With no home matches at Euros, Israeli soccer boss says he’s keeping eye on the ball
Manager Alon Hazan shrugs off difficulties of not playing in Israel due to ongoing war, vows team will not be distracted
Israel’s national soccer team is not concerned about having to play its “home” European Championship playoff match in Hungary and is fully focused on the game against Iceland, not how much support it will have in the stadium, manager Alon Hazan said.
Hazan’s team has played its home matches in a neutral country for security reasons during Israel’s ongoing war with Hamas, with its playoff against Iceland on Thursday taking place in Budapest’s Szusza Ferenc Stadion.
“We would love to play in front of our supporters in our country in this kind of situation, but we know what happened and we cannot host the game in Israel,” Hazan told reporters.
“So we’re focused only [on the game] here. We don’t care how many people will come to support, we would like as much as possible, but we’re focused only on football.”
Hazan also addressed comments reportedly made earlier this week by his Icelandic counterpart Age Hareide on being hesitant to play Israel because of the civilian death toll in Gaza.
“I don’t care if he said that before and now he has some sympathy for us,” Hazan added.
Hareide had said: “I’m hesitant to play against Israel, given what is happening to women, children, and other innocent civilians in Gaza,” the National News outlet reported.
“We shouldn’t have to play this game, as far as I am concerned,” Hareide said. “But we must. The consequences for Iceland would be heavy if we did not.”
On Wednesday, at a pre-match press conference, Hareide said he is “interested in politics” but added that “I don’t take sides. We are playing against footballers and I have nothing against the Israelis.”
Asked if Israel should be barred from playing, he said it was “up to the football politicians to decide.”
Hazan told media “we will need to bring a higher level than the recent games in order to achieve what we want.”
Since the war began with Hamas’s unprecedented attack on southern Israel on October 7, there have been calls from some quarters for the Israeli team to be suspended. Last month, the 12-member West Asian Football Federation — which includes Palestine — called for an international ban on Israel. Iran has also made such a request from soccer’s global governing body, FIFA.
On Tuesday, the Palestinian Football Association made a similar appeal to FIFA.
Twelve nations set out on Thursday in four-team knockout brackets. They must advance through two single-leg games in five days to be in Germany for the June 14-July 14 tournament.
Israel or Iceland will face Bosnia or Ukraine for a spot in the Euro 2024 group stages in Germany.
Israel and Ukraine could meet next Tuesday in what would be a decisive game of a bracket where neither can play at home because of military conflicts.
If Ukraine wins on Thursday in Zenica — the Bosnian city where its November 2021 win in a World Cup qualifier was the team’s last game before the Russian invasion — it will host the bracket final in Wroclaw, Poland.
Israel has never qualified for a European Championship but did win the Asian Cup in 1964 before switching to UEFA.
The last time Israel qualified for a major international contest was for the World Cup in 1970.
