Tal Ben Haim (born March 30, 1982 in Rishon Lezion) is an Israeli footballer who currently plays for the English Premiership club Bolton Wanderers as a defender.
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Tal Ben Haim | ||
| Position(s) | Defender | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Bolton Wanderers | ||
| ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 17 April, 2006 | |||
Regarded by many as one of Israel's greatest talents in recent years, Ben Haim signed for Bolton in July 2004 from Maccabi Tel-Aviv for an undisclosed fee. Bolton's manager, Sam Allardyce, remarked that "Tal is the biggest name to come out of Israeli football since Eyal Berkovic. He has all the right attributes to make it in the Premiership" Tal's talents were soon shown and now he is now a regular centre back at the club.
Ben Haim has been a regular for the Israeli national team. He has proven to be of extreme importance in Israel's latest successes in the 2006 World Cup qualifying campaign.
On October 20, 2005 for the UEFA cup match, away at Beşiktaş, Tal Ben Haim wore the captain's arm band and was praised by the regular team captain captain Jay Jay Okocha.
"Tal did a sterling role as captain and for someone still only learning his trade. He oozes great self-confidence and relishes the responsibility of captaining the side." (Source Jewish Telegraph Newspaper)
Arguably the greatest compliment to Ben Haim was when in December 2005, Ben Haim was touted by Chelsea manager José Mourinho following Bolton's impressive defensive display in the Premiership. Bolton manager Sam Allardyce responded by saying "Tal is a vital member of our first team and is not available for transfer." It is believed Mourinho was interested concerning the possible loan moves away from Stamford Bridge from Robert Huth and Glen Johnson, both players looking to cement places at the 2006 World Cup. Ben Haim's aerial ability and versatility along the back line are believed to have been the reason for Mourinho's interest.
Ben Haim has also been linked with several other Premiership clubs during his tenure in the North West. Amongst those rumoured to be interested were Portsmouth F.C. and Manchester United. One bookmaker made Ben Haim 7/2 to secure a move to the Red Devils during the January 2006 transfer window.
The inspirational Jewish centre back has been praised by many as one of the reasons for Bolton Wanderers F.C.'s fine defensive display in the 2005/06 season.
Quotes
- "Tal is the biggest name to come out of Israeli football since Eyal Berkovic. He has all the right attributes to make it in the Premiership." Sam Allardyce upon Ben Haim signing for Bolton - July 2004.
- "[He] acts as the official agent to Tal Ben Haim and as far as I am aware [Ben Haim] is his only client at the club. I deal with him because I cannot tell the players who they may or may not be represented by. When he worked for Mark Curtis he had a contractual position that prevented him from working on deals involving Bolton, but now that the terms of his employment have changed the situation is different. There is nothing sinister in any of this." Phil Gartside
- "We are ready for the French. This will be our toughest test to date, but we have already shown that we can mix it with them in Paris earlier on in the campaign by recording a goalless draw.
“They will find Tel Aviv quite intimidating and if we play to our strengths there is no reason why we can’t record a win.
"Israeli football is on a high at present and it would be a massive achievement if we were to reach the World Cup finals in Germany next summer. It’s been a long time since we were in a major tournament and the whole country has gone football crazy.
"Over 40,000 fans were at Ramat Gan on Saturday for the Ireland game and there were over 35,000 people in the ground two hours before kick off. If you have the confidence of the public you can see how dreams come true." - Tal Ben Haim March 30, 2004 before Israel vs. France
- "He went down rather too easily but there is no getting away from the fact that Rooney pushed him in the face. If the referee had seen it he would have sent him off so he is pretty lucky to get away with it. If you look at it from Alex’s point of view it is a bit of play-acting. But he has put his hand in his face and pushed him." Sam Allardyce's view on the Tal Ben Haim vs. Wayne Rooney incident.
- "I have seen the incident again on the monitor and it is embarrassing. Deary, deary me, he should be embarrassed about that. It was absolutely nothing. This sort of thing is creeping into our game." Alex Ferguson's view on the Tal Ben Haim vs. Wayne Rooney incident.
- "It's part of the game... The most important thing is that Bolton Wanderers won." Ben Haim's reflecting on his public spat with Wanderers captain Jay Jay Okocha when Bolton were 3-0 up against West Ham, in a game Bolton eventually won 4-1.
Uri Geller is Tal's friend
Written by Uri Geller
Congratulations to my friend Tal Ben Haim, the Israeli football captain who has also been given the armband to lead his side out at Bolton Wanderers.
Tal’s confidence has grown to giant proportions this season: the man who once feared he could not adapt to the pace and aggression of the Premiership has become one of the strongest defenders in Europe, the rock of his team.
I have been proud to coach Tal with positive thinking sessions, using the power of his mind to bring his body to new heights of athleticism.
He told a reporter this week: “The conversations with Uri help me enormously. He persuades me to believe in myself and other things that may help my game with Bolton and Israel. I feel confident every time I go on to the pitch."
And he’s not afraid to tell his colleagues how he achieves his mental strength. His fellow defender, Rahdi Jaidi, told the national press: “Tal is a very positive person and I know he puts a lot of that down to his sessions with Uri Geller. He fills his mind with positive thinking.”
When I read that, I knew how it must feel to power the ball into the net from 40 yards out. Tal, I’m proud to be part of the team.
(Source Uri Geller online)
Dubai bans Ben Haim
FOOTBALL star Tal Ben Haim will not to travelling to Dubai with Bolton next week because Israelis are banned from the Emirates.
The Premiership side are going to the Gulf state this weekend for a week of training in the sun.
But last night Ben Haim, 23, was hit with the bombshell news by Bolton Wanderers' officials.
The Israeli international exclusively told the Jewish Telegraph: "I'm not allowed to go as an Israeli with an Israeli passport - but I am proud to be Israeli."
He added: "If they let me in it is okay, but at the moment I will be staying in England."
Today he is due to speak to manager Sam Allardyce to decide what to do next week instead of jetting to Dubai, which is part of the United Arab Emirates.
The UAE Embassy in Washington last night confirmed Ben Haim could not enter with an Israeli passport.
An official insisted: "Not at all."
But an Israeli foreign ministry spokesman said the Jewish State backs strengthening ties with Arab countries like Dubai. "Israel hopes to see expanded relationships in the field of trade, commerce, culture, sports and in other fields," he added.
Israelis are warned against going to countries where Israel does not have an embassy or consulate.
(Source Jewish Telegraph Newspaper)
Big Sam rebuke for Tal
Bolton manager Sam Allardyce has warned Tal Ben Haim to show more respect to the senior players at the club.
Ben Haim became involved in a confrontation with Jay-Jay Okocha during Bolton's 4-1 win over West Ham after the Nigerian berated the Israeli defender.
Allardyce believes Ben Haim needs to learn to accept criticism and he insists there is no problem between both players.
"Tal should have a little bit more respect for a senior player when he comes over to have a word with him," said Allardyce.
"But he does tend to get a little bit mouthy at times.
"It shows passion between players but it did not get out of hand, I am glad to say.
"Mike Dean (the referee) quite rightly had a word with him to calm down and get on with it."
(Source Sky Sports)
Trivia
- Despite only being 22, Ben Haim had already established himself as the regular captain of Israel.
- Ben Haim is known to be good friends with Israeli/British psychic and television personality Uri Geller.
- Ben Haim is also good friends with fellow Israeli footballer Yossi Benayoun and encouraged Benayoun to sign for Bolton in Summer 2005.
- During the Israel vs. France match in World Cup 2006 qualifying, David Trezeguet took exception to a Ben Haim tackle and headbutted the Israeli at the cost of a red card. Israel went on to draw the game 1-1 against ten man France.
- In the World Cup 2006 qualifying captain, Ben Haim captained Israel to 4 wins (2 against Faroe Islands and Cyprus) and 6 draws (2 against Switzerland, Ireland and France) but was still left denied even a play off place.
External links
- Ben Haim's homepage - currently redirects to this page.