The Israel Women’s National Team will face a difficult road game against the Olympic runner-up France in Eurobasket qualifying Thursday at 22:10 in a game that will take place in Caen. The blue-and-white comes into their third game with a 1-1 record after a win over Ireland and a dramatic overtime defeat against Latvia. On Sunday, Head Coach Sharon Drucker’s squad will play Ireland in Riga at 14:15 in the afternoon.

The Israeli bench boss called up 13 players for this window, including the injured Jenny Sims and Eden Rothberg who flew even though she was ill. Rothberg will be in the squad for tomorrow, while Sims is still not fit with the goal of getting her ready for the game against Ireland.

The French team is one of the strongest in the world and captured a silver medal at the Paris Olympics this past summer after falling to the United States 67-66 in the final. Israel faces a difficult task in the south of France in an arena that will no doubt be jam packed with fans.

Drucker spoke about the upcoming challenge, “We finished the preparations for the game against France and of course the level of differences are clear as they are the runner-ups to the Olympic champs. Since the beginning of our journey we have been trying to teach the squad how to concentrate on themselves and the things that we can bring to the table. There will be an amazing atmosphere in the arena and I hope it will give us energy, positivity and motivation. Unfortunately, we are suffering from injuries to two important players but others will step up and give us strength for this game. From there we will continue to the next game, but first we will do the best we can with the immediate task ahead.”

The National Team Captain Eden Rotberg added, “Every time we wear the national team jersey we feel great pride and enormous respect, certainly during the current period of time that we are all experiencing. We will come in and give everything and represent the country in the best possible way.”