The Israel Women’s National Team gets back to action later this week when resume Eurobaket qualifying as they visit France in Caen on Thursday and then play Ireland on Sunday in Latvia due to the security situation in the Holy Land. Sharon Drucker’s squad comes into the November window of games sporting a 1-1 record after defeating Ireland and falling to Latvia in overtime back in February.

The Irish refused to shake the Israeli players hands before their clash earlier in the year that saw the blue-and-white pick up a 87-57 win while the French team, who were the Olympic runner-ups in Paris have already picked up a 79-41 win over Latvia and dropped Ireland 100-48.

Just as the team is about to head to Europe for their two clashes Drucker and Daniel Raber spoke to the media about upcoming challenge at hand.

“I think getting together for this window was in itself a difficult task and I hope everyone will be healthy soon,” Drucker said about the players who will be available for the pair of qualifiers. “Jennie Sims is doubtful and we hope that we can get her into a position to play as soon as possible. Daniel landed yesterday after a 30-hour journey from Australia. To be here and to represent the team, for me this is no small thing. Eden Rotberg is unfortunately sick and we hope that she will join us soon but we are a bit uncertain, however, my players have a winning spirit and that has always brought atmosphere and energy and shows the spirit of the Israeli team and that is where we are aiming to get to.”

The bench boss spoke about his squad’s opponents in this window beginning with one of the best nation’s in the world, “France is second in the world after losing to the USA in the final and we will play against them first and then we will focus on Ireland. Last time when we played Ireland there was a lack of respect from their side but we won and I hope we will do the same this time too. As for France, we will try to find their weaknesses and play both sides of the court. This is what’s beautiful about sports, anything can happen. I saw the game between France and Ireland and we have already played against big teams like Belgium.”

Drucker discussed the naturalization process for a potential national team player and former USA Maccabiah participant Abby Myers, “She still cannot play as the paperwork has yet to be completed. She is someone of interest for us and we are following her progress. She has expressed a desire to play for the national team and this is important to us. When Jennie Simms was injured theer was some hysteria about it but we’re happy that it seems that it’s not s serious as first thought and now it’s just a matter of recovery, proper treatments and having the right attitude. If she will not be ready for the first game we hope that she will be available for the second.”

The style of play Drucker will use against France is similar to what had been implemented in other games in order to try and get a positive result, “We know what we have in hand and we have to find a way to play as best as we can. The game against Latvia showed that it is possible to deal with the ‘lions of Europe’ so with that I know that everyone here will give it their all for the national team and I believe in every single one of my players.”

Raber also commented on the challenge that lies ahead, “We are continuing with what we did in the previous window and are concentrating on ourselves. We are playing a strong opponent in France, but we are working on our game. We found a way to play our last couple of games even with a lack of height as we simply played with one player on the inside and four out as there was no choice. We have to find our advantages instead of disadvantages as we are coming in to win both games and do the best we can.”

“As for my decision to come and play for the blue-and-white, the Israel National Team jersey always inspires pride and there was no question whether or not I was going to come in from Australia to play in these games despite the fact that I am missing two in the league that I am playing in. There’s nothing more important right now than to represent Israel.”