Switzerland – Israel

Swiss players should pick up their second win in a week

The Swiss and Israeli teams are preparing for their head-to-head encounter in European qualifying in different moods. The hosts traveled to Serbia on Saturday to play against Belarus. Already from the fourth minute of the game the Swiss started scoring goals against the opposing goalkeeper, which resulted in a 5-0 win. For Switzerland, who have made rapid progress in recent years, the match against Belarus can be called a rehearsal with increased responsibility. Israel hosted Kosovo at home on the same day. In the 36th minute, the Israelis scored an own goal, and in the 49th minute the Israelis nearly got another shock, but Rasica's goal was not counted by the referee. A few minutes later Alon Hazan's men equalised, as it turned out, scoring the last goal of the match. Before the meeting in Geneva, bookmakers had identified the home side as the favourites, offering odds of 1.35 to win. Switzerland shone in their group at the World Cup, taking a place in the 1/8 final thanks to their final-round victory over Serbia. In the play-offs, Yakin's team suffered a dreadful defeat against Portugal, but met the minimum target, allowing the federation to retain the coach. The Swiss have featured in all three editions of the Nations League, and in 2022 they confirmed their place in the same group as Spain and the aforementioned Portugal. Alon Hazan's side have performed reasonably well in the World Cup qualifiers, trailing only Scotland and Denmark. The scourge of the Israeli team was their defensive play, which resulted in an average of two conceded goals per game. That said, Israel's success in the Nations League has been systematic. The Israelis played their first tournament in League C, the next two in League B, and the next one will start in League A, the company of Europe's strongest teams. Last year, the Israeli team took full advantage of Russia's disqualification and beat Iceland and Albania in the group. All four matches between Israel and Switzerland in the last 20 years have ended in draws. However, the current class of the hosts is much higher than that of the visitors, which makes it safe to expect a convincing win.