Israeli squad lacks fitness, says study

THE Israeli national squad, which will contest the World Cup Group Four Qualifiers with the Republic of Ireland, are severely lacking in physical fitness compared to European national teams.

Researchers Muli Epstein and Danny Oren, of Israel's Elite Sports Unit based at the Wingate Institute, the national sports academy, presented their findings to Israel coach Avraham Grant at a training session this week. They had carried out tests on the players over the past two months.

"The fitness levels of most of the players were found to be far below that of their European counterparts," Epstein said.

"Not one of the players met cardio-pulmonary stamina levels achieved by European players. The overall picture shows that the Israeli squad is not even close to the European level.

"We are not talking about technical ability but about physical fitness the ability to step up the pace during a match and recovery times," he said.

Epstein said the comparison was made mainly with players in the Swedish and Danish national squads.

He said the road to improvement would be tough and the likelihood of the current generation of players making drastic improvements was not great.

"In order to improve, the players will have to undergo rigorous training, but work has to begin from youth level," he said.

Israel failed to reach the Euro 2004 finals in Portugal after finishing third in Group One behind defending champions France and Slovenia. Israel won only two of their eight qualifying matches.

Israel will host the Irish on March 26 next year with the home tie to be played on June 4.