Israel- Blue 2012/14 Dekel Keinan #12 (Friendly) vs. Honduras


Dekel Keinan's match issued shirt from the Israel vs. Honduras friendly match played on June 2, 2013 at Citi Field in NYC. Israel won the match 2-0 from a 52nd minute longshot from Hen Ezra, and a 76th minute deflection goal from Shimon Abuhatzira. This shirt has a lot of sentimental value for me as it was from the first Israel national team match I've ever attended. I had tried very hard to get a shirt from this match but was unsuccessful. I had VIP tickets for the match, sitting first row behind one of the goals, which got me in to the exclusive post match press conference. I also had the privilege of going to the Israeli team's closed practice 2 days before, where I was able to meet all of the players and have them sign my shirt. This was an extremely exciting match as it was in the middle of the 2014 World Cup Qualifying campaign which Israel had finished in third place in their group, tying Portugal both times they faced them. At the time I had just begun collecting Israel shirts and was dreaming about being able to own a shirt with the last names on the back. This was a feature that the national team only started using consistently during the beginning of the 2014 World Cup Qualifying campaign. It ended up taking me until February 2014 to get my first one. I really like the Keinan shirt as it is very simple yet pretty.




 Hen Ezra celebrating after scoring

Yossi Benayoun dribbling past a Honduran player

Eran Zahavi beating Danny Espinoza for a header

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