Israel fell to Belgium 3-1 to begin their Nations League on the wrong foot as the blue-and-white played a solid first half and went into the break all knotted up at 1-1 but two quick goals at the start of the second half did Ran Ben Shimon’s squad in to send his team to defeat.

The bench boss’s starting lineup featured a mix of Israel based players along with a number of sabras playing abroad as Yoav Gerafi started in goal while Danny Gruper, Raz Shlomo, Omri Gandelman, Idan Nachmias and Sagiv Yehezkel played in front of the keeper. The midfield included Oscar Gloukh, Neta Lavi and Muhammad Abu Fani while Anan Khalaili and Manor Solomon played up front.

In what was Belgium’s home game that was played at the Nagyerdei Stadionin in Debrecen, Hungary due to security concerns hosting the match in Brussels, the hosts grabbed a 1-0 lead in the 21st minute as Jeremy Doku broke down the Israeli defense and slotted the ball to a wide open Kevin De Bruyne who scored the easy marker.

However, an active Ben Shimon side drew even when Idan Nachmias sent a terrific ball to Anan Khalaili whose header went off of Timothy Castagne and into the Belgium net for an own goal as the contest headed into the break tied up at 1-1.

But Youri Tielemans broke the deadlock three minutes into the send half as he took advantage of a Lois Openda to give Belgium a 2-1 lead. Just minutes later, the red hot hosts kept pressing the blue-and-white as Raz Shlomo conceded a penalty for a foul on Openda and De Bruyne stepped up to beat keeper Yoav Geafi who went the wrong way as he scored from the spot for a 3-1 advantage.

Israel made wholesale substitutions but were unable to find a way to break down the Belgium defense as Ben Shimon’s squad succumbed to defeat in their opening League A game. Next up for the blue-and-white will be a home clash against Italy in a game that will be played at the Bozsik Aréna in Budapest due to the ongoing war with Hamas.

“I wasn’t surprised by our quality and ability in the first half,” Ben Shimon said following the game. “I was satisfied with the direct connection that I saw between the training sessions and what happened in the actual match itself. I believe that we could have been more accurate and could have gotten more out the first half as well. I saw many outstanding things that are part of the process, we played against a team at a very high level but we had to maintain more concentration on the pitch.”

“At these levels when you don’t keep your concentration – you immediately pay the price. The only thing that annoys me is that we got a little ‘ugly’ goals when the ball was ours. This is the price sometimes when you want to play. I was happy to see the players committed all the way until the 90th minute.”

Ben Shimon also added, “I am content with our performance and I won’t criticize such a level of athleticism and speed. I will now look ahead and see what can be done with the team. We lacked a bit physically and I believe that this will not happen in the future and I’m very satisfied with the players. We are just at the beginning of a process and are not yet at the highest of levels, that’s clear. There are no excuses and I want to win every game. We will have to improve some things and we will do everything in our power to do so.”