{"id":188270,"date":"2026-08-16T15:56:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-16T15:56:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/?p=188270"},"modified":"2026-08-16T15:56:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-16T15:56:11","slug":"bringing-pride-back-to-the-israel-national-team-the-blue-white-ready-for-wcq-action","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/bringing-pride-back-to-the-israel-national-team-the-blue-white-ready-for-wcq-action\/","title":{"rendered":"Bringing pride back to the Israel National Team: The Blue & White ready for WCQ action"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Israel National Basketball Team is readying for the second round of World Cup qualification as they will take on Poland and Latvia at the end of the month. Prior to the pair of games that will be played in Riga, the head coach Ariel Beit Halachmi along with acting captain Yam Madar as well as veteran forward Rafi Menco spoke about the upcoming window and the challenges that lie ahead.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to do the best that we can in the upcoming window,\u201dBeit Halachmi began. \u201cWe all want to make sure that we learned some lessons from the last window and come in prepared and ready to go. We are deeper this time around, we want to really represent the country the best that we can and we want to come into every game with the goal to win.\u201d
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Ariel Beit Halachmi – Photo credit: Moshe Halickman<\/p><\/div>
\n\u201cWe are beginning practicing now and we will have a longer training period this time around than we have had in the past. Some of the guys have already been working out and while some won\u2019t come into camp in perfect condition we will work with them so that they will be ready to go. We looked back at the last window and you can see that we have players here who will want to win and bring back pride to the national team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yam Madar, who will be the captain for this window in place of the injured Tomer Ginat spoke about what he sees as the challenges for the national team in the upcoming games against Poland and Latvia.
\n

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Yam Madar – Photo credit: Moshe Halickman<\/p><\/div>
\n\u201cIt\u2019s exciting to be the captain in Tomer\u2019s place as we are coming into a pair of important games. We aren\u2019t looking at what are chances are to qualify for the World Cup but the goal is to play as best as we can and play better than we did in the last window. Since the last national team games, we had a chance to rest up and make sure that we are as prepared as possible for this window and do the best that we can.\u201d<\/p>\n

With Madar as captain and with Tamir Blatt back with the team, this is the first time in quite some time that the country\u2019s two best point guards are playing together on the national team and this is something that Beit Halachmi is very excited about.
\n

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Tamir Blatt – Photo credit: Moshe Halickman<\/p><\/div>
\n\u201cIt makes me very happy. We\u2019ll have the two top point guards in Israeli basketball and we need to find a way for them to play together. It\u2019s very possible that they\u2019ll also be on the court together, but these are things that will develop as we go. We need to start practicing, establish our style and hierarchy and then move forward from there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Madar, who joined Maccabi Tel Aviv in the offseason after having starred for Hapoel Tel Aviv will have to miss some of the preseason but he\u2019s not concerned and sees the national team as the number one priority.
\n

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Yam Madar – Photo credit: Moshe Halickman<\/p><\/div>
\n\u201cEvery player comes from their own situation and is with one team or another. When you come to the national team, you have to put aside the club and the situation you\u2019re in. We\u2019re with the national team and we\u2019ll do everything we can to represent it properly.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the press conference, the team held a practice session with plenty of belief that despite the chances to qualify for the World Cup being fairly low, they can still pull it off.
\n

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Rafi Menco – Photo credit: Moshe Halickman<\/p><\/div>
\nOne of the players who returned to the national team is veteran Rafi Menco, who shared his feelings about coming back to play in the white-and-blue, \u201cIt\u2019s great to be back here. We\u2019re all very happy to be part of the national team. We\u2019re going to give our heart and soul for the national team. It\u2019s going to be difficult, that\u2019s true, but as Israelis, we\u2019ll fight and I hope we can achieve good results.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unlike the previous window, this time Tamir Blatt and Yam Madar will play together, along with several new faces, \u201cIt\u2019s amazing. There are excellent players here who can lead us to good places,\u201d Menco said about the squad. \u201cI\u2019m not going to get into what happened in the last window, because I wasn\u2019t there. The national team is the most important thing for everyone, for those who are here and for those who aren\u2019t. Representing the State of Israel is an honor that we\u2019ve had since we were kids, especially during a time like this. We\u2019re in a difficult situation and everyone who is here will give everything they have,\u201d he concluded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Israel National Basketball Team is readying for the second round of World Cup qualification as they will take on Poland and Latvia at the end of the month. Prior to the pair of games that will be played in Riga, the head coach Ariel Beit Halachmi along with acting captain Yam Madar as well […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":188272,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[29],"class_list":["post-188270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-holy-land-hoops","tag-israel","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\nBringing pride back to the Israel National Team: The Blue & White ready for WCQ action - Sports Rabbi<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/bringing-pride-back-to-the-israel-national-team-the-blue-white-ready-for-wcq-action\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bringing pride back to the Israel National Team: The Blue & White ready for WCQ action - Sports Rabbi\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Israel National Basketball Team is readying for the second round of World Cup qualification as they will take on Poland and Latvia at the end of the month. 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