Yossi Benayoun
(1980 - )
Yossi Benayoun (also spelled Benayun, born May 5, 1980 in Dimona, Israel) is a famous Israeli football player, considered the best Israeli footballer playing today. Playing as an attacking midfielder behind the striker, Benayoun is known for being a virtuoso, capable of dazzling dribbles and brilliant passes. In Israel he is nicknamed "The Kid" or "The Diamond". This season, Benayoun is playing for West Ham United F.C. of the FA Premier League, after leaving Racing Santander. He made his Premiership debut for West Ham on the opening day of the 2005/6 season (13 August 2005 against Blackburn Rovers) and he laid on passes for 2 of West Ham's goals in their 3-1 win. He went on to score his first Premiership goal for the club when he netted the closing goal in a 4-0 home victory over Aston Villa on Monday 12 September 2005.
Benayoun played for the Hapoel Beer Sheva youth team. At the age of 15 he joined the Football Academy of Ajax Amsterdam where he played until he was 17. Due to feelings of loneliness and homesickness, he left Ajax and returned to Israel. Many criticized him for letting go of a golden opportunity.
At the age of 17 1/2, he was promoted to the Hapoel Beer Shava senior team, but could not prevent it for being relegated to the second division league. In the last match of the season against Maccabi Haifa, Benayoun got a penalty kick on the 90th minute. Haifa's goalkeeper, Nir Davidovich saved the shot but Benayoun scored the rebound. He thought he had saved the team but when he heard on the radio the his team will be relegated nonetheless as a result of its bottom rival winning its own match, his tears of joy became tears of grief. The pictures of him crying became famous in Israel.
After that season, Benayoun moved to Maccabi Haifa in a deal signed by Yaakov Shachar (Maccabi Haifa's president) and Eli Jino (the head of Hapoel Beer Sheva) that the two clubs will share the profits from selling Benayoun to a European club.
Benayoun played in Maccabi Haifa for three seasons, scoring a total of 55 league goals, including two hat-tricks. He scored some of the most beautiful goals in the Israeli premier league. One example came in a match where he bounced the ball on his leg to pass over Ashdod's opposing defenders and goalkeeper to score a magnificent goal. He is also known for the "spoon pass", where he arches the ball over the defenders to one of his team's strikers.
In 1998, under the guidance of Dushan Ohrin and Daniel Brailovski, Benayoun and Haifa reached the quarterfinals of the Cup Winners' Cup, and he scored against Paris Saint-Germain and SV Ried.
The following year, Benayoun again performed well. But he will always be remembered for his confrontation with coach Eli Cohen that year, when Benayoun himself allegedly refused to be substituted during a match. This incident, plus a bad month for the club, ultimately caused Cohen's resignation.
However, in the 2000/2001 season under the guidance of Avraam Grant, Benayoun led Haifa to a first championship after seven long years and was chosen as the MVP of the season. In the next season, Benayoun helped Maccabi Haifa won another championship, despite suffering from an injury in the beginning of the season. When he returned to play, he combined well with Giovanni Russo, Raimondas Zutautas and Aiyegbeni Yakubu to win the championship.
In 2003, Benayoun moved to Racing Santander in Spain, where he became one of the big stars of the club and one of its leading scorer during the 2004/2005 season.
During the World Cup 2006 qualifiers, Benayoun became the leading player of the Israeli national team after equalizing against Cyprus at home (2-1 to Israel) and scoring twice against Switzerland. In the away game in Cyprus, Benayoun, Israel's traditional black sheep, assisted the winning goal after Nir Davidovich saved a crucial penalty.
After his best performances in the Israeli national team and Racing Santander, his name was connected with many teams, such as FK Moscow, CSKA Moscow, Arsenal F.C., Liverpool F.C., West Ham United F.C. and Bolton Wanderers F.C. where the Israeli Tal Ben Haim plays. Benayoun ended up signing for West Ham.
His career at West Ham United took off almost immediately, albiet amidst controversy surrounding his perceived shunning of Bolton Wanderers FC. Under manager Alan Pardew the now 25 year old flourished, producing skilful performances and goals regularly on one of the worlds biggest football stages.
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