The Israel National Soccer Team gets back to action with a pair of matches as they will look to advance to the 2026 World Cup that will be played in the United States, Canada and Mexico. On Saturday night, the blue-and-white will face Estonia and then on Tuesday Ran Ben Shimon’s squad will play Norway with both games being home contests that will be played in Debrecen, Hungary at the Nagyerdei Stadion due to the ongoing security situation in Israel.

Ahead of the two clashes, Ben Shimon spoke about a myriad of topics from who the starting goalkeeper will be to the squad selection where the bench boss began by explaining why he didn’t call up Maccabi Tel Aviv star midfielder Gaby Kanichowsky who had been instrumental for Israel during the most recent Nations League campaign.

“The feelings are amazing in the run-up to our opening games and as they approach the more exciting it gets,” Ben Shimon began. “We have great confidence in the team that has been selected and I see Gaby as someone who will play for us in the future. We had many conversations about this and Gaby is very close to the team, he’s one of the squad. But right now, in this specific position I have players that I currently prefer over him.”

Israel’s two international keepers in Daniel Peretz and Omri Glazer are both not playing for their club teams and have been called up along with Yoav Gerafi but according to Ben Shimon, the goalkeeping position is one of the strongest areas for the national team.

“The position that stands out in terms of its quality in the team is the goalkeeper position. That is true for all three who were called up which is both an amazing and rare position to be in for the country. I trust my goalkeepers and the lack of playing time doesn’t bother me. We are working on our confidence and that it will come from our team and not from the weaknesses or strengths of our opponents. We are playing against two strong teams as there are no easy games in Europe and as I said and I want to reiterate it, my confidence comes from my knowledge of our abilities and not the strengths or weaknesses of our opponent.”

For Israel, qualifying for the World Cup will be a long shot as there are so few places available that they would really need to play well above their current level, however, advancing to the 2028 Euro is most definitely a realistic goal and one that the blue-and-white together with Ben Shimon will be preparing for

“Qualifying for the World Cup is realistic of course and that would be a great story. Following conversations with players and what I can see from them as well is that they are going to try to do everything they can in order to qualify. We know that we are playing against the best teams in the world and that there are many complexities, so I don’t want to try to sell a dream. I want to have both of my feet on the ground and the ambition is to get the best results. We want to be competitive at every level in world football.”

“The ultimate goal is Euro 2028 and one of the secondary goals is to also succeed in the World Cup qualifying campaign. Beyond the goals that we have set, which must be related to the results, I would really like to see a team that improves and develops in all professional parameters and that will be a source of pride for Israeli society. I think we are on our way there and I hope we achieve these goals.”

In the past Nations League campaign, Ben Shimon’s squad ended with a number of solid results which was a source of pride for the team and instilled a tremendous amount of confidence in the squad and professional staff. But the bench boss also knows that his team will be up against some of the best of the best.

“We want to win against every team but we also have to be realistic and understand that there are no easy opponents. Norway has one of the most magnificent squads in the world but we’ll come in humble and try to win every game we play. We won’t go into any game and say that our goal is to draw. There’s belief in our ability, but we’ll have to adapt and we’ll have to be very competitive from the start. That’s a goal in itself and it’s of course also connected to the results.”

There will no doubt be an effect on the team by not playing the home games in Israel as the country has gone through and continues to go through such a tremendous ordeal since October 7, 2023.

“Israeli society is experiencing its most difficult period. Some of the things that happened to us following October 7th is that there are no European or international games in the country. Let’s hope that these games return as soon as possible, we want the fans to connect with us again, the players miss it no less than the fans. I was at several exciting events with people who will always follow the team everywhere, I got to meet fans who follow us all over the world. Let’s hope the games return here to Israel as soon as possible.”