The Israel National Team will be back in action as they will play their final two Nations League matches against France and Belgium next week. The blue-and-white will visit Les Bleues on Thursday November 14th at the Stade De France in the Saint Denis neighborhood of Paris while The Red Devils will visit Israel’s home away from home in Budpaest the following Sunday to wrap up the campaign.

The home clash will be held at the Bozsik Arena in Hungary due to the ongoing security situation in Israel and will close out the third window of games as the hosts will look to pick up their first points in Group 2 of League A which features heavyweights Italy, Belgium and France.

Head Coach Ran Ben Shimon has been working diligently with the team over the past few months to try and find the correct combination of players that he will need once the 2026 World Cup qualifying begins in early 2025 and has used the National League group stage as a testing ground to do just that.

The bench boss made some changes from prior windows and was able to call up players who had been injured including Bayern Munich keeper Daniel Peretz as well as Leeds United midfielder Manor Solomon along with some new faces in Nikita Stoyanov and Yarden Shua. In addition, Ben Shimon brought back Dia Saba, Roie Mishpati and Dean David into the fold as they will all join the likes of Liel Abada, Oscar Gloukh, Dor Peretz and captain Eli Dasa who missed last window due to an injury.

Ahead of the pair of matches, Ben Shimon spoke about some of his decisions and expectations heading into the final two games of this year’s Nations League.

“Last window there was a glitch by to calling up Dean David but he is here now because he dersves to be here in terms of his fitness. We’re all here for the same goal and how many minutes he may or may not play was not discussed.”

“In terms of bringing in Dia Saba, I feel that he now has both of his feet in the Israeli league. He is going through an amazing period of time on the professional level. One of the goals that we defined for the Nations League is to also find players that will help us down the road and we want the best players that we can in the squad. That’s how I selected the players.”

Ben Shimon is the first national team coach to invite Yarden Shua to be a part of the squad, “I respect all the national team coaches who were here before me as I would like them to respect me. But that doesn’t mean that I expect those who come after me to do what I did. Yarden is in good shape, worthy of the national team and that’s why I summoned him. I haven’t spoke to Shua, but I have general indications that he was excited to be called in and that’s how it should be.”

There won’t be a natural left back for this window and Ben Shimon will need to be creative in selecting his starting lineup for the two games, “Sean Goldberg also plays as a left back. We will play with quick wingbacks who can also play on the left so there are solutions in the squad.”

The bench boss continued, “In general, most of the squad continues from window to window and form time to time players in the best form are invited as well. I always reserve the right to choose the best players. All of these players are worthy and I always choose the squad based on the most practical considerations.”

Bayern Munich’s Daniel Peretz was called up for the first time under Ben Shimon after being unavailable due to injury, “Daniel Peretz is with one of the biggest clubs in the world and in terms of the hierarchy he is currently the first choice ‘keeper. We have wonderful goalkeepers and in fact, this is a generation that has some exceptional ones. Sherif Kayuf who had been with us in the other two windows has a great future ahead of him and he will be called upon for the squad down the road as well. Together with Omri Glazer who is also not here this time around gives us options in this position.”

Manor Solomon will make his return to the squad after being out injured by Oscar Gloukh is back for his third straight window as he is one of the most important players for his club team, Red Bull Salzburg.

“Manor is coming back to the national team after a year of injuries and I can feel the incredible efforts he is making to close the gap with the rest of the squad. There is no question that I see him as part of this team for the long term. As for Oscar Gloukh, last window he was amazing and I am very satisfied with him in the professional parameters that I have set out for him.”

“Eli Dasa is one of our leaders,” Ben Shimon continued. “He is the captain and I see how to distribute the minutes amongst the players. I have to talk to him and adjust his expectations regarding how long he will be on the pitch.”

Ben Shimon‘s team has yet to record a point in this campaign and he is well aware about that fact, “This squad is capable of scoring more than one point. From the beginning of the campaign, we knew we were in a very difficult and complex group but we will try very hard to take some points, but at the moment there are other goals. We want to build something strong and real here for the future.”

As for the starting lineup, Ben Shimon will need to look at as many parameters as possible to see who would be the right fit for the squad, “There aren’t many training sessions, so we try to collect as much data as possible about the players and put together the best lineup from that. We have a variety of considerations, we sit down every day and there are players you know will play. We defined this campaign by the style of the team. I like the attitude of the players, I like what they have done so far and in every game we scored and were close. I have gained a tremendous amount of information on many aspects that I will be able to work with in the future.”