Liverpool and Israel star Yossi Benayoun is using next Wednesday’s Windsor Park friendly against Northern Ireland as a launching pad for World Cup qualification.

Israel are fighting it out with Greece, Switzerland and Latvia for an automatic place and play-off place.

Israeli skipper Benayoun said: “If expectations up until now were exaggerated, they are realistic now — we should qualify for the World Cup.

“Up until now, we were drawn against big teams. The press put expectations on a high shelf and then, when we did not advance, they always spoke about failure.

“For the first time, the expectations and the chances are the same and logical.

“If I had to choose between Greece, France, Italy or Germany, of course it is preferable to get Greece — even though we are not talking about an easy team.

“It is a very strong team, but it is still preferable than the big teams in Europe.

“I have always had a dream of reaching the World Cup, and it is possible that this could be my only shot at it as a player,” said the 29-year-old midfielder.

He added: “I want to do everything I can in order to make history as a player who was at the World Cup with the national squad.”

Benayoun and teenager Ben Sahar — who scored twice against Liverpool on his debut for Espanyol at the weekend — are the star names in the Israel squad that will face Northern Ireland.

And four members of the Maccabi Haifa team that knocked Glentoran out of the Champions League will also make a return to Belfast for the international friendly. Benayoun will captain the side, which contains a mix of home based players and others who ply their trade elsewhere in Europe.

Borussia Mönchengladbach’s Gal Alberman — Benayoun’s regular partner in midfield — will miss the game through injury.

Sahar is the new golden boy of Israeli football, after joining Chelsea as a 16-year-old, where he played three games as a 17-year-old before loan spells at Queens Park Rangers, Sheffield Wednesday, Portsmouth and in Holland with Graafschap, where he scored five times in 16 games last season.

He left Stamford Bridge in the summer, moving to Spain in a £1 million deal.

In February 2007 — aged 17 — Sahar became Israel’s youngest ever international, although he no longer holds that record.

Gai Assulin — who is currently with Barcelona, but is a target for both Liverpool and Chelsea — took the record a year ago, but has yet to add to that single cap.

Hapoel Tel Aviv’s midfield pair Avihai Yadin and Bibras Natkho have been named by Israel for the first time and manager Dror Kashtan is expected to hand debuts to both at Windsor Park.

ISRAEL SQUAD: Goalkeepers: Dudu Aouate (Mallorca), Nir Davidovich (Maccabi Haifa), Liran Strauber (Maccabi Tel Aviv); Defenders: Dedi Ben Dayan (Hapoel Tel Aviv), Klemi Saban (Maccabi Netanya), Dekel Keinan (Maccabi Haifa), Tal Ben Haim (Manchester City), Yoav Ziv (Lokeren), Avi Strool (Lokeren), Eyal Meshumar (Maccabi Haifa), Dean Mori (Bnei Yehuda); Midfielders: Tamir Cohen (Bolton Wanderers), Biram Kiyal (Maccabi Haifa), Yossi Benayoun (Liverpool), Aviram Baruchyan (Beitar Jerusalem), Salim Tuama (Larissa), Avihai Yadin (Hapoel Tel Aviv), Bibras Natkho (Hapoel Tel Aviv); Forwards: Ben Sahar (Espanyol), Roberto Colautti (Borussia Mönchengladbach), Omer Golan (Lokeren), Barak Yitzhaki (Beitar Jerusalem), Elyaniv Barda (Racing Genk), Amit Ben-Shushan (Beitar Jerusalem).