Benayoun picked up a hamstring injury a couple of weeks ago and acknowledges that it still hurts him, yet he intends to play for Israel this Saturday. The odds are that he'll probably tear his hamstring again.
So what's at stake here, Israel qualifying for the World Cup next year or Liverpool's title run-in. Even if Israel qualify, it's not like they've got any chance of making much progress in the competition, whereas Liverpool have a very realistic chance of winning 2 trophies in the next 2 months.
In an interview with Sky News, Benayoun said that LFC objected to his playing on Saturday yet he feels it would be the biggest disappointment of his career to miss it. Given the likelihood of aggravating the injury and what's at stake, his decision seems a little surprising.
12 comments:
I say if he plays and gets hurt again, then he will be sold by Rafa this summer!
Benayoun is one stupid fool if he really thinks there won't be any reprisals for this. Bye Bye Benaoyun.
I feel sorry for Yossi because he was frozen out by Rafa so often. He takes pride in his country and thats something which should be respected. It would be nice to have him on the bench but we can live without him for a few weeks.
These situations where players get called up to play for their Country really needs to be re-examined. Football clubs pay many millions of pounds for players only to "give them up to their Country for FREE!" .....the club & fans must then shut up and put up with injuries, abscences, jet lag, home sickness etc etc...its madness. I feel Countries should pay the Club concerned for the loan of the player end of story. Who suffers if one of your star players gets a leg broken or and injury that never see's him return to form.....Country or Club?
@dummy - he makes for a decent squad player so I'd like to keep him a wee while, but if he does aggravate his injury further, I'll bet Rafa will let him go on his merry way this summer.
@stewart - we can live without him if no one else gets injured, but it would be nice to have him available in case we need to change things mid game etc...
@bruce sa red - I would love it if countries had to pay for the players, and at a minimum in the event of them picking up an injury on international duty, that would certainly make countries think twice about calling players up for certain games (espcially friendlies).
It's completely ridiculous that he should be allowed play for his country when he's clearly not fit yet.
It's the club who pages and if the club confirm that a player is not fit enough to play and the player insists on going against their wishes then the club (we the fans) shouldn't have to pay his wages.
I am a huge Benayoun fan so I really hope he stays and gets a starting spot next year.
@simon - it would be nice to see something like that happen but I doubt it ever will.
@jack kelsch - I find myself having mixed opinions on Benayoun, one minute I think he's rubbish, then the next I think he's pretty cool.
I would have thought getting fit for the business end of the LFC season is 100 times more important than any crappy international game. I very rarely watch any international games and to be honest have no interest in them what so ever.
Rafa has every right to be very pissed off if Yossi gets injured again. The Israeli manager should have enough sense as well to let him rest for the moment.
I know there will be howls of protest, but i say scrap international games and let us watch what we all love - competitive club football. International football is just a waste of time, and a constant pain to the clubs who pay the wages.
Bring on the abuse if anyone disagrees with me.
@scott d - i like internationals (like the Euro Cup & World Cup) during the summer break as it tides me over a wee bit until the real football starts ;-)
All's well that ends well, eh folks? :-)))
@deiseach - i was ever so slightly frustrated and resigned to missing out on the title, right up until Benayoun saved the day :-)
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