Focussed, aggressive and united: Israel readies for France in Nations League action

Oct 9, 2024 | Football

The Israel National Team gets back into action on Thursday when they take on France in a Nations League matchup. Ahead of the contest, head coach Ran Ben Shimon as well as interim captain Dor Peretz spoke about their expectations, the security situation and much more.

“We cannot detach ourselves from what is happening in Israel, it is too complex,” Ben Shimon began. “We have a duty and a right to represent Israel in this period of time. What we are going through is a part of us. From a young age I have been told not to mix politics and sports, but this is about our life. On the one hand, we need to be sensitive, to feel every sorrow and pain from what is happening in the country, but on the other hand, also to transmit strength and be strong” he added.

“Many times after the team plays well it comes to a halt. This time we want it to continue on and see progress. Every game that we step on the pitch we want to win. We respect the strength and ability of the opponent, but we have our own goals. We were more involved in the preparation of ourselves than preparing for the opponent as we are paying attention to how we progress as a team.”

Ben Shimon continued, “When you play against high level players, it means that the preparation has to be meticulous, that we have to be ready. There is no doubt that the quality of the opponent should raise our quality as well and I hope we will see it tomorrow in the game. We need to be focused. As soon as I took this position, i also took on optimism, I am a big believer. I look ahead and see things and signs in our team that will help us reach a big tournament with God’s help soon.”

The bench boss also spoke about motivation, “We have plenty. Football is not about motivation, it’s about abilities, tactics, I think the motivation to play against France is high enough, so I trust my players to come with enough motivation and I expect them to show good things on the field. We have no right to talk about difficulties after this year. We must know how to make the balance between personal life and what happens to us and what happens when we step on the field of play.”

The group that Israel is in is one of the toughest there is in the Nations League even without some of the top players in the world such as Mbappe who will mot be available for France in this game.

“We will reach the next stages of our journey by gaining a lot of experience in such games against strong opponents.We want to know how to deal with such situations. We will fight every game. This experience in the League of Nations will help us deal with complex situations in the future. Mbappe’s absence? I don’t concentrate on the opponent, they have good players in every position who are in excellent form. We’ve been through them all, we know them all. There is no doubt that Mbappe is one of the best players in the world, but I want my players to concentrate on our team, on how to compete at the highest levels.”

Dor Peretz who will be captaining the squad in Eli Dasa’s absence added, “We realized that we have an even greater right than before to represent the team following the events that have occurred in Israel and what the country is experiencing. Even today a shocking event happened and we understand our right to do some good in these very dark moments. On the professional side, we need to be focused and aggressive, come in as a united team to achieve our goals. We need to be together and that way we can have a positive influence on the people in Israel who are in a challenging situation.”

Peretz, who will wear the captain’s armband understands the responsibility, “To represent the national team, whether as a captain or as a player is a huge privilege, especially during these trying days. The goal is to help the players and team continue our process and move it forward. The captain’s armband is an amazing thing and it feels great but with or without it the role of all the players here is to be leaders and lead the team forward.”

“We are aware that we are playing against one of the best teams in the world. If we continue our process at the level of aggressiveness, positivity and energy that we want to reach, then this process will continue and of course we would very much like that to be reflected in the result as well. We respect the opposing players and will meet them face to face. It’s time to prove and show what we’re worth and that’s what we’ll do on Thursday.”

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