

The achievements of those amateur players, who would Canada Goose sale skip work to train for the national team, was part of a buy canada goose jacket cheap golden age of Israeli football that culminated in the country solitary World Cup appearance in 1970, yet is largely forgotten at home.

The collective amnesia over the 1964 victory followed the 1973 Middle East war and Israel expulsion from canada goose coats the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) a year later.

canada goose deals Instead, Israelis now look to Europe, where the country is ranked 36th out of 53 UEFA members, while the 50th anniversary of the Asian Cup win comes days after Palestine qualified for the tournament Canada Goose Coats On Sale from which Israel was canada goose store forced cheap Canada Goose from.

Israel had been canada goose uk outlet Asian Cup runners up to South Korea in 1956 and 1960 and the same duo were favourites for the 1964 tournament, for which Israel were hosts.

Hong Kong and India were other teams in the final group, which would Canada Goose Jackets play a round robin format, canada goose uk shop while Arab and many Muslim countries had refused to play Israel following its formation in 1948.

buy canada goose jacket players were very excited for most of us those were our first official appearances in the national team uniforms, said Itzik Visoker, Israel goalkeeper, who was 19 at the time.

canada goose store For local fans, it was a chance to see the national canada goose outlet team against their continental rivals four years before the country first television station began regular broadcasts in 1968.

was a completely different attitude even now it a young country, can you imagine 50 years back? said Mordechai Spiegler, 69, Israel record international goal scorer.

Canada Goose Jackets heard a lot about buy canada goose jacket football in the world, but didn have a real canada goose clearance connection we could only hear it on the radio. The game was popular, but we knew there were more important issues. To play football, it was not a profession.

The entire squad played for domestic clubs, canada goose coats on sale with the bulk of the 15 players appearing from three outfits Maccabi Jaffa, Hapoel Petah Tikva and Hapoel Tel Aviv.

canada goose clearance sale DIFFICULT TIME They were a mixture of local and foreign born Jews, some from families whom had fled Europe before, during and after World War II and the Nazi Holocaust.

Canada Goose Parka Former centre back Gideon Tish, 75, was born canadian goose jacket in Israel after his family emigrated from Poland in the early 20th century.

buy canada goose jacket cheap was canada goose a very difficult time, the family was living in one room the parents and four brothers, Tish said.

canadian goose jacket Most players were manual workers or in the army and they trained three afternoons a week.

just got small presents like to go to a restaurant and eat for free, 70 year old Bulgarian born former central defender Moshe Leon said. played with the heart, not for the money.

Israel coach, the late Yosef Merimovich, a Cypriot born Jew, took charge of his first match a 4 0 defeat to an England under 23 side including future World Cup uk canada goose winner Geoff Hurst nine days before the tournament.

was a wonderful man, very straightforward, one of the idols of Israeli football, Spiegler said of Merimovich, who died in 2011. was somebody for whom the flag meant a lot.

Canada Goose sale Against Hong Kong in the tournament opening game on May 26, Israel dominated in front of a 25,000 crowd at Tel Aviv National Stadium, but struggled to make a breakthrough until Spiegler bundled home with 14 minutes left.

canada goose clearance Three days later, Israel beat India 2 0 with Spiegler netting a penalty before Yemen born forward Yohai Aharoni canada goose uk black friday drifted in from the right wing to finish from close range and delight the 22,000 crowd at Jaffa Bloomfield Stadium.

canada goose black friday sale That meant Israel needed just a draw canada goose black friday sale against South Korea on June 3 to be champions and the National Stadium was a 50,000 sell out. All matches were played in the afternoon as floodlights were not yet available.

cheap Canada Goose were confident we were going to win they were cheap canada goose uk about the same level as we were, said Tish, a then bus mechanic.

Defensive pair Leon and Tish put Israel 2 0 up by halftime, the former beating several players before finishing from distance and the latter dispatching a 20 metre free kick.

Canada Goose online In between canada goose factory sale those goals, South Korea had a player sent off and although the outgoing champions pulled a goal https://www.thebeatlestimeline.com back, Israel held on to win 2 1 and spark raucous celebrations.

was a carnival, a festival, said Asher Goldberg, an Israeli football historian who attended Israel three matches.

canada goose coats Israel was among the dominant forces in Asian football in the 1960s, winning four straight under 19 championships from 1964 to 1967 and finishing third at the 1968 Asian Cup in Iran.

canada goose coats on sale was the first step to get into world football they uk canada goose outlet (the fans) were very proud, but in those days the football wasn so important because we were always busy Canada Goose Outlet with the wars, said Amatsia Levkovich, then a 26 year old midfielder.

my Canada Goose Online life I passed through seven wars. canada goose clearance sale We still don Canada Goose Parka know if there will be another one. It was important to represent the country, to hear Hatikva (the national anthem) in Asia.

canada goose Spiegler said Israel senior Asian Cup triumph was the springboard for it to reach the 1970 World Cup, although he was one of only three players along with Visoker and defender David Primo from 1964 to be in what was a youthful squad in Mexico.

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