UEFA Nations League Preview: Albania -v- Israel

Mike Hanley reports from Jerusalem

Israel travel to Tirana to take on Albania on Friday in the inaugural UEFA Nations League.

The sides are in Group 1 of League C along with Scotland. The sides are fairly familiar with each other having being paired together in the qualifying round for the 2018 World Cup where they finished a distant third and fourth behind Spain and Italy.

Friday’s game is to be played in the Elbasan arena, a venue which has happy memories for Israel as they won there 3-0 in November 2016. The return fixture in Haifa eight months later however saw Albania record a resounding 3-0 victory (in a game covered by extratime.ie – see match report here).

ALBANIA

Manager Christian Panucci is hoping the start of his tenure will see the Balkan nation equal the feat of 2016 and secure qualification for the upcoming European Championships.  Panucci has taken over from fellow Italian Gianni Di Biasi after the latter guided Albania to the aforementioned 3-0 win in Haifa in June 2017.

Since taking up the role, Albania have recorded only one win in their last seven games - that victory was a 3-2 friendly win over Turkey in Antalya last November. 

This year they have had three consecutive friendly defeats - against Norway, Ukraine and a 3-0 reverse against Kosovo in a game played in Zurich in June - nalthough given the close ties between these two nations trying to interpret too much from that particular result may not yield much in terms of establishing the side’s current form.

Panucci is without Levante striker Armando Sadiku who suffered a cruciate injury in pre-season. He was the player who scored a famous goal against Romania in Euro 2016 and also hit two goals against Israel in Haifa and caused multiple issues for the then Israeli central defensive pairing of Tal Ben Haim and Eitan Tibi.

He is a notable loss for the side who have never been the most prolific up front. It is expected Albania will probably start with Bekim Balaj (Akmat Grozny) and Rey Menaj (Albacete) up front. However with only five international goals between the two, one cannot be hopeful of a decent return.

Albania may need to capitalise on the charitable nature of Israeli defending that was a consistently dismal feature of their last campaign and was evident again this summer as Hapoel Beer Sheva and Maccabi Tel Aviv failed to progress in Europe .

Midfield is where Albania’s main talents lie. The gifted pairing of Ledlan Memushaj and Jahmir Hyka will provide the creativity with Basel’s Taulant Xhaka anchoring the middle.

At the back Napoli’s Elseid Hysaj provides an attacking option from full back and Atalanta’s Berat Djimisti will marshal the defence. The side will be captained by goal keeper Etrit Berisha who is a teammate of Djimisti at the Seria A club. 

ISRAEL

It was a traumatic qualifying campaign for Israel in the doomed attempt to make the 2018 World Cup.

They suspended their captain Eran Zehavi from international football for one year after discarding the armband in a home defeat to Macedonia.

There were multiple public accusations from current and former players like Yossi Benayoun and Eyal Berkovic that certain members of the squad were not fit to wear the shirt.

Manager Elisha Levy has since resigned and with all that in mind it is fair to say that expectations on this side of the Mediterranean for the forthcoming campaign are low.

There is a sense of apathy and an almost lack of interest in the fortunes of the national side as they begin their campaign in Albania. A disastrous showing by all four clubs in the qualifying rounds of UEFA competition this summer hasn’t helped.

Local powerhouses Hapoel Beer Sheva and Maccabi Tel Aviv (who came up against Dundalk in the 2016 Group Stages) suffered chastening defeats, the latter to lowly Norwegian outfit Sarpsborg which sums up the decline in domestic standards over recent seasons at club level with the national team mirroring this.

Israel have a new manager in Austrian Andi Herzog and Zehavi is back in the squad as extratime.ie reported last week (see here). Of the 25 players named in the squad all but six are playing domestic football.

The inclusion of Zehavi post his ban was imperative, the record scorer in a single Israeli league season with 35 goals for Maccabi Tel Aviv in 2015-16. The 2017 Chinese Super League player of the year is on a phenomenal run of form with Guangzhou R&F having scored 55 goals in 66 games.

Whilst his critics Benayoun and Berkovic amongst them will say he has never delivered for the national team Israel simply cannot exclude players of his ability and he is expected to partner Maounas Dabbour of RB Salzburg up front.

Defence is and has been Israel’s weak point. Eitan Tibi, a virtual ever present with Maccabi Tel Aviv and Israel in the centre of defence, was tormented by Armando Sadiku when the sides met in Haifa last year and again was culpable by giving away a needless 83^rdminute penalty that saw Sarpsborg defeat Maccabi Tel Aviv in UEFA Europa League qualifying last week. 

With Hapoel Beer Sheva centre half Shir Tzedek not in the squad after coming back from a failed drug test for the start of this season, there is some local media speculation that Herzog could go with three new central defenders in Shiran Yeini (Maccabi Tel Aviv), Ayid Habshi (Maccabi Haifa) and possibly Nissan Kapiloto from Hapoel Haifa to form a back five.

Guy Haimov is expected to start in goal after an injury to Ariel Harush on the eve of the game in training and Mahmoud Kannadil from Bnei Saknin has been drafted in as cover. Haimov, the Beer Sheva ‘keeper was positive when speaking to assembled media before the team left Israel.

"There's a very good atmosphere,” said Haimov. “There's something fundamental and serious, we feel it, I hope it will be reflected on the field. I feel good. I want to get better all the time, learn, fix and show improvement, that's what drives me. Albania is a tough game, but I'm sure we will be well prepared."

Referee: Viktor Kassai (Hungary)

MATCH FACTS

Israeli captain Bibras Natchko is the first non Jewish captain of the national side.

Taulant Xhaka the Albanain midfielder played against his brother Granit who lined out for Switzerland in the same game Euro 2016

PREDICTION

Albania 2-2 Israel 

BETTING

Albania 6/5; Draw 2/1; 13/5