Israel vs Albania
World Cup Qualifiers – Europe (Group G)
Date: Sunday, 11th June 2017
Kick off at 19:45 UK/ 20:45 CET
Venue: Sammy Offer Stadium.
Israel
In recent seasons there has always been one or two of these UEFA Qualifying Groups which contains two ‘big name’ nations in it. At that point you would prefer your own nation to avoid those sections, but that is unfortunately where Israel landed as they try to split Italy and Spain at the top of this Qualifying Group.
That was obviously a long shot at the beginning of this World Cup Qualifying Group, but the odds look much longer now. The side do come into this round of fixtures in 3rd place in the Group, but Israel are already 4 points behind the two leaders and have lost heavily to both nations.
Israel have lost 1 of their last 5 games overall, and even that can be excused to some extent as it came in an away game in Spain. They have lost 4 of their last 6 home Qualifiers though and Israel have been defeated by the likes of Wales and Cyprus in that time.
Albania
After reaching their first major international tournament last summer at the European Championships in France, Albania must have been looking forward to their World Cup Qualifying campaign. That was until they realised they had been paired with Spain and Italy so any World Cup Finals appearance will have to wait a few more years at least.
They didn’t disgrace themselves in France last summer as Albania showed they can compete with some of the better nations out there. That has not happened in this World Cup Qualifying Group though as Albania sit in 4th place and look miles behind the top two which had to be expected.
Confidence will have been dented by a run of 5 consecutive losses which includes 3 straight Qualifier defeats after opening the Group with 6 points from 6 available. Albania had won 3 of 4 away Qualifiers prior to the narrow loss in Italy.
Israel vs Albania: Head to head
The November’s clash was the first ever H2H meeting between the two sides. Israel completely dominated the pitch grabbing unexpectedly comprehensive 0-3 win at Elbasan Arena.
Eran Zahavi, Dan Einbinder and Eliran Atar were on target for the team led by Elisha Levy.
Israel vs Albania: Prediction
The hosts will come in the game in much higher spirits and we see them as massive favourites to back up the impressive display from Elbasan and claim yet another convincing win over the Eagles.
