Israel to play friendly games in Poland

12-08-2004 08:39

Men’s National team of [b]Israel[/b], opponent of [b]Bulgaria[/b] in qualification group for [b]EURO 2005[/b] in Belgrade will play in friendly tournament in Poland later this weekend. Despite having some problems regarding insurance of the players in the team all issues are solved and [b]Israel[/b] is going with their best players to Poland. [b]David Bluthenthal[/b] is going to the [b]NBA[/b], so the chances he will come in September to play with the national team are very small. He will sign a try out contract with the [b]Kings[/b] for one month, and if they like him might sign him till the end of the season. [b]Israel[/b] registered [b]Blutehthal[/b] as its naturalized player for the qualifications but the media in Israel quoted coach [b]Katuzrin[/b] saying that he won't take any other naturalized player to replace him. Coach [b]Katuzrin[/b] cut 3 players from the team so far [b]Dror Hagag[/b], [b]Guy Pnini[/b] and [b]Elad Inbar[/b]. Other two players will not go to tournament in Poland : [b]Israel Shinfeld[/b] and [b]Erez Katz[/b]. Instead of that both youngsters from Israeli National U 20 team [b]Yotam Halperin[/b] (20 ,194 cm) and [b]Raviv Limonad[/b] (20 ,190 cm) are included. Full roster of 12 Israeli players for the tournament in Poland are: Guards: [b]Meir Tapiro[/b] (29, 194 cm) from Nancy Sluc (France) [b]Lior Lubin [/b] (27, 189 cm) from Azovmash Mariupol (Ukraine) [b]Tal Burstein[/b] (24, 199 cm) from Maccabi Tel-Aviv [b]Yotam Halperin[/b] (20 ,194 cm) from Maccabi Tel-Aviv [b]Raviv Limonad[/b] (20 ,190 cm) from Hapoel Jerusalem[/b] Forwards: [b]Sharon Sason [/b] (25 ,203 cm) from Ural Great Perm (Russia) [b]Moshe Mizrahi [/b] (24 ,202 cm) from Hapoel Jerusalem [b]Uri Cohen-Mintz [/b] (31 ,205 cm) from Chalon-Sur-Saone (France) [b]Ido Kozikaro [/b] (26, 202 cm) Hapoel Jerusalem [b]Amit Tamir [/b] (25, 208) from PAOK(Greece)[/b] Centers: [b]Erez Markovich[/b] (26, 208 cm) from Hapoel Ironi-Nahariya [b]Yaniv Green[/b] (24 ,206 cm) from Maccabi Tel-Aviv[/b] It's most likely [b]Shinfeld[/b] and [b]Katz[/b] will be back in the roster and be included in the roster for the qualifications in September. It is interesting fact [b]Israel[/b] will meet another opponent of the qualifications in September-[b]Portugal[/b]. Schedule of [b]Israel[/b] in Poland: Friday ,13 August: [b]Russia – Israel [/b] Saturday,14 August: [b]Poland - Israel [/b] Sunday,15 August: [b]Israel – Portugal[/b]