Israel will host Belarus at the Bloomfield Stadium on Thursday in a Euro 2024 qualifier. The disappointing stalemate in Andorra on Saturday effectively destroyed Belarus’ chances of mounting a late challenge to threaten the top two.
Preview (Israel vs. Belarus)
Israel will still be confident about their chances of competing in their first big event since their lone and successful World Cup qualification campaign in Asia in 1970. Israel will likely be competing for a top-two finish after the halfway stage. They are now down in third place. A stunning draw in Romania may give them the advantage going into the second part of the division. Israel must succeed here against a team they are supposed to defeat since Romania has a potentially challenging match against Kosovo on the same night.
Even though they were ultimately fortunate to even come away with a point, the Israelis may look back on their 1-1 draw with Kosovo on the first matchday and regret it. However, with Andorra still to come, this match appears to be quite winnable for Alon Hazan’s team. If they can defeat the weaker teams in the group in their last games, it will make their home matches against Switzerland and Romania very alluring. They needed two goals in the closing five minutes to defeat Belarus in the opposite match. Israel has a mixed recent history against Belarus.
Belarus will be disappointed that they were unable to defeat Andorra, especially following their outstanding victory over Kosovo in June. This success gave rise to hopes that they would gain some momentum and enter the race for the top two spots in a competitive segment. The match between Andorra and this would have been considered as two games that may have been won by the new manager Carlos Alos after just suffering a late defeat to Israel earlier in the group. Wins are essential after losing their first three games, and if they had defeated Andorra at the halfway mark, they would currently be just three points away from a qualifying berth. Even if they were to pull a surprise here, the obstacle presently appears to be insurmountable.
Team News
Manor Solomon, a crucial player for Israel, entered the international break in good spirits. After seizing his opportunity to play for Tottenham Hotspur’s first team and contributing two assists in a victory over Burnley. Red Bull Salzburg’s promising teen Oscar Gloukh is also continuing to improve. On Saturday in Bucharest, he scored a wonderful equalizer for his second goal in the division. The Istanbul Basaksehir midfielder has missed the last three international windows due to injury and Under-21 obligations. Eden Kartsev is one of the noteworthy injury absentees from the squad.
Ayid Habshi and Doron Leidner are also out due to late withdrawals due to injury concerns. Dan Peretz, a recent acquisition for Bayern Munich, could take over in goal for Omri Glazer. The former made a costly error in the draw with Romania. Considering that only Denis Polyakov has more than 40 appearances for Belarus. The team may look to Max Ebong for motivation in the middle of the field. Ebong scored in both of June’s international matches and helped his Kazakh team FC Astana advance to the Europa Conference League group stages as one of only five players who compete outside of Belarus and Russia.
Leo Kapilevich of Sevilla is one of the select handful making a living outside of their home country. He will be hoping to make his international debut here. After a strong stretch of play since June they earned seven points from their previous three qualifiers. Israel should feel encouraged. A disappointing tie with Andorra means Belarus, who have also improved slightly, would have trouble in Tel Aviv.
Israel 2 – 0 Belarus
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