For yesterday's draw, Israel was 30th in UEFA's rankings. With 10 groups, Israel was the bottom team in Pot 3. Israel is 41st in UEFA in the FIFA Rankings, so UEFA using their own rankings was good for Israel. In addition, the teams from the top two pots are easy compared to who they could have been. Israel is in Group G and will face Poland from Pot 1, Austria from Pot 2, Slovenia from Pot 4, FYR Macedonia from Pot 5, and Latvia from Pot 6. Latvia is much better than other possible worst teams like San Marino, Malta, and Andorra. The qualifiers will be entirely in 2019 with 2 games each in March, June, September, October, and November. Groups A through E have 5 teams with each team having 2 matchdays off. Groups F through J have 6 teams. It's the first time UEFA has had 10 groups for a World Cup or Euro since Euro 2004. The Nations League Semifinals and Final will be in June, and those 4 teams were placed in Groups A through E and will have both June matchdays off from Euro qualifying. Here is Israel's schedule with a * meaning home games: 21 March: Slovenia* 24 March: Austria* 7 June: Latvia 10 June: Poland 6 September: FYR Macedonia* 9 September: Slovenia 10 October: Austria 15 October: Latvia* 16 November: Poland* 19 November: FYR Macedonia The two games within a month are 3 days apart except for 15 October. I'm assuming that game is 2 days later because of the High Holy Days. The other two games in the group will be 13 October. The middle 4 games are the toughest part.
Israel 1-1 Slovenia Austria 0-1 Poland North Macedonia 3-1 Latvia FYR Macedonia is now North Macedonia. Here is Sunday's schedule in USA Eastern Time: Israel vs. Austria at 1:00 P.M. Slovenia vs. North Macedonia at 3:45 P.M. Poland vs. Latvia at 3:45 P.M.
Israel 4-2 Austria Slovenia 1-1 North Macedonia Poland 2-0 Latvia Austria and Slovenia had much better statistics than their opponents without winning. In Israel vs. Austria: Austria had 55 percent of the possession, 56.9 percent of the attempted passes, and 57.3 percent of the completed passes. Austria had a higher pass completion percentage, 83.3 to 82.1. Austria had 58.1 percent of the shots, 18 to 13. Austria had 58.3 percent of the shots on target, 7 to 5. Austria had 52.6 percent of the free kicks, 20 to 18. Austria had all 7 corner kicks. There were no penalty kicks, so all set pieces were free kicks or corner kicks. Combining them, Austria had exactly 60 percent, 27 to 18. Austria had 71.4 percent of the throw-ins, 30 to 12. Israel had 54.5 percent of the fouls, 18 to 15. Israel's only advantages were fewer times offside, 3 to 2, and fewer cards, 5 to 3. Every card was a yellow. Austria scored the first and last goals. Eran Zahavi scored Israel's first three goals. He got a yellow right after his third goal, so I'm assuming it was for his celebration. Munas Dabbur scored Israel's last goal. He plays for Red Bull Salzburg and scored 22 when they won the 2017-2018 Austrian Bundesliga. He has 12 goals this season. Both of those led or currently lead the league.
Israel gained the most spots in the FIFA Rankings released yesterday. They gained 8 spots to 84th, and Austria fell the most spots, which was 11 spots to 34th. Israel is 38th of 55 in UEFA.
Tomorrow at 2:45 P.M. USA Eastern, Israel plays Latvia at Daugava Stadium in Riga. You can watch online and http://www.espn.com/watch/schedule/...6273a52b0259&startDate=20190607&type=upcoming will have a link when it starts.
Austria's home win over Slovenia today was crucial for them, and gives Israel something to think about given their failure to do the same. Austria has also lost to Poland at home, however, so Israel still definitely has doors open to usurping that second spot. Slovenia cannot be underestimated, but I think it's safe to say is fourth favorite in this group. I hope Israel qualifies. They're one of those teams that's always just on the cusp of making it to playoffs and such, but somehow barely miss out. I remember Euro 2016 qualifying, when Israel actually led its group at one point, and even thrashed Bosnia at home, only to eventually drop to fourth and not even make the playoffs for an expanded tournament. Israel could have gotten far worse than Poland, Austria, and Slovenia. This has to be seen as a great opportunity for a rare major tournament appearance.
Israel won 3-0 at Latvia, with Eran Zahavi scoring in the 9th, 59th, and 80th minutes. It was his second consecutive hat trick, and he has 7 goals in 3 qualifiers. He could retire among Israel's top goal scorers. Israel has 7 points. On Monday they play at Poland, who has won all 3 games. North Macedonia is a point above Austria, but I think Israel should root for North Macedonia because Austria is supposed to be better. Thank you for posting because this forum rarely gets any posts. Israel came close to playoffs for World Cup 2006 and Euro 2008. Their FIFA Ranking peaked at 15th in November 2008. Their FIFA Ranking moved up enough for them to be in Pot 2 for World Cup 2010. They had a great goal differential of +10, but finished in the bottom half in fourth with 16 points, 1 behind Latvia who won in Israel. Israel had 2 draws against first place Switzerland and a draw and a loss against second place Greece. In Euro 2012 qualifying, Israel was third with 16 points and a +2, both of which were worse than when they were fourth. Croatia was second with 22 points, so Israel wasn't close. World Cup 2014 qualifying was similar, as Israel was third with 14 points and a +5. Israel got 2 draws against Portugal, including a 1-1 at Portugal in the second-to-last game that gave Russia the group and sent Portugal to the playoffs, which they won. Russia and Portugal got home wins against each other, and Russia won because they beat Israel twice. Israel got draws hosting Northern Ireland and in both games against Azerbaijan. In Euro 2016 qualifying, Israel was fourth with 13 points like you said. In their last 7 games, their only points were beating Andorra and a scoreless draw at Wales. They lost 3-0 hosting Wales and lost 2-1 hosting Cyprus. In World Cup 2018 qualifying, Israel was fourth with 12 points and a -5. They lost 4 of 5 home games with the win against Liechtenstein. They finished 1 point behind Albania. Israel and Albania won 3-0 at the other one. That was Israel's worst qualifying group in a while.
Poland 4-0 Israel North Macedonia 1-4 Austria Latvia 0-5 Slovenia Israel had 4 shots on goal that were all saved, and Poland had 4 shots on goal that all went in. Austria trailed because of an own goal before winning easily. Slovenia led 4-0 at halftime. The standings through 4 of 10 games are: Poland: 12 (+8) Israel: 7 (+1) Austria: 6 (+1) Slovenia: 5 (+4) North Macedonia: 4 (-2) Latvia: 0 (-12) The tiebreaker is head-to-head, not goal differential, but because not every team has played every team and the teams that played each other only played at one site, I gave the goal differentials. Two teams qualify. Latvia won't. Israel hosts North Macedonia next, and North Macedonia will be 6 points behind second if they lose.
You are making it seem as if the game was evenly played and the difference was due to goalkeepers alone. Anyone who watched the match will tell you that Poland was a much better team in this match, even though Israel had 52% of possession. Most of Israel's possession was meaningless, whereas Poland always looked dangerous with the ball. And, with the exception of a couple of plays early on, Israel experienced extreme difficulty in getting past Poland's well organized and disciplined defense. They were simply non-existing around Poland's penalty area. That being said, Israel was still in the game until the dubious penalty call early in the second half. That decision virtually assured that Poland would win the match. I am not up to date on the recent hand ball regulations, but having played in the 80's and coached in the 90's back then this would have never been called a penalty. I would be mightily pissed off at the call if I were an Israel fan. However, Israel is still looking pretty good in the group. I hope they advance as they showed that they deserve to be in the tournament (much more do than overrated Austria).
Israel got a disappointing 1-1 draw hosting North Macedonia. The other two Matchday 5 games in the group are tomorrow. Eran Zahavi scored.
Israel went down 1-0, up 2-1, and gave up a goal in the 90th minute to lose 3-2 at Slovenia. Israel scored 2 against Jan Oblak, who allows very few goals playing for Atletico Madrid, but still lost. Poland hosted a scoreless draw against Austria, and North Macedonia won 2-0 at Latvia. Israel fell to fifth of six only ahead of Latvia who has lost all 6 games with 1 goal scored and 21 goals allowed. North Macedonia and Israel have 8 points, and North Macedonia has the head-to-head away goals tiebreaker, although that's before Israel goes to North Macedonia. Poland leads with 13, Slovenia has 11, and Austria has 10.
Austria 3-1 Israel Israel 3-1 Latvia Israel 1-2 Poland North Macedonia 1-0 Israel Israel finished fifth of six with 3 wins, 2 draws, and 5 losses. Latvia won 1-0 hosting Austria to get their only points. Israel got 5 points from the 8 games not against Latvia, and they lost all 4 away games not at Latvia. Hopefully World Cup 2022 Qualifying goes better.
Today at 9:45 Israel/8:45 P.M. CET/7:45 P.M. local/2:45 P.M. USA Eastern, Israel plays at Scotland in a Euro 2020 Qualifying Playoff. To qualify, Israel must win today and on 12 November at Norway or Serbia. Apparently countries in the Euro 2020 Qualifying Playoffs play three games this month and three games next month if they win this month with two Nations League games each month. Considering Israel hasn't played in a World Cup or confederational tournament in a long time, Israel will play three games in seven days that they might not have done in many years. Israel will host Czech Republic in Haifa in three days on Sunday and play at Slovakia in Trnava in six days on Wednesday. Edit: https://www.flashscore.com/match/fFcgsVdj/#match-summary will have audio. It says that Scotland hasn't lost a home game to a team outside the FIFA Rankings' Top 25 since October 2005, and Israel is 93rd. Israel has allowed a goal in nine consecutive games and only beaten 137th ranked Latvia in that time. Israel has allowed four penalty kicks in their last five games against Scotland.
https://www.fifa.com/news/the-week-in-numbers-x0703 says: "59 Scotland advanced to the UEFA EURO 2020 play-off finals by beating Israel on penalties. Incredibly, it was the first time in 59 years that the Scots played in a match that went into extra time. The last time Scotland contested extra time was in a FIFA World Cup™ play-off defeat by Czechoslovakia in 1961."