Israel in top 10
“Solidifying ourselves as a consistent top-10 finisher in Europe was unthinkable only a couple of years ago... We intend to keep pushing it in this tournament for years to come and crack the top five.”
“It was an awesome day – the love we got from all of the teams was amazing and we truly feel part of the European footy community” Israeli Beasts men’s national team coach Ido Schnitzer told The AJN this week, following Israel’s participation in the tournament, held in Kiel, Germany, last Saturday.
The EuroCup was held in the one day, with half-hour nine-per-side matches and there was also a women’s competition played between 10 teams.
In the men’s competition, Israel placed fourth in the their five-team pool, with one win and three losses.
They lost their first match 10-26 to the Swedish Elks, then were defeated 11-33 by the German Eagles and 14-50 by the Welsh red Dragons, but ended the group stage on a high note, showing their potential by thrashing the Ulster Wolfhounds 31-7.
Israel then won the match to determine ninth place overall, beating the Netherland Flying Dutchmen 51-19.
The men’s tournament was won by the Irish Warriors, who won the grand final 47-17 over the Welsh Red Dragons.
The Israeli squad is mostly comprised of native Israelis, who train and play for teams based mainly in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, but they always welcome input from Aussie ex-pats, and enjoyed a pre-tournament visit in Tel Aviv a fortnight ago from AJAX footy legend Jake Lew and Maccabi Victoria co-president Sharon Roseman.
Schnitzer said that while the Beasts lost three matches, they were against some of the best teams.
“We lost a close game to Sweden in which we had opportunities to score more goals but missed, Germany was last year’s EuroCup runners-up and the Welsh team were the in-form team on the day and came second overall, knocking out three-time champions England before falling short to eventual champs Ireland,” he said.
“We had two decisive wins that secured us ninth spot.
“Solidifying ourselves as a consistent top-10 finisher in Europe was unthinkable only a couple of years ago.
“We intend to keep pushing it in this tournament for years to come and crack the top five.”
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