It wasn’t one of Israeli sports’ banner nights, that’s for sure.

The blue-and-white teams went a big O-fer, the silver sombrero, going 0-3 after the Israel National Team, Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Tel Aviv all came up empty in their respective games on Thursday night, leaving supporters across the board thoroughly disappointed and, quite frankly, upset. This was especially true because each of those contests could have — and perhaps should have — ended in victory.

Ran Ben Shimon’s Israel National Team battled Austria toe-to-toe in a Nations League clash that the blue-and-white could have seemingly come away from with at least one point, and perhaps even all three. However, Israel once again found a way to turn a solid performance into a frustrating mess.

With host Austria leading 1-0 on a goal scored near the end of the first half — another one of Israel’s patented defensive lapses at a critical juncture just before the break — Sayed Abu Farchi scored a brilliant strike to draw Ben Shimon’s side level.

However, what happened after the goal was anything but smart.

Abu Farchi celebrated by using the corner flag in what Israeli announcers described as a “snooker shot” and was subsequently issued a second yellow card, resulting in a red and reducing Israel to ten men for virtually the entire second half.

Abu Farchi had used the same celebration during the Israeli Super Cup for Maccabi and needed to be smart enough not to repeat it in a situation where it could leave his national team a man down. Unfortunately, he wasn’t.

With Austria holding a numerical advantage, Ben Shimon essentially buttoned down the hatches and tried to escape with a point. Israel almost accomplished exactly that, but it wasn’t meant to be. Two late goals — one in the 90th minute and another during injury time — once again proved Israel’s inability to navigate those critical moments, sending the blue-and-white to a brutal 3-1 defeat.

Israel has seemingly become an expert at blowing quality chances and solid opportunities against top-level opponents, and this was yet another prime example.

The blue-and-white now have three more matches in this window, including two against Ireland, which has repeatedly brought political issues into the sporting arena. Whatever the off-field rhetoric, Israel will have to put it aside and find a way to collect points, with Kosovo also awaiting.

The last thing Ben Shimon wants is for his side to emerge from these four matches without points. That could put Israel into crisis mode before the team can even begin thinking about the Euro 2028 qualifiers.

Maccabi’s EuroLeague Opener Leaves Plenty to Be Desired

Over on the basketball court, both Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Tel Aviv lost their EuroLeague openers, with both performances leaving plenty to be desired as the two Tel Aviv clubs looked out of sync against their respective opponents.

The yellow-and-blue fell to ASVEL Villeurbanne 84-74, one of the teams expected to finish near the bottom of the standings. While Oded Katash’s squad started reasonably well, a dreadful second quarter proved costly.

Maccabi went more than six minutes without a field goal before Daniel Theis finally dropped in a deuce with 3:44 remaining in the half. No EuroLeague team is going to win many games when it goes more than six straight minutes without a basket in any quarter.

It wasn’t until Jimmy Clark entered the game in the third quarter that Maccabi showed some life. His presence helped inject energy into the team, and the yellow-and-blue managed to take a slim lead late in the frame.

But it wasn’t meant to be.

Katash had no answer for Yves Pons, who sparked a personal 9-0 run to help the hosts retake the lead by the end of the quarter and eventually roll to an 84-74 victory.

Yam Madar had a strong Maccabi debut, finishing with 13 points and a EuroLeague career-high eight assists. However, several others — including Iffe Lundberg, Bonzie Colson, Keaton Wallace, John DiBartolomeo and Will Rayman — needed to provide more.

Add 20 turnovers to the equation, and it becomes extremely difficult to win.

As good as Maccabi looked in the Super Cup victory over Hapoel the previous week, when everything seemed to click with ease, the yellow-and-blue looked equally poor in Lyon.

It was, without question, a game Maccabi needed to win against an ASVEL team that head coach Tony Parker had suggested was not yet ready to compete at this level. Oshae Brissett had also called the matchup a must-win before the team departed for France.

Maccabi will now turn its attention to a Winner Cup quarterfinal against Kiryat Ata before facing a EuroLeague double week against Besiktas followed by a road date with Panathinaikos.

It is not an easy road ahead for Katash, and the last thing he wants to see is his team fall into an 0-3 hole. That would be a nightmare of a start.

Hapoel Falls Short Against Bayern

Hapoel Tel Aviv also looked out of sync for much of its clash with Bayern Munich.

The reds allowed the Germans to control the middle quarters with relative ease and found themselves down by 18 points at the start of the fourth quarter, thanks in large part to the sharpshooting of Andreas Obst.

But Hapoel wasn’t finished.

The reds mounted a frantic comeback in the final frame, led by Antonio Blakeney, and even took the lead as the clock wound down. However, veteran big man Johannes Voigtmann came through with a clutch three-pointer to put Bayern ahead for good 86-84 to wrap up the win.

It was a brutal way to open the EuroLeague campaign.

Itoudis certainly could not have been happy with Hapoel’s defensive performance, while the lack of offensive cohesion was also evident. Elijah Bryant struggled to make the impact Hapoel needed, although Itoudis did get a glimpse of what Jacob Toppin can bring to the table.

Should Toppin obtain Israeli citizenship, he could become a significant game-changer for the reds.

On this opening night, however, 13 assists simply weren’t enough for Hapoel to get the job done.

The reds will now return to Israel for a quick Winner Cup quarterfinal matchup against Hapoel Beer Sheva before embarking on a EuroLeague double week that includes a trip to Red Star and then a matchup against Real Madrid in Sofia.

Hapoel will need to get rolling next week, or it too could find itself staring at a brutal 0-3 start — something Itoudis surely would never have imagined when taking over the team.

Time to Turn It Around

The bottom line is that all three teams need to turn up the volume and get with the program quickly. Otherwise, their respective competitions will leave them behind — way, way behind.

And that is certainly the last thing any Israeli sports aficionado wants to see happen.