The Israel Football Association say they have no comment to make on an allegation of spitting made by a Republic of Ireland backroom staff member.
The Ireland squad’s head of athletic performance, Damien Doyle, alleged that he was spat at by an Israeli player as the teams left the pitch for the half-time break during Sunday’s 1-1 Nations League draw in Backa Topola, Serbia.
Ireland coach Heimir Hallgrímsson declined to comment on the allegation after the match, saying it may be subject to a disciplinary committee. Speaking separately to Off the Ball, Hallgrímsson confirmed the accusation was made but added he did not see the incident which led to the allegation.
“I felt like they were trying to intimidate us from kick-off, so I give a lot of credit to the players to keep calm, it could have been a game of yellow and red cards,” he said.
Asked about the allegation during his post-match press conference, Israel head coach Ran Ben-Shimon said he did not see the incident as he was already in the dressingroom. When the Israel FA’s press officer was asked about the allegation, he replied: “No comment. I didn’t see anything, so I can’t comment on that.”
Ireland led at half-time through Troy Parrott’s penalty, but Israel captain Dor Peretz equalised two minutes after the break. Israel twice hit the post during the second-half, and their coach believed they would have been worthy winners.
Dor Peretz celebrates scoring for Israel. Photograph: Srdjan Stevanovic/Getty Images
“We showed we are a good team, we deserved to win tonight,” said Ben-Shimon. “We were very dangerous in the counter attack. Of course it was very difficult for us to deal with the set pieces against Ireland, but otherwise we were better on the pitch. This is my opinion.”
He praised his players for better handling the emotional pressure of playing Ireland, which he said they failed to do in last week’s 3-0 loss in Debrecen.
“The situation in sport is that sometimes you lose games, and sometimes in these games, we lose ourselves,” he said. “In the first game, it wasn’t us, we didn’t react well. But for us, it is a long history. We came to the game today with a balanced approach between emotion and tactical thinking. We showed specifically in the second half that we are a very good national team.”
Asked whether Israel lacked that emotional balance last week, the coach replied: “I am sure about that. We tried our best to isolate our national team from the noise. We made a good job of coming to this game much more ready and much more balanced with the right approach. I am very proud of my players.”
He also denied that his players specifically targeted Jayson Molumby across the game after he reported alleged racist chanting by Israeli fans to the referee in Debrecen last week. The Irish midfielder suffered several fouls in Backa Topola, including one which led to the penalty which Parrott scored.
Ireland’s Jayson Molumby is challenged by Israel’s Eliel Peretz. Photograph: Srdjan Stevanovic/Getty Images
“From the last game, one of our conclusions was that we became very soft and were not aggressive enough,” said Ben-Shimon. “There is nothing personal against Molumby, we tried to win all the battles and the 50-50 balls, and I think we did good in this game. Come on, we just don’t do it [target players]. We are not men like this.”
The press conference began with a disclaimer read by a Uefa official, stressing that only questions focusing on the game could be asked, and not on separate political issues. This was a response to the chaotic scenes at Ireland’s press conference on Saturday, which was cut short when an Israeli journalist made an allegation of racism against the Irish players, which the FAI press officer rejected as “a lie”.
The journalist in question was one of two Israeli media members excluded by Uefa from the post-match press conference on account of the political questions they asked Hallgrímsson.