Israel's training camp in doubt

Richard Møller-Nielsen, the Israel national team coach, may call off next week's scheduled training camp in Casearea which was arranged following the cancellation of his side's friendly with Lithuania.

Other commitments
"I originally thought to have all the players for a training camp but most of them are involved in the [Israeli] State Cup this weekend and Hapoel Tel-Aviv's players will be still recovering from Thursday's [UEFA Cup quarter-final] return leg in Milan," Møller-Nielsen said.

Close to signing
Meanwhile, Møller-Nielsen is close to accepting the offer of a two-year contract extension with the national side. "It is a great honour and a big compliment that the Israel Football Association [IFA] are offering to extend my contract. However, once the whole deal has been finalised a proper announcement will be released through the appropriate channels," said Møller-Nielsen, whose two-year contract expires on 1 July.

Previous success
Should Møller-Nielsen accept the contract offer he would be entrusted with leading Israel to qualification to the UEFA 2004™ European Championship, a tournament he has a proven track record in having led Denmark to European success in 1992.

Assistant matters
The matter of Møller-Nielsen's assistant also needs to be clarified. The post is currently held by Yitzhak Schum but he is also the coach of second division leaders Hapoel Kfar Sava and the IFA chairman Gavri Levy wants Schum to chose one job or the other.

Vote of confidence
Møller-Nielsen would like Schum to continue in his role. "I said in the past and I'll say it again Schum was, and still is, a great asset for me," he said yesterday. However, as Schum is keeping his cards close to his chest, the IFA have made a shortlist of alternatives including Beitar Abraham Beer-Sheva's coach Nir Klinger and Bnei Yehuda Tel-Aviv's coach Eli Ohana.

Optimistic
On Tel-Aviv's UEFA Cup prospects Møller-Nielsen said: "Hapoel's success in Europe is fantastic. I'm optimistic but in order to qualify they need luck on there side. I honestly think that they have a chance to qualify and I'm keeping my fingers crossed as this is a great achievement for Israeli football."