The Israel National Team will be back in action for their final two games of the Nations League groups stages when they meet France in Paris on Thursday and then play Belgium in Hungary on Sunday. The blue-and-white enter the last window already eliminated from advancing to the quarterfinals of League A and will be demoted back down to League B after this campaign. However, Ran Ben Shimon’s team will be playing for pride as they are still in search of their first points in group play.

Manor Solomon will be back in action for Israel after having missed the previous windows due to injury and spoke about the upcoming clashes, “We will do everything in our power so that the game against France will be as close as possible. They have so many other players who can fill Mbappe’s absence. We don’t need to tell you how good and high-quality a team they are.”

The Israeli will be playing in front of fans in France but the second game while it will be a home match will take place in Hungary and not in the Holy Land, “I miss the fans very much, I haven’t played in front of our supporters in a very long time, especially in Israel. Two months ago, a few came to the games and now it’s very disappointing that not many will come here to Paris. There will be a hostile atmosphere and we know that. We’ll do our best. We are proud of who we are, we are Israelis and proud to represent the State of Israel. We will give everything and hope to see as many Israeli citizens and Jews in the stands as possible.”

Solomon, who is coming off an injury also spoke about his physical condition, “I’m fine, I had a small injury that held me out of action until I recovered. I lost a few weeks but now I’m back and I’m fine, feeling good. I’m happy to be with the national team again.”

Midfielder Eitan Azoulay, who played in Paris as part of the Israel Olympic Team added, “I feel great and we feel safe here in Paris. The police are doing a terrific job for us and we are ready for the game. Our minds are only on football. It’s too bad and a little sad that our Israeli fans can’t come to the game, but this is where we are right now and we are only concentrating on football.”

“We are aware of what is happening around us. We will try to act as if it is a normal game, but deep down it is really not. There is obviously a lot of feelings and emotions about what is happening in the Middle East but we are soccer players and that’s our job, we’ll just try to ignore it. We have goals for this team and we have to remain professionals.”