Faygenbaum, Yehoshua

Between 1966-1977, Faygenbaum won 36 international caps (appearances in international competition fully recognized by FIFA), and scored 15 goals for the Israeli National team. He was a member of Israel's 1968 Olympic team, 1970 World Cup team, and 1974 Asian Cup team. One of his county's all-time top scorers, Faygenbaum is still No. 8 all-time in Israeli National League history with 147 goals. His 15 international goals ranks seventh all-time for Israel.

Birth and Death Dates:
b. May 12, 1947

Career Highlights:
A forward and midfielder, Faygenbaum first played for the Israeli National team in 1966 at the age of 18. Two years later, he was a member of the Israeli Olympic team that reached the quarterfinals and finished fifth. Faygenbaum started the tournament with a bang. In their preliminary group, the Israeli team defeated Ghana, 5-3, with Faygenbaum scoring three goals for a hat trick. The following game, Israel defeated El Salvador, 3-1, but then lost 2-0 to Hungary in their final preliminary game.

Israel's two victories gave them a second place finish in their group, and advanced the team to the quarterfinals. In that game, Faygenbaum scored the only Israeli goal in a 1-1 tie against Bulgaria. Unfortunately, to determine which team would advance to the semifinals, there was a coin toss, which the Bulgarians won. Bulgaria eventually captured the silver medal. Faygenbaum's four goals tied him for third among scoring leaders in the tournament.

Faygenbaum was a starting midfielder in the 1970 World Cup, the only time in Israel's history that their national team advanced to the final stage. In their group, Israel lost to Uruguay 2-0, tied Sweden 1-1, and tied Italy 0-0, but did not advance past the preliminary group. Faygenbaum also played in the 1974 Asian Cup when Israel reached the final round of competition, but fell to Iran, 1-0.

After Faygenbaum retired as a player, he turned to coaching in the Israel National League. Yehoshua led Maccabi Herzilia in the mid-1990s and B'nei Yehuda during the 1999-2000 season among others.

Yehoshua was appointed coach of Hapoel Tel Aviv in December, 2004. He took the team over at a moment of crisis and faces an uphill battle with the "reds".

Origin:
Israel

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