A month after Israel hosted North Macedonia in Beer Sheva, the national team got back to Turner Stadium to host Latvia, the group minnows.
The away team probably didn’t have a chance to previously play in this kind of mid-October weather before. 27 Celsius degrees, 45% of humidity, the desert at its best.
It wasn't the only hot thing tonight. Andreas Herzog, the national team manager, could feel that his seat is on fire as well. The Austrian began his missions in Israel with successful results. He was one goal away from finishing at the top of the group in the UEFA Nations League. A few months later, he began Euro 2020 qualifiers with a draw against Slovenia and an impressive win against Austria.
Since then, things became complicated. In June, Poland thrashed Israel. During the last international break, Israel had a disappointing draw against North Macedonia and lost to a last-minute Slovenian goal. Tonight, Israel came after another defeat, this time against Austria. Three matches to go, Israel has no chance to finish in the first two spots of the group, and the questions about whether Herzog will stay or not are rising above the surface.
Latvia faced the hot desert weather of mid-October (Yossi Medina)
While there were real talks about the possibility that Herzog will leave the team in case of another winless match against Latvia, the differences between the teams were clear. It's not a coincidence that Latvia was drawn as one of the five weakest teams of the Euro qualifiers. Israel scored easily three goals in the first half. It was a chance for Munas Dabbur to score twice and to show his skills, as he barely plays in Sevilla. There was also another goal by Eran Zahavi, the leading top scorer in the Euro qualifiers with 11 goals.
It was an easy task for the attacking players, but it was another bad night for the weak defense of Israel. The team conceded its 15th goal of the campaign, showing one of the worst defensive records among all the participating teams. To show how bad the Israeli defense is, it’s important to understand that it was the second Latvian goal of the campaign, and the first that was scored by a Latvian player.
The second half was a bit sleepy. The Israeli team didn't attack at the same pace as in the first half and looked for solutions from other places. One of them, the first substitution, was a bit creative – a debut for Ilay Elmkies. Most of the spectators never saw him playing before, as the 19 years old midfielder is playing for the Hoffenheim U19 squad. The fans were ecstatic by his touches, but it wasn't enough.
In the final minutes, Eran Zahavi made the fans excited once more. A free-kick from 18 meters was a perfect chance for him to score one more goal, but his shot hit the crossbar, and there was no player to convert the rebound. Zahavi was not his usual clinical self, and although he just converted once, he left the pitch a bit frustrated after a few misses and a chance to add to his amazing tally.
Munas Dabbur, Israel’s key player with a brace (Yossi Medina)
Now, Israel is looking forward towards the next missions. They will finish the qualifiers with a home match against Poland and an away match against North Macedonia. These matches will decide whether Israel will avoid finishing in the 5th place of the group for the first time since 1994.
Then there is the second and critical mission, the Euro 2020 playoffs in March. In the mixed zone, local journalists tried to understand whether Israel will play in the playoffs and against which team. UEFA tried to make the playoff system as complicated as they can, and they have done it well. Could Israel do one step further in the playoffs? Herzog already said that he is not sure that the team is good enough for that, but now it's his time to show that he can do it, like in the beginning.