The Israel national team will face Moldova to finish off its 2026 World Cup Qualifying campaign Sunday night in Chisinau after also playing Lithuania late Thursday in friendly action.
The blue-and-white will not be able to qualify for the World Cup that will take place next summer in the United States as it has already been eliminated from contention. However, head coach Ran Ben Shimon has a number of goals for the upcoming qualifier, which will be the squad’s last competitive game for quite some time – until Nations League play begins in September 2026.
“This is a decisive match,” the bench boss began. “There are three goals: to win, to continue developing the professional style we want to see in the national team and to give playing time to players who got fewer minutes in this campaign. All the players wanted to be here and these matches are very important. You don’t choose when to take things seriously or not. Part of our path is maintaining a serious approach; every match of the Israel national team is important.”
There will be a number of players who will not be present for these games, including Villarreal’s Manor Solomon, who has back pains, Hamburg ’keeper Daniel Peretz, who will be getting married, Tai Baribo from the Philadelphia Union, whose wife is expecting, as well as Ferencvaros’s Muhammed Abu Fani, who has an knee injury.
“All the players who won’t be here have solid reasons and we had conversations with each of them. Everyone had justified reasons; I’m sure they all wanted to come. I spoke with [Manor] Solomon and he really wanted to be here.”
In the last two games against Norway and Italy there were a number of individual mistakes, which is an area that Ben Shimon and the staff will be working on.
“From the day we returned from those contests, we went to analyze, question and draw conclusions. I agree that we need to connect the good performance against Italy with a much better result. Against Norway, we collapsed and we’re aware of that and accepted the criticism, rightly so.
“We’re constantly working on better decision-making,” Ben Shimon continued. “It’s part of our job. I believe there will be results in the coming campaigns, both in the Nations League and Euro qualifiers, because we’re aware that no team in the world can succeed if it concedes easy goals. It must be very hard to score against us and we’re working on that. We have a team that truly wants to play football all the time and we paid a price for that. These are some of the things we’ll want to improve in future campaigns.”
Defender Raz Shlomo returned to the squad after missing the last window of matches while Danny Grouper, who has played sparingly for Maccabi Tel Aviv, was also called up for these two games.
“Every time Grouper plays for Maccabi, he plays well,” noted the coach. “He also does good things with the national team. We really like what he brings when he plays and that’s why he’s called up. As for Raz Shlomo, we decided to bring him back. He’s been part of the national team for about a year and a half. He missed one slot of games, but now he’s back.”
Maccabi Haifa defender Liav Eiassat, who played for Israel’s youth national teams, was called up by Romania’s senior squad and played for them back in October. Although he could change allegiances and play for the blue-and-white going forward, it is not a simple switch that can be made.
“Regarding Liav, I’ve done and continue to do a lot to have him available for the Israel national team. It’s still a reversible decision and I’d be happy if he’s available to play for Israel.”
Moldova also suffered some heavy losses and now has a new coach, which is something that Ben Shimon will need to keep a good eye on as it played Italy on Thursday in a qualifier while Israel faced Lithuania in a friendly.
“Both matches are very important to us; we don’t have ‘friendly’ matches. Both are meaningful and we’ll field strong, quality lineups in both. In my life, I’ve always believed there’s no such thing as arriving with opportunities already given. Whoever is here and plays well will play. There will be strong lineups in both matches.”
Ofri Arad, who plies his trade for Kairat Almaty, scored a goal against Inter Milan in Champions League play this past Wednesday but was not called into camp.
“I was very happy about his goal and we’re following him. The door is open to all players, including him, he’s a good player and an exceptional person. He’s showing very good form, but right now I’m choosing other players who are also good. When we decide it’s time for him to be called up, he will be.”
Ajax’s Oscar Gloukh is going through a challenging period with his club team where he is starting in some matches and then coming off the bench for others. With Solomon out of action for these clashes, Gloukh may take a leadership role for the squad.
“My expectations of him are high and I think he continues to surprise me beyond my expectations. He’s a very important asset for the national team, always arrives committed. We’re very pleased with what he gives and how he behaves, he contributes greatly to the team and its goals. He’s an exceptional player and I really like what he brings to the national team. I assess him by many parameters and he shows a lot of maturity beyond his skill.”
Israel saw ups and downs during campaign
With three wins and four defeats, Israel has collected nine points in seven matches, which places it in third in Group I with Norway and Italy ahead of it. There have been ups and downs in this campaign and Ben Shimon knows that the team will need to improve in order to advance to a major tournament for the first time since the 1970 World Cup.
“We didn’t achieve more than what we were capable of, we really wanted to, but that’s reality. We played well against the teams below us in Estonia and Moldova. Against Italy, we had two good games but one bad result and versus Norway, the first match had good moments, the second was a catastrophe. It was a tough group. We weren’t ready to qualify for the 2026 World Cup. The team did some good things, but it must improve to achieve better results.”
With the war having wrapped up and with Euroleague basketball seemingly returning to the Holy Land in December, there is hope that international soccer will also come back to Israel, Ben Shimon explained.
“It’s part of returning to normal life. Our fans deserve to see the national team at home. For our professional goals, it’s extremely important and it’s one of the factors that can help us succeed in reaching a major tournament.”
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