Yovav (Jay) Meydad's Personal Blog

We are in the midst of amazing two weeks for football (a.k.a soccer) fans:

• Los Angeles Galaxy played AC Milan last Sunday at the Home Depot Center (what a great stadium, no matter where you sit you get to see all the action). That was David Beckham’s first game with the Galaxy after coming back from a load to…AC Milan. He was booed by the fans the entire first half but gave a great game. Regardless of what many fans think, without Becks, the Galaxy are two levels weaker. Here are some photos I took and a video clip of Galaxy’s first goal, an example of how a fast break should be executed. It ended 2:2 and everyone were happy.
• Inter Milan played Chelsea on Sunday at the Rose bowl in front of 82K fans (who said football isn’t popular in the US?). Inter was weak (even with Zlatan), Chelsea was very strong and won rightly 2:0. Pictures here.
• Next Sunday I will see the world’s best team, FC Barcelona, in a game against the Galaxy. Since Zlatan Ibrahimovic just signed for Barca I will have a chance to see him again. I hope he will play much better than his performance with Inter. I hear there are still some tickets on StubHub if you are interested.

Don’t get me wrong. I cheer for the Israeli football national team and wish them only success. I long for the day I will be able to take my boys to watch the Israeli team at a World Cup or the Euro.

But, at the same time, I can not understand how the hell the team is ranked #16 on the latest FIFA Word Ranking, before teams who have participated in major tournaments (World Cup, Euro, etc.), like Greece, Ukraine, Mexico, United States, Paraguay or Ghana.

The ranking algorithm FIFA uses simply does not do what it is says it is supposed to do: “Under the existing system, rankings are based on a team’s performance over the last four years, with more recent results and more significant matches being more heavily weighted to help reflect the current competitive state of a team.” (source: wikipedia).

FIFA should hire some search experts to tune up the algorithm and its relevance. Otherwise, it is just a matter of time before Israel passes England.

FIFA world ranking - oct 2008 (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIFA_World_Rankings)

Sorry I can not be in person at Blumfield tomorrow and cheer you in your last game.

The deal just got signed and it is time to thank our new owner, Alex Shnaider, Canada’s youngest billionaire, for brining some hope back to the millions of Maccabi Tel Aviv fans. Alex – good luck and thank you.

Loni – Thank you as well. It has been a great ride and everything you have done is greatly appreciated. Now, you have one less thing to worry about and could put more focus on your other businesses.

BTW, I really like what Avi Nimni is doing with regards to the young Jewish players he is bringing from US & France. It is a good strategy to overcome the lack of young Israeli talent. Zionism 2008.

Saturday’s game is going to be fun. I wish I could be there.

photo credit: ynet (by Eli Algert)

I read today that Eyal Berkovitz, one of Isreal’s legendary football players, cursed the coach of his 10 years old son and threatened to “end the career” of the poor guy, because his son played only 25 minutes in a 60 minutes game.

I read this piece of news after I returned with my 6 years old son from his AYSO game where I volunteer as an assistant coach. The game was fun. It was full of action but no one cursed, shouted or got mad on the coaches. Parents hanged around the field and cheered for their kids (who played equal time slots).

I have a suggestion – perhaps the Israeli Football Association should take a look at AYSO, a wonderful program that teaches kids the game of soccer, and adopt the program’s principals. They are very easy to find since they appear on signs that are located on every field, to remind parents that Kids are #1, and that Fun – not winning – is everything.

Technorati Tags: AYSO, Eyal Bertovitz, Football, Soccer, Israel Football Association

It happened just as I thought, and as of Saturday night Eli Cohen is no longer our head coach.

Roni, Loni and Avi have a great part in the latest crises in our team. It is easy to blame the coach for the poor performance of the players, but when you tie his hands (cut players’s budget in half) and constantly criticize his work in the press (how can a coach motivate his players after they read he is not going to be the coach soon?) you create an environment where no one can succeed. Unless our multi-headed management will change her leadership & communication style, the future of the next coach is not going to be bright.

Speaking about the next coach…well, during the pre-Klinger era , in the years 2000-2002, the team played happy football and won two cups. Nir Levine was responsible for that and therefore he deserves the job. My 2 cents.

Technorati Tags: Maccabi Tel Aviv, Eli Cohen, Football, Soccer, Layoff

“Like So Many Rabbit Heads” picture by: JeffCam