Israeli playmaker Yossi Benayoun believes that his involvement in European football, initially with Racing Santander in Spain, and now with newly promoted English Premiership club West Ham Utd, will help drive his country on to World Cup glory.

The diminutive striker and midfielder maestro, who is known as the Diamond in Israel said, "my exposure to the fast and frenetic pace of the English Premier League, has helped me to appreciate the European game to the extent where by I am able to pass on useful information to my team mates about the way many of our opponents will play when we meet them in our qualification matches".

If other results go their way, the Israeli's could well find themselves topping their group following their next match against the Faroe Islands. Qualification to the FIFA World Cup Finals 2006 in Germany, would see Israel competing in the global finals of a major football tournament for the first time, and might prove to be a unifying factor in their troubled region.

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