After opening their Nations League campaign in disappointing fashion with a 3-1 loss to Austria, amid the controversy surrounding the match, the Israel National Team held a press conference in Debrecen on Saturday ahead of Sunday’s intriguing clash with Ireland. Head coach Ran Ben Shimon spoke to the media ahead of the 21:45 kickoff.<\/p>\n
How do you focus on preparing for the match? What are you telling the players?<\/strong> What makes you think the players will have their heads in the right place?<\/strong> From what I’ve read, the Israeli players have reacted to what happened behind the scenes.<\/strong> Will you shake hands with Heimir Hallgr\u00edmsson?<\/strong> What was different about your preparations for Ireland compared to the loss to Austria?<\/strong> What does Israel need to do to win tomorrow’s match?<\/strong> How do you keep the Irish national team’s leadership from affecting your players?<\/strong> Have you spoken with the players and warned them about the situation?<\/strong> Why did you feel it was important to tell the players that this isn’t the same national team as in the past?<\/strong> What conclusions did you draw from the last match against Austria?<\/strong> Midfielder Dor Peretz also spoke at the press conference:<\/strong><\/p>\n Do you think Gavin Bazunu\u2019s (the Irish keeper who left the squad) absence will help you?<\/strong> The head of the Israeli National Public Diplomacy Directorate said that you would shake hands.<\/strong> Do you have a message for Ireland?<\/strong> How are you managing to block out the noise surrounding the match?<\/strong> What conclusions have you drawn, and what needs to be corrected ahead of tomorrow’s match?<\/strong> On a personal level, how did it feel to wear the captain’s armband in the previous match?<\/strong> What do you think are Israel’s advantages over Ireland?<\/strong> Some matches are worth more than just three points, and tomorrow is one of them. Do you feel the pressure in the dressing room?<\/strong> After opening their Nations League campaign in disappointing fashion with a 3-1 loss to Austria, amid the controversy surrounding the match, the Israel National Team held a press conference in Debrecen on Saturday ahead of Sunday’s intriguing clash with Ireland. Head coach Ran Ben Shimon spoke to the media ahead of the 21:45 kickoff. How […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":153555,"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":[20],"tags":[29],"class_list":["post-191586","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football-israel-2","tag-israel","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\n
\n“I’m a football person. Ever since I was growing up, I’ve loved this game and I won’t let anyone take that away from me. I’m preparing the players in the best possible way for a football match.”<\/p>\n
\n“I’m not here to predict how Ireland will play. We know their quality, and we’ve analyzed a lot of their matches. We’re not in a position to criticize another national team. We’re preparing for a difficult match, a football match.”<\/p>\n
\n“I think it’s already complicated enough for us to play every match. We’re not playing at home, but we’re finding strength within ourselves. My players know how to handle pressure incredibly well. We’re dealing with a lot of difficult circumstances, but my players continue to focus on the match and want to win on the pitch.”<\/p>\n
\n“Yes. My hand will be open to anyone who wants to shake it.”<\/p>\n
\n“Every match Israel plays in Europe is difficult and complicated, and every match requires its own preparation. We made specific preparations for Ireland, focusing on their strengths and, to some extent, their weaknesses. We’re preparing the team as professionally as we possibly can.”<\/p>\n
\n“I think perhaps we need to celebrate our goals differently. In recent days, ever since the final whistle against Austria, we’ve focused on what we need to improve within our own team. There are specific things we need to do in this match to help us win. We’ve analyzed them together with the players.”<\/p>\n
\n“I don’t think we need to make too big a deal out of it. Instead, I try to tell them the truth. As soon as I started talking about it, everyone understood, along with me, that this is a football match. We need to be extremely focused on the things that can help us win.”<\/p>\n
\n“I think the players are mature enough to learn and understand these lessons on their own. We really focused on the tactical aspects that can help us beat Ireland.”<\/p>\n
\n“We have the privilege of writing our own story. We’re not responsible for anything that happened in the past. The criticism has nothing to do with the past. There’s no connection between the mistakes made in the past and the mistakes being made today.”<\/p>\n
\n“There were a lot of conclusions, and we also emphasized the positive aspects of that performance. I won’t go into detail here, but the players heard everything. In a training camp like this, the players need to be involved in all the analysis.”<\/p>\n
\n“I think the chances are the same. We’re focusing on football.”<\/p>\n
\n“I think we’ll extend our hands to show them respect. If they don’t want to show us respect, that’s fine. That’s their decision.”<\/p>\n
\n“Unfortunately, I think the picture is much bigger than what is being presented. We live with this reality every moment and it’s not what they think it is. If they want to know what’s really happening, they should read more, visit Israel and then say what they think.”<\/p>\n
\n“Unfortunately, there’s clearly a lot of attention being given to things that have nothing to do with football. But we have a very important mission in front of us. Ran and the coaching staff are bringing us back to focusing on football, and that’s the most important thing.”<\/p>\n
\n“The fewer goals we concede, the longer we’ll stay in the game. I also hope our creativity will come through. The more chances we create, the more opportunities we’ll have to score and take the lead.”<\/p>\n
\n“There’s no better feeling. It’s a tremendous privilege.”<\/p>\n
\n“They’re very aggressive and can play long balls. On the other hand, we have shorter, more technical players with magic in their feet. If we know how to play our game and move the ball from one player to another, we can achieve our objectives tomorrow.”<\/p>\n
\n“We know how important this match is, but we’re keeping our feet on the ground. If we focus on football, I think we can get the job done.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"