Israel vs Switzerland Preview

Israel will resume their quest for a place in 2024’s European Championship in Germany this Thursday when they play Switzerland at the Pancho Arena in Hungary.

Alon Hazan’s side are behind schedule in the qualifiers due to the ongoing conflict in their territory. By playing last Saturday when European clubs were still in action, they reduced their outstanding game to just one.

Their last outing saw them narrowly lose 1-0 to Kosovo, meaning that they come into this fixture third in the table, four points behind Switzerland who they play next. Although they aren’t playing on their home soil, Israel will hope to continue their decent home record in the qualifiers, having not lost as the hosts in this cycle (W2, D1).

But they will need to be in the right shape to record a very first competitive win over the Swiss (D4, L1). At the very least, victory here will keep their chances of booking a place in the Euro finals in their own hands, with a crunch clash against group leaders Romania coming up after this.

Meanwhile, Switzerland will look to solidify their chances of qualifying from Group I when they face Israel on Thursday. The Red Crosses can go top of their group if they win this game, as they are just one point behind Romania having played less games.

Three draws from their last four international games will worry the visiting fans who have missed out on maximum points despite leading in each of their last three stalemates. That’s curiously similar to their record against Israel, as Switzerland gave up leads in three of their four draws across ECQ and World Cup Qualifying.

Regardless of this, Switzerland come into this fixture as the bigger team. They have missed just one of the last five Euro finals and will fully expect to feature in Germany.