What the hell is Israel doing in European football competitions?

I do not believe it is 'unPC' to ask what the hell is Israel doing in European football competitions. Israel has been asking that question for years and the simple explanation is that the Arab and Asian countries refuse to compete against them. It is a little difficult to play a match with only one team, although FIFA tried that. FIFA would award Israel the victory many years ago when teams boycotted them. However, this proved an unsatisfactory way to conduct international football, as evidenced by the World Cup qualification farce of 1958 when Turkey, Indonesia, Sudan and Egypt would not play Israel (although Egypt themselves had got a walkover when the British government would not provide the Cypriot team with travel visas in order to play their match). Israel therefore qualified for the World Cup Finals by being the "winners" of the Asia and Africa group without having been able to play a single game. FIFA decided that a team could not qualify without playing a game (except for the champions and hosts), so a two legged play-off for a Final place was arranged against Wales, who were runners-up in European Group 4. Wales won both games 2-0, and therefore quite bizarrely, were the actual winners of the Asia and Africa group. So even in 1958, the football global village was in existence.

Through the years, Israel has been shuffled around regional groups in order to find opponents that would not bring racism or politics onto the field and therefore it is the only team to have played World Cup qualification games on every continent. The players really have been turned into "wandering Jews", (even though a large number of its players have historically been Arabs; the team is picked like the Irish rugby teams which selected on an all-island basis of talent first). Israel, and its club teams, have often been forced by FIFA and UEFA to play home games at "neutral" grounds, even though the likes of Indonesia, Turkey, Pakistan, and let's be frank, England, US, Russia and Spain, which have been suffering terrorist attacks, have not had this disadvantage imposed on them. Anyhow, the double edged sword for the boycotters is that although Israel has struggled to qualify for the finals of competitions, the country's standard of play has risen dramatically because of the level of competition that they face, which is why we have seen Ben Haim, Berkovic, Benayoun and Badir join English teams (I leave out Tal and Katan because their surnames do not begin with "B"). If Israel was allowed to compete in its true regional group, then there is little doubt that it would have qualified for some Finals. Their national team was undefeated in the World Cup qualifying group that included Ireland, France and Switzerland, so St. McClaren had better not underestimate their ability.

The Bully Zidane

I was disappointed to read the defences of Zidane’s thuggery but I was not surprised to see him disgrace the World Cup Final because he has a long history of being a "bully" player. He has looked a decent player when his team were on top of matches, but in the many years of watching him in the World Cup, Champions League, Italian League and Spanish League, I have never seen him turn a game around when his team needed him. He would disappear from games only to re-appear for a dive or a spiteful challenge.

Exhibit A was when Zidane contrived to have Roy Keane booked in the Champions League semi-final. Keane’s performance then reached near perfection, even though he would not be able to play in the final, and he selflessly inspired Manchester United to overturn a 2-0 deficit away from home in the imposing Stade del Alpi. Zidane became a brooding invisible man once Keane had grabbed a goal to reduce the deficit, and had no heart as Manchester United defeated Juventus. When Zidane is compared to the leadership of Roy Keane, Fabio Cannavaro or Steven Gerrard, he is not in their class as a man or a player.

Zidane was not really close to being the best player at the World Cup, but even if he had been, he should be stripped of the Golden Boot award for his selfish lunatic act of violence.

Political vs. Military Wings

Western countries can protect themselves from homegrown terrorist attacks by immediately announcing that it is their military wings (formerly known as the US Army, British Army, Polish Army, Canadian Armed Forces, etc.) that are currently operating in Afghanistan. The local Taliban terrorists will obviously be able to appreciate the distinction between Western governments (political wings offering social services) and their armed forces. One of the terrorists' many “raison d’etres” will be removed, thereby making Western deomcracies a safer place.

It appears to be working quite nicely for their quite literal blood brothers of Hamas/Palestinian Authority/Islamic Jihad/Popular Resistance Committee/Al Aqsa Brigades/ etc., etc. Hopefully, the world’s media will belabour the distinction on our behalf.