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Crouch: Benayoun hope

Liverpool's Peter Crouch hopes that Yossi Benayoun can replicate his current club form on the international stage.

With England's hopes of qualifying for Euro 2008 no longer in their hands, the country finds themselves relying on Israel picking up a result when they take on Russia later this month.

And Crouch is hoping that Benayoun can assist England in securing a place in next summer's finals in Austria and Switzerland.

The Israeli winger scored a hat-trick in The Reds' 8-0 UEFA Champions League thumping of Besiktas, and Crouch admits that he and Steven Gerrard are keeping their fingers crossed that he carries his excellent form into the clash on 17th November.

Hero

"Of course now it would be great to see him make himself a hero to the England fans as well as the Liverpool ones," he said.

"Me and Stevie Gerrard have been getting into him; don't worry about that, trying to keep him fresh for the Israel game. We certainly need him to help Israel play well too. Hopefully he will do us a job against Russia.

"I was delighted for Yossi because he's a great lad. It was fantastic to see him getting the hat-trick against Besiktas and he was involved in almost everything."