Israel will play their first international since the breakout of conflict in the Middle East last month, when they travel to Kosovo in a Euro 2024 qualifier on Sunday.

This will be the first of four matches Israel are forced to play in 10 days, as their two qualifiers were postponed at the request of the UEFA Executive Committee on safety grounds last month.

Match preview

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Despite this fixture taking place away from Israel, UEFA were not comfortable that it could go ahead safely given the volatile situation which was erupting at the start of October.

Even still, there will be a huge security presence for the match, and UEFA only announced on Tuesday that fans will be allowed in the stadium.

On the pitch, Israel have a great chance of qualifying for the European Championships for the first time, but mitigating factors make it incredibly tough now.

If playing under the backdrop of war was not challenging enough for the players, playing a taxing number of games in just over a week, with the first three all being against strong opponents, suggests they may struggle to manage.

All of their domestic-based players have not been in league action since the conflict started, and only some played in Europe in midweek for their first minutes in over a month.

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The group still looks wide open though, given the varying number of matches the top three have played.

Romania and Switzerland have the clear advantage as they already have points on the board and will hope to make the most of playing against a potentially fatigued set of players, but Israel will take confidence from the fact it is still technically in their hands.

Beating either Romania and Switzerland would be huge for Alon Hazan's side, as they still have a clash with minnows Andorra to come.

The top two also need to play each other and will take points off each other to the benefit of Israel, who are chasing a first major tournament appearance since their only qualification back in 1970.

Beating Belarus home and away earlier in the section has proved very important as the top two both slipped up against them, but Kosovo will be tricky opponents, as Israel were fortunate to come away with a 1-1 draw in Tel-Aviv on matchday one, as the visitors had a goal disallowed and missed a golden chance late on.

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Kosovo have been left short-changed by the fact this game will be played outside of the international window while club football continues, meaning their squad is lighter than they would have liked.

Given their very slim chance of qualification though, that may have been in the thought process of UEFA when scheduling Israel's final four games.

Kosovo are hanging on by the barest thread that they may still be able to reach Euro 2024, but realistically they need more than a miracle.

Three wins from three are an absolute must, while they would need Switzerland to take one point or fewer from their other remaining two games against Israel and Romania and Israel to collect five points or fewer from their other three qualifiers.

Super computer models which predict probabilities of nations progressing give Kosovo a 0.00% of qualifying through the group, and they also cannot fall back on a potential playoff unless a remarkable set of scorelines see Greece, Luxembourg and Kazakhstan all qualify automatically.

Team News

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Even though the game is taking place outside of the allocated international window, UEFA have said clubs must still release their players for this clash.

The Kosovo squad was heavily delayed as the FA tried desperately to get their strongest possible troupe together.

Despite UEFA's ruling, two of Kosovo's key players will not be involved, as Edon Zhegrova of Lille and Napoli's Amir Rrahmani have opted to stay with their club sides at their request.

While each club is only permitted to release a maximum of one player, Alanyaspor have given permission for both Fidan Aliti and Florent Hadergjonaj to join up with the Kosovo squad here, so both could start in defence.

Real Mallorca have had their La Liga match with Cadiz postponed this weekend as striker Vedat Muriqi will be representing Kosovo here.

There are rumours that Israel goalkeeper Omri Glazer may not feature as his club side Red Star Belgrade have requested he does not play given the tense political situation between Serbia and Kosovo, meaning Bayern Munich's Dan Peretz may start in goal for the visitors.

Tottenham Hotspur's Manor Solomon is absent from the squad having missed the last four games for his club side with a knee injury.

Most of the domestic players in the squad have not played in a month, as the league has been on hold since the conflict broke out.

Maccabi Tel-Aviv and Maccabi Haifa both played in Europe on Thursday though, so there was game time for the likes of Eran Zahavi and Gabi Kanichowsky.

Kosovo possible starting lineup:
Muric; Hadergjonaj, Aliti, Dellova, Hajrizi, Vojvoda; Muslija, Zyba, Loshaj; Rashica, Muriqi

Israel possible starting lineup:
Da. Peretz; Dasa, Miguel Vitor, Lemkin, Revivo; Jehezkel, Kanichowsky, Do. Peretz; Gloukh, Weissman, Zahavi

We say: Kosovo 1-2 Israel

Both Israeli clubs showed great heart to be competitive in Europe in midweek, and with some of those players set to feature here, the visitors will be determined to win for more than just footballing reasons.

Kosovo must win to keep their minute chances of progression alive, but without Zhegrova and Rrahmani, the task has been made much more arduous.


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