Overview
Belgium's performance at EURO 2024 clearly left a lot of disappointment. They could only get through the group stage in second place and had to face France in the round of 16. And it was no surprise that Belgium said goodbye to the tournament early.
After an unsuccessful EURO in Germany, Belgium will certainly aim high in the UEFA Nations League to make up for the disappointment.
Meanwhile, Israel have just won the right to play in the Nations League A after topping Group B2 in the tournament 2 years ago. This is also almost the only significant achievement of Israel after joining UEFA. The fact that they have never reached the EURO finals is the clearest proof.
If put on the scale, Belgium is of course the team that is rated higher. Their squad is still very high quality with stars like Kevin De Bruyne, along with some young faces. On the contrary, Israel does not have many outstanding names. They will put all their hopes on Oscar Gloukh - a young midfielder born in 2004 on the payroll of Salzburg.
Head-to-head history is also in Belgium's favor with 4 wins, scoring 10 goals and conceding only 3. In the most recent confrontation, Belgium defeated Israel 3-1.
Therefore, Belgium will be determined to win all 3 points to start the Nations League smoothly. With home field advantage and superior class, it will not be difficult for coach Domenico Tedesco's team to win.
Human resources situation
Belgium will be without a number of stars such as Axel Witsel, Romelu Lukaku, Leandro Trossard and Michy Batshuayi for various reasons, while Arne Engels and Julien Duranville are called up for the first time.
On the other side of the front line, Israel is also missing Eran Zahavi, Shon Weissman, Dan Glazer, Miguel Vitor, Ofir Davidzada and Sean Goldberg. Meanwhile, Ilay Feingold, Ethan Azoulay, Shareef Keouf and Omer Niron are new names.
Expected lineup:
Belgium : Casteels, Castagne, Faes, Debast, Theate, Bakayoko, Onana, De Bruyne, Doku, Openda, De Ketelaere.
Israel : Gerafi, Dasa, Nachmias, Shlomo, Gropper, Safuri, Lavi, Peretz, Biton, Baribo, Solomon.
The match between Belgium and Israel takes place at 1:45 a.m. on September 7 (Vietnam time).
