Israel defeated Estonia 2-1 to open up their 2026 World Cup campaign on the right foot. The blue-and-white conceded an early goal but drew even soon thereafter as captain Eli Dasa scored the winner in the 75th minute to give Ran Ben Shimon’s squad the 3-points and the win.

With the home game being played in Debrecen’s Nagyerdei Stadion due to the ongoing security situation in Israel, the visitors struck first as Maksim Pakotsi scored off a dead ball play in the 10th minute to give Estonia a quick 1-0 lead. However, with the blue-and-white pressing hard for the equalizer they found it less than a quarter hour later when Dan Biton’s scorcher from the top of the box hit the post, caromed off of Karl Hein and into the Estonian goal to draw Israel even at 1-1.

Oscar Gloukh and Manor Solomon who both play their club soccer for Red Bull Salzburg and Leeds United respectively had plenty of chances but couldn’t find the back of the goal while the same as true with Muhammed Abu Fani and Biton as Israel couldn’t find the go ahead marker until the blue-and-white captain Eli Dasa came to the rescue.

Solomon sent a perfect ball right to the wing back who finally broke the deadlock as he scored his first ever goal with the national team while capturing the 3-points for his side in dramatic fashion.

Next up for Israel will be a date with Norway on Tuesday who not only smashed Moldova 5-0, but feature arguably the world’s best striker in Manchester City’s Erling Haaland as Ben Shimon’s team will look to end the first window of matches with maximum points.

“A lot of things went wrong in the game,” Ben Shimon said. “This is a tough opponent that will make life difficult for the other teams. But overall we were fine and I have no doubt that we will be much better going forward without the pressure of this having been the first game. It’s a very important victory, which also keeps us grounded as we now turn our sights to the next game. As for set pieces, we will make the adjustments but it should also be noted that it’s very difficult to play against ten people standing behind the ball playing a defensive style of game.”

Ben Shimon also praised his captain Eli Dasa who scored the winning goal, “His talk with the players before the game already showed where this game was going to go for him, he is a real captain. He deserves all of the success in the world as he works so hard.”

Dasa, who dedicated the goal to his daughter as he celebrated by kissing the Israel emblem on his jersey, also spoke about the goal and its importance, “It’s a dream come true. I’m very emotional because after 66 appearances, scoring my first goal for the national team is every kid’s dream. I fulfilled a childhood dream and I’m happy that it came in a victory. I’m very excited, it’s the most exciting thing that can be. I’m just a very humble person and if the goal didn’t help in winning this game, you wouldn’t have heard a word about it.”

“I am happy for this team and happy that I am able to come in and contribute,” Dasa continued. “I always believed that by doing the correct things then good will come of it. This was a tough game even though some people would have said playing Estonia should be a walk in the park. That is something that I do not agree with. I wanted to make sure no one here would be complacent about games that on paper we are the favorites.”

The defender also looked ahead to Israel’s next test against Norway, “Just as many thought Estonia would be an easy game and that we’d take the 3-points and have fun, well against Norway we will not have an easy time as well. They are an excellent team and this will be a game with a completely different character but now it’s time to go and recover and get ready for this game.”

Manor Solomon spoke about assisting on Dasa’s goal and the upcoming challenge, “Eli made a big move to score the goal and we talked about the possibility at halftime. I am the happiest person in the world that he scored but the most important thing is that we won, it was tough, but super sweet. We started the game really well but missed a chance and then conceded which took away some of our confidence. After that, we got back into the game and when we made it 1-1 and I knew in my heart that we would win the game. We will now analyze the game, recover and start preparing for Norway which will be completely different against some of the best players in the world. We will come in ready to go.”