Not since Valery Karpin and Alexander Mostovoi were sweeping Villa aside in European competition for Celta Vigo, have I taken an interest in Russian football.
I've never had an interest in Israel football. Not even when Najwan Ghrayib was signed by John Gregory.
Ghrayib, of course, turned out to be hopeless.
Villa got close to signing a slighter better Israeli when Tal Ben Haim- now at Chelsea- was offered a trial but David O'Leary the Irishman didn't see anything in him.
He ended up at Bolton and the hopes of England rest on his broad shoulders today.
Karpin and Mostovoi were so impressive against Villa that there were two years of John Gregory fuelled speculation about multi-million pound bids.
That was at the time when I was continulally writing about their interest in Vigo team-mate Benni McCarthy.
£7million and £8 million speculation pieces at Villa were, in those days, nothing out of the ordinary.
Muzzy Izzet was undoubtedly on Gregory's shopping list at £8 million, no less.
Anyway, I get back to my original point.
I have only briefly and not too strongly had an interest in Russian or Israeli football.
I couldn't name any of the 22 players on view. Yes, I have heard of Benayoun at Liverpool, yes, I had heard of Oleg Blokhin and the keeper Dimitri Kharin. But that's the limit of my knowledge.
But tonight I will be glued to the box. Hoping, perhaps even offering up a small prayer, that Israel come through.
My summer depends on it.