The Israel National Team takes on Moldova in Chisinău on Sunday (21:45) as they will look to finish off 2026 World Cup qualifying in a high note. Although the blue-and-white have been eliminated from contention, Ran Ben Shimon’s side will look to take home a positive result after playing to a goalless draw at Lithuania this past Thursday.

Ahead of the contest, the head coach spoke about the upcoming challenge, “I’m focusing on our side, on what we need to bring and less on what the opponent says or plans. We’re preparing for every method the opponent might use; we have in our arsenal the tools and readiness for any approach. We need to look at what we want to get out of this match which is many more offensive solutions and offensive sharpness.”

Ben Shimon continued, “The players understand this and so do we. We want to finish the campaign with a win, it’s very important to us. The victory is very important. I talk to the players a lot and they understand it; we’ll try to win the match.”

The captain Eli Dasa also commented about the match, “In the years when we didn’t manage to achieve our goal, we indeed stumbled against national teams that, on paper, we should have taken points from in order to establish our standing. We want to go into the match against Moldova and win, so that we can start to see situations where we look at these teams and take the points.

“This is another stepping stone along the way. Even the match against Lithuania, which was a friendly, showed how difficult it was for us against an aggressive team that bites at you and doesn’t give you a moment’s rest. That was also a good test for us. I think we’re planting seeds slowly, even if from the outside it sometimes doesn’t look like it and that’s what will pay off for us in the long run.”