At the end of a season, there are usually two teams that are happier than any other - and they are located at opposite ends of the table. One has just won the championship after a very good season while the other has just about survived the drop and managed to secure its place for one more season after a forgettable campaign. Surviving, it seems, brings just about as much joy as winning it all.

While 15 teams arrived in Spain fully-focused and with serious intents, Israel are by far the happiest camp in EuroBasket 2007 after making it to the biennial tournament for the eighth time in a row

They beat Bosnia-and-Herzegovina and Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) to win the 16th and final ticket for the competition in Spain just a few days ago. It was the second time in a row that Zvika Sherf's side has won the final berth for the competition in the additional qualifying round.

Two years ago, Israel used that momentum to register a successful EuroBasket. They beat Latvia in their group opener, had the upper hand on hosts Serbia for three quarters in the next game and then shocked the future World Champions Spain.

		Kozikaro is ready to show Israel's intents

Now Israel have a new task – to show they can do more than just be on the hounored list.

"We reached our peak in the last two games, especially in the last one which was a high level game," said Sherf, who also coached the team two years ago.

"I'm still thinking what would have happened if we had the opportunity to host the games in Israel last year. That hurt us and the basketball fans in Israel. The fact we managed to bring 10,000 fans to support us in the game against Belgium is a big honor for Israeli basketball."

Coming here with momentum is the positive aspect, but there's also a negative side that worries Israel’s coach.

"We spent a lot of energy in the last round, especially in the last two games. The question is when we will start to feel the tiredness,” Sherf conceded.

"We aren't as deep on the bench as other teams, and almost half of the team never played in EuroBasket."

Israel has known for a long time now that by making it to EuroBasket, they are playing in one of the toughest groups here, but nobody plans to give up easily.

"We have a very very tough group. Greece is a basketball empire nowadays, while Russia and Serbia are former empires with big traditions who are trying their best to get back to the top," added Sherf.

"I'm sure that in another group we would have had better chances to qualify, but we're ready, we love to play EuroBasket and we are ready to fight."

And Sherf has good reasons to be optimistic. This is already his sixth EuroBasket, tying him with Turkey's Bogdan Tanjevic on the all-time list.

"We made a very tough preparation. We started our summer before everybody else here, but that made our team very united and determined. We play good defense, know our hierarchy and mix veterans and young players."

"I know back home everybody is following the competition and hold their fingers crossed for us. That gives us a big joy, and we want to make them happy."

While Sherf is sorting out the Xs and Os for the upcoming games, his players are trying to calm down from the big joy of a few days ago to be well prepared for the new and much tougher challenge that lies ahead

"It's not fair to compare the last time we won the last ticket two years ago, and this time. We

		“	We worked all summer to get here and the road was tougher than before	„
		Israel's Ido Kozikaro

now have different players and we faced different teams," said big man Ido Kozikaro, who is one of the key players in Israel’s tough style.

"We worked the whole summer to be here. There was a huge explosion of joy in the locker room. This road was tougher than before, from the first moment, because last summer we couldn't host the games, and it made life much tougher on us. No team can easily overcome losing their home court."

Kozikaro, who is taking part in his fourth EuroBasket, gives a lot of credit to the huge support the team has back home.

"When 10,000 fans came to support us in the qualifying games, we knew the whole country stands behind us and that gave us a big push. We wanted to please the fans and ourselves."

While being aware of Israel's place among the 16 teams, Kozikaro also wants to make sure no team will under-estimate Israel and promises to make every opponent leave blood, sweat and tears out on court if they want to beat his team.

"We are a better team with a bigger tradition than some of the teams who made it here and we also have our own tradition in EuroBasket. We don't play for the medals, but always put up a fight against teams that are better than us on paper," he warned.

"One thing I know for sure – I'm happy we used the chance to qualify through the additional round, but I don't want to play that again."