After forcing the 1998 and 2018 World Cup winners (France) to a goalless draw earlier, the HaNivheret of Israel yesterday got a thrilling 1-0 victory over the Red Devils of Belgium in the UEFA Nations League qualifying round played on Sunday 17th November, 2024.
Jewish-Israeli Yarden Shua scored the late winning goal, which was also the game’s only goal, to beat the World’s sixth-ranked soccer team at the Bozsik Arena.
After failing to finish as one of the top two of Group A1 that could’ve enabled them to hold the automatic quarter-final spot, the Belgians will now be forced to embrace facing a runner-up team in Group B as a playoff fixture.
Blame it on Sustained Injuries:
The Belgian coach made statements after losing on an away soil. He faulted the defeat on the lengthy injury list of many influential players of his team. Some of the key players include Kevin De Bruyne (recovering from a hamstring injury), Romelu Lukaku (Withdrawn from the team’s squad on Saturday before the match), Leandro Trossard who was substituted in the 37th minute, and Zeno Debast who was also substituted due to sustained injury in the match.
“Some of our players played 90 minutes 3 days ago, and tonight they were somewhat compelled to play another 90 minutes.”
“Overall, the lessons learned were also part of the plan; it was about getting to know many players, as we will be there in March.”
“I believe we had never played together, never trained together. We started well, but ultimately, under really difficult circumstances, this is not the result we hoped for, and that’s why we are very disappointed.”
In his final words, head coach Domenico Tedesco also gave assurance of making it to the World Cup:
“We will remain in League A, I am sure of it because we know how to play in such matches. This will be important; that is our goal, as is to qualify for the World Cup.”
Players Rating on a Scale of one to ten
Toping the player’s rating list is the goal scorer Yarden Shua who only had 16 minutes of playtime. He had zero assist, 1 shot, and 1 goal.
Second on the list is the Israeli and Bayern Munich goalie Daniel Peretz, who played the full 90 minutes and excellently kept a clean sheet with 4 saves.
Third is Arsenal’s forward Leandro Trossard who played only 37 minutes but unfortunately picked up an injury. He had Zero assists, 2 shots, and zero goals in that game.
RB Leipzig and Belgian player Lois Openda is 4th after playing the full 90 minutes. He had 3 shots, 1 yellow card, zero goals and zero assists.
The fifth player is Koen Casteels, who plays for Al-Qadsidah of the Saudi Pro League and also for the Belgian national team. He played full 9o minutes with 3 saves, conceding only one goal.
In Group A2 of the UEFA Nation League, France after winning the Italians yesterday by 3 goals to 1, stays top with 13 points. Italy is second with 13 points also but with the difference in goals. Israel despite winning the game against Belgium yesterday, occupies the last position on the table with 4 points ( 1 draw against France, and a win against Belgium), while Belgium is sitting in the 3rd position with a goal difference of -3, 4 points with the Israelites who has a goal difference of -8.
