The Israel National Team hosts Belgium on Sunday night (21:45) in Hungary in the blue-and-white’s final Nations League match of the League A campaign. Head Coach Ran Ben Shimon’s squad are coming off a heroic goalless draw against France in Paris as keeper Daniel Peretz was sensational making 8 direct saves.

Just ahead of the clash, the bench boss as well as captain Eli Dasa shared some thoughts heading into the game.

“The Amsterdam incident was a bit traumatic for us, but here we feel safe,” Ben Shimon began his remarks referencing the security situation that unfolded in Holland when migrants attacked Maccabi Tel Aviv fans just over a week ago. “We are accompanied by security personnel and especially here in Hungary, we feel that the people have been treating us very respectfully. These issues are not in our hands, we want to play in Israel and I am sure we will return to play there soon and the situation will change for the better.”

“Our plan for Belgium is simple, to continue the way we played in Paris, where we were playing a bit more defensively. We would like to take another step forward and I would like to see us try and record our first victory. We know that we are playing against a top quality team, but we have our goal to come and show the people at home that we have a plan and there is a process that we are going through ahead of the World Cup Qualifying.”

Eli Dasa spoke about not playing the team’s home fixtures back in Israel, “First of all, we have to start by thanking the Hungarians for their hospitality. This is not a situation that is the best for the players but these are the circumstances – we feel safe here and we would be happy to have more fans in the stands, but this is the situation. It is impossible to talk about these type of difficulties at this sensitive time for our country, so we are only grateful for the chance to represent it with respect.”

“The result in France represented a process that the team has been going through from game to game, despite some tough results but there was a tiny improvement each time, which in the end amounted to a pretty good result. But France is in the past we will have to play at least at the same level if not better. I expect myself and the rest to perform at an even higher level. We expect an even tougher game with this Belgium squad.”

“Belgium’s squad situation? This is also a turning point for those players who will get a chance, it may be a golden opportunity for them to prove themselves, in their club teams they are stars. They play for top teams, we don’t even have the right to underestimate them, they are from the top teams in Europe. When you underestimate your opponent, you underestimate yourself. Everyone has their own problems, we are playing against a team from the top.”