Israel and Iceland will square off in the UEFA Nations League on Thursday evening as both nations look to bounce back from failing to qualify for the World Cup.

While the home side managed to retain their position in League B Group 2 last time out, Iceland lost all six of their fixtures in League A Group 2.

Match preview

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There were times during their World Cup qualifying campaign when Israel looked capable of upsetting the likes of Scotland and Austria to earn a spot in the playoffs.

However, away defeats to each of those nations during the second half of the group left Israel to settle for third spot, seven points adrift of Scotland.

On the plus side, finishing ahead of Austria represented progress for the Blue and White, who now have a new head coach in the form of Alon Hazan after his spells at varying age levels with the national team.

The nature of his progression means that the 54-year-old will be familiar with many of this squad, and expectations are high regarding promotion to League A with Russia having been kicked out of the competition.

Israel now find themselves as favourites to prevail from a three-team group which also includes Albania, and victory in Haifa will set them well on their way.

Iceland, on the other hand, no longer possess the quality which saw them qualify for major tournaments from 2016 onwards, and they have a fight on their hands to not finish in third place.

In 14 matches over the past year, their only two victories have come against the Faroe Islands and Liechenstein, the current winless streak standing at six games.

Last time out, Arnar Vidarsson witnessed his team succumb by a 5-0 scoreline in Spain, each goal being netted in a 36-minute period either side of half time.

To their credit, draws have been posted against Romania and Finland since last November, but this team are at the start of a new era with some of their experienced veterans having hung up their boots on the international stage.

Team News

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Hazan will make numerous changes to the Israel starting lineup with as many as five players from the last XI not featuring in this squad.

Eli Dasa, Iyad Abu Abaid, Sun Menahem, Manor Solomon and Liel Abada could all be drafted into the team in their place.

Nir Bitton and Eran Zahavi are the two most notable absentees from the squad due to injury.

Despite the manner of the defeat to Spain, Vidarsson is unlikely to make sweeping changes to his Iceland starting lineup.

Sveinn Aron Gudjohnsen is in line to feature in attack with Jon Dadi Bodvarsson not in the squad.

Israel possible starting lineup:
Marciano; Dasa, Abu Abaid, Goldberg, Menahem; Solomon, Natcho, Abu Fani, Abada; Baribo, Dabbur

Iceland possible starting lineup:
Runarsson; Sampsted, Bjarnason, Gretarsson, Magnusson; Thrandarson, Bjarnason, Thordarson; Helgason, Gudjohnsen, Thorsteinsson

We say: Israel 3-1 Iceland

Despite Iceland having been involved in the top tier of this competition more recently, they have a battle on their hands to avoid finishing bottom of this three-nation group. This represents a tough start to their campaign, and we are expecting Israel to record a relatively comfortable win.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

Written by
Darren Plant

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