Magical Messi lights up the holy land

SAUL KAMIONSKY

In all seriousness, it was a real coup for Israelis to be able to watch Messi play for Argentina against Uruguay in Israel on Monday.

Furman, who admits to sometimes being compared to Messi because they look similar, told the SA Jewish Report that, “it’s understandable” that Israelis jumped at the chance to witness star players from two countries that have each been crowned FIFA World Cup champions on two occasions.

“South American countries have always been very strong throughout the history of football, so it’s understandable that their matches would attract good crowds,” says Furman.

“Obviously both countries are incredibly passionate about sport and football, but of course Argentina is blessed with the best player in the world [Lionel Messi], and Uruguay is also blessed with some fantastic players like Luis Suárez.”

Israel was able to welcome foreign stars like Messi and Suárez into the holy land thanks to the private funding of Canadian-Israeli philanthropist Sylvan Adams and event producer Comtec Group.

Dudi Mor, an Israeli citizen, told the SA Jewish Report that the match between the two South American footballing giants was a recipe for success.

“The game attracted a lot of attention in Israel,” says Mor, who has been Israel’s Futbol Five-a-Side World Cup Country Partner, and is now assisting the municipality of Rosh HaAyin.

“My two sons attended the game. They said it was a super stadium, great game, and an amazing atmosphere. It was probably the first time that the likes of Messi, Suárez, Edinson Cavani, and Kun Agüero have played here.”

Those in attendance were clearly partial to the Barcelona captain, as chants of “Messi! Messi! Messi!” greeted his every action.

Adams, whose financial backing ensured the match was held in Israel, is also the man behind Save A Child’s Heart. This organisation brings children from across the world to Israel for life-changing heart surgery. Adams was able to take children – in Israel for surgery from Senegal, Ethiopia, and Zanzibar – to dinner with Messi and the rest of the Argentinian football team.

The players met the children in Tel Aviv the night before the match, where they were given footballs and Argentina shirts signed by the players. Save A Child’s Heart has to date treated more than 5 000 children from 62 countries.

This organisation is currently working alongside doctors in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to perform life-saving heart surgery and catheterisations for an expected group of 30 children as part of Mission Ethiopia.

Said Adams in a press statement, “In bringing perhaps the world’s most famous athlete, Lionel Messi, to Israel, we are providing excitement for the entire country – for Muslim, Christian, and Jewish citizens of Israel. This is the ‘normal’ Israel that I know and love.”

In spite of the excitement about the game across Israel, it wasn’t clear whether Messi would participate or whether the game would take place at all following a violent flare-up between Israel and Gaza. About 450 rockets were fired from Gaza into Israel over the past two weeks. The Iron Dome intercepted most of them.

A fragile ceasefire was declared on Thursday, and the game went ahead.

The day before the game, Uruguay’s long-serving coach, Óscar Tabárez, said that he had been concerned about the trip after seeing images of fighting in the Gaza Strip.

Monday’s match came after the cancellation of a pre-World Cup friendly fixture between Argentina and Israel in June 2018 that was hounded by boycott calls from pro-Palestinian activists.

That match was due to be played in Jerusalem, sparking Palestinian anger and criticism of Argentina online.

The 2018 cancellation led to FIFA fining and slapping a 12-month ban on Palestinian Football Association (PFA) head Jibril Rajoub for “inciting hatred and violence” against Messi. The PFA has not complained about Monday’s game.

There was also no moaning about the game from Israelis, who would normally have been required to travel abroad if they wanted to be in the stands for what was the 198th meeting between two sides who contested the very first FIFA World Cup final in 1930.

Uruguay were the winners that day, and it seemed that Suárez, who is infamously remembered for his goal-saving hand-ball against Ghana in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, would add further bragging rights for his country’s supporters when he scored a sublime free-kick to put La Celeste 2-1 ahead after Argentina’s Sergio Agüero cancelled out Cavani’s opener.

But with only four minutes left on the clock, Messi nonchalantly converted a penalty to level the scores at 2-2, and the game remained that way until Roi Reinshreiber, the Israeli referee, sounded his whistle for the final time.