Israel’s youth team recorded a tremendous achievement yesterday (Tuesday) when it qualified for the European Championships for the first time since 2014. Ofir Haim’s team managed to dramatically beat Scotland 0: 1 and complete three great games in the elite stage, and without a doubt came up right.
Alongside the great talents who play in the team including Oscar Gluch, Dor Turgeman and Roy Revivo, who won the show was coach Ofir Haim. Quite a few remember the sentence of Sharon Nisnov who talked about Haim being the future coach of Israeli football, when at least yesterday he justified expectations and led his team to impressive immigration while presenting convincing and offensive football.
Last night, after the game, life was almost restless. A flood of messages flooded his phone, when only late at night did he finish answering them, just before boarding a flight back to Israel. In a special interview with ONE, the 47-year-old coach talks about the secret of the team’s success, why he is optimistic about the future of Israeli football, his personal future and the exciting message he received.
Ophir, how do you feel?
“It’s a feeling that cannot be explained in words. I have dreamed about it for the last three months. I imagined this moment but you never understand how you will react to it. It is a historic and amazing achievement. Beyond the illegal immigration, I think the ability we displayed “The offensive and lively football, the connection between the players who are a cohesive and fighting unit, one for the other. See it on the field at any moment.”
How symbolic is it that you made it so difficult in the evening?
“We were happy and I did not know about the attack. We shout and rejoice and Bonnie Ginzburg came to me and told me ‘there was an attack. You will be happy but you have to understand that it was a difficult attack’. From that moment on, it was a joy mixed with sadness. “And we need to keep it. I talk to you and instead of going out, I can tell you we are gathered within ourselves. We will go through everything and I very much hope we have managed to make the people in the country happy and give pride and respect. We are a strong people and we will overcome them all.
What sets this team apart?
“Beyond being cohesive and one wanting the other’s success, you feel the connection between the players. The bench players are happy as if they are starting in the squad, the players leaving the squad are just wishing success and their replacements will make the change. Above all, the players are very intelligent. “Talented but these 2003-2004 yearbooks are the yearbooks that will have to lead Israeli football forward. I expect these players to really lead the Israeli team in the future. They will get exposure at the European Championships.”
Say you’re an offensive coach. Does this team fulfill the style of football you believe in?
“Absolutely. I believe in offensive football, in proactive football, that you should enjoy the game. When you chase the ball you have less fun and when the ball is in your control you will also be more dangerous. Once you have the right players to realize your attacking patterns and method, then you can use some More offensive players. We did it great. Some coaches choose players based on physicality, athleticism or speed. I choose my players first and foremost on the speed of thought, game wisdom, intelligence and personal technique. Obviously I want fast and physical players, but there is no substitute. For the speed of thought. “
He added: “Our team has players like Madmon, Logsi and Gluch and they may not be the most physical there is but they just think faster than everyone and that’s why we made teams like Scotland, which on paper are stronger and faster than us. The biggest team in the history of football (Barcelona), was “It consists of Xavi, Iniesta and Messi, who by all accounts are not the most physical and fast. Israeli football is not genetically built like the Germans or the English, so we have to rely on other things, which are mainly to know how to hold the ball with us and control the game.”
What can be done at the European Championships?
“From the moment I started working I told the players that I was aiming as far as possible and so was I as a player. I told them we had to make history and qualify for the championship and now for us there is another task: six of the eight teams qualified for the European Championship will qualify for the World Cup. “We are not afraid of any team. We will come and do everything to qualify for the World Cup – that is our dream.”
There has been talk lately of very talented teams. Young woman, your youth team. Is there a future for Israeli football?
“I only started working in national teams last year and before that I was told ‘what’s the problem? You come once every two weeks for training, coach and that’s it.’ But I can tell you that we work so hard every day for hours on end. It’s not just the national team. I am in charge of the development center in the center, Alon Hazan in the south. We work non-stop to develop Israeli football. Yila Hus made an amazing revolution, together with Bonnie Ginzburg and Moshe Sinai who run Israeli football. At the end of the show, these are the teams, but there is the academy and the development center. ”
Haim expanded: “Israeli football is moving forward and developing. Alon Hazan does an amazing job as a young woman, Gadi Bromer is on the boys’ team and he has the European Championship in Israel. There is something to look forward to. The talents we have, we need to take care not to lose them and nurture them. Aspired to Bonnie, Yila and Moshe Sinai for their work. If we work, then they do not sleep at all. They work all day around the clock to give us the conditions to grow the following talents. “
You like to qualify in the last minutes … you did that too with KPS dramatically.
“I would give it up and prefer to finish it before. But I have to understand something: I as a coach always give the players the belief that everything can be done. That you have to come 100% focused and you can decide the game in the last minutes. History because we deserve it, but we should not deviate from the path and leave no stone unturned. We also managed to qualify in the KPS because we did not leave the game until the last minute. I’m sure if we had scored a goal in the first minutes yesterday, then the game would have ended in a higher score. I do not complain and I told the players that the harder it is, the sweeter it is. “
Let’s go back to your arrival on the team. You had a dilemma because you are a person who lives the grass in a group setting. To take a team that is a job different from your character … in retrospect you made the right decision?
“Look, even in the Corona period before I came to the association, I got good offers from teams in the Premier League. But I told myself I wanted to go to the team, taste it and also develop as a coach. The team does not have the pressure of games every week and there is a way and that way I want to do. “I feel that I have improved and progressed a lot and I coach much better. Yes, I had concerns, because I like the grass and like to be on the field every day, but I had to go through this process.”
“Let’s say coaches I would tell them I have Premier League offers told me: ‘Ophir what are you doing? What coaches do you know from the youth team that went to top teams in the Premier League? Will you get good teams?’. But it’s something that burned inside me and today I’m very happy “For that and not just because of the achievement. I enjoy every moment I give of myself to improve Israeli football and that is the great happiness. In the end, the players I coach will have to lead Israeli football.”
There is a feeling here that coaches from home, from the youth teams, are suddenly given the chance: an advanced cantor and candidate for graduates, Gadi Bromer from the boys to be a temporary coach for the alumni.
“There are excellent coaches in Israeli football who are no less good than those who come from outside. Alon Hazan, for example, I talk to him about football and I tell you that he is a great coach. You see the character of the young team and football. What to do. Against Poland we were behind and turned the score around and we almost went up to 1: 3. You see character and way and that is what will make football go forward. I strongly believe in the Israeli coaches. Yela and Bonnie improve the courses, put in better content, try to change the structure “The leagues. I was told they come to sign a ticket but people work hours and hours.”
The coach continued: “It’s time to pay tribute to my great team: Eyal Gidron and Itai Mordechai my assistants, goalkeeping coach Guy Solomon, fitness coach Ofer Eckstein, analyst Noam Levy who works like crazy on the rivalry. We have an amazing team of therapists like Igor and Nissan and Dr. Zeger who just keep giving us all the tools. Of course I can not forget the team manager, Assi Meir, who is the father of everyone. “
You have been through difficult years. Do you feel that you have finally landed? Got the real Ofir Haim?
“I can tell you that I have not been a coach for many years, but it is not that I have not had achievements before. I won the Toto Cup with Hapoel Afula, I won a league with Hapoel Kfar Saba, I won the state cup with the youth team of Hapoel Tel Aviv. Relatively, it’s not that I did not succeed as a coach, but it is without a doubt the biggest achievement of my career. Beyond that, even in the actor’s career I have not had an achievement like this crazy achievement. I am a better coach than before I joined the team and I aim as high as possible. I strongly believe that I will go as far as possible. “
So when Nisnov said “you are the future coach of Israeli football”, was he right?
“I said even then that I have to prove it and show everyone that he was right. I have a lot more way to be the future coach of Israeli football, but yesterday I started this way. In the meantime, even if I am not yet the future coach of Israeli football, you can say I won To go to the European Championships and nurture players who are the future of Israeli football. “
We talked about group coaching. We know that Hapoel B’Shlosha has not been satisfied with the coaching sector recently and it is no secret that you are very much loved there. Do you see yourself after this success as one who can get there in the future?
“I do not know when but I will coach Hapoel B’Shlosha one day. That is one of my aspirations and my goals and I will do my best to make it happen. “
It is known how much you are attached to your son, Orr, who is diagnosed on the autistic continuum and you accompany him on a daily basis. How exciting is it for you to make the biggest achievement of your career right now, when this week marks Autism Awareness Week?
“It’s really symbolic that it happened during this special week. Of all the messages I received and received hundreds of messages, Orr sent me a message and wrote me ‘Dad I love you, I’m glad you won, you are a champion’. Let’s just say that this message moved me more than any other message. “