Israel plays Albania on Saturday night at Bloomfield Stadium in Tel Aviv in the final game of Nations League group stage action as the blue-and-white will look to put themselves into position to take part in the playoff round of the competition for a spot in the 2024 European Championship. The blue-and-white who are in League B Group 2 with only two other teams, Iceland and Albania due to Russia being suspended from the competition will also play a friendly at Malta on Tuesday night.<\/p>\n
Head coach Alon Hazan\u2019s team will not have their strongest available squad at his disposal due to the controversy surrounding the exclusion of Maccabi Tel Aviv\u2019s Eran Zahavi and his desire to have kept a single room, Hoffenheim striker Monas Dabbur\u2019s departure from national team duty, Fulham midfielder Manor Solomon\u2019s injury and the fact that the Under-21 team is playing in the playoffs of European Championship qualification.<\/p>\n
However, Hazan along with Technical Director Yossi Benayoun put together an interesting group of players which includes veteran captain Bibras Natcho who is playing in Serbia with Partizan Belgrade, Dinamo Moscow defender Eli Dasa and Real Valladolid striker Shon Weissman. <\/p>\n
The La Liga frontman, Weissman who has scored 27 goals in 71 appearances in Spain, will be given his first real chance to take over the goal scoring prowess from the jettisoned Zahavi and the retired Dabbur as Israel will look to the Valladolid forward to supply the offense in the critical continental matchup. Despite injuring his ankle in Tuesday’s training session, Weissman is expected to be ready and raring to go Saturday night when the opening whistle sounds.<\/p>\n
Weissman who has 23 caps and 3 markers for Israel, spoke about the the challenges that are facing the team ahead of the game as well as the chance to be the first choice striker for the national team.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing the number one striker is going to be the professional staff\u2019s decision,\u201d Weissman began. \u201cI\u2019m here to help the national team and I will do everything in my power to win and help to finish in first place. I\u2019m healthy and the injury that I had incurred earlier is now behind me. I hope that I can do whatever is needed to be done.\u201d<\/p>\n
Weissman knows that there was a change in the make up, the composition of the national team but that the staff knows what they are doing int trying to help the team be a team and make it to the next stage of the Nations League.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe players that are here are the best in the country. The staff meticulously chose the players who all deserve to be here. I hope that we can do what is needed and follow the staffs directions and instructions and God willing we will succeed. As for those that are missing, that\u2019s part of life.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cThere are players who are injured, some can\u2019t play due to yellow card accumulation and we will have to deal with what we have. There is nothing that we can do to change the situation and like I said, I really believe that whoever is here right now are the best and the most appropriate to take ones place.\u201d<\/p>\n
Weissman looks as this to be a golden opportunity, one that he has waited for some time to have and with that he will do the best that he can and not feel that he is under pressure.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t feel any type of pressure. I waited for this chance, the moment where I will be the preferred striker and if that will be the case I will have no pressure as I love to play soccer. This is what I have been doing since I was little and I hope to keep playing for many more years, as long as I possibly can.\u201d<\/p>\n
Prior to heading abroad, Weissman played with Maccabi haifa who are having a banner year as they are playing in the Champions League. \u201cIt\u2019s really amazing and I am very happy for my friends that are there. It\u2019s just great to see their success which brings a lot of positivity, honor and pride to our country. I hope that they can continue this way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite having some issues circulating around the team including injuries, Weissman feels that with previous experiences, Israel should be able to show that they can reach the top of the soccer world.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have showed that we can beat Albania and we have proven that we are a good team. We will do everything in our power to make sure that we come into this game as prepared as possible. There is only one goal here. I would be very happy to see many Israeli flags in the Bloomfield stands and that this will be an incredible experience for everyone. We are expecting this and I really believe in the national team. As for Manor Solomon not being able to play, it\u2019s really too bad and I hope he gets well soon and come back as soon as he can. I feel really bad for him and we all wish he could be here with us.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Israel plays Albania on Saturday night at Bloomfield Stadium in Tel Aviv in the final game of Nations League group stage action as the blue-and-white will look to put themselves into position to take part in the playoff round of the competition for a spot in the 2024 European Championship. The blue-and-white who are in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":59034,"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":[981,29,4975],"class_list":["post-67553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football-israel-2","tag-albania","tag-israel","tag-shon-weissman","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\n