Belgium vs Israel prediction: EUROPE: UEFA Nations League – League A betting tips on match 2024-09-05 18:45.
[p]Belgium have widely been regarded to have had one of the best squads in the world over the last decade, but failure after failure at major tournaments has severely dampened the hype around them. A last 16 Euro 2024 exit against France was the latest of those, but the Red Devils will have a chance at retribution in the UEFA Nations League (UNL), as they share Group A2 with the French, Italy upcoming matchday-one opponents Israel. [/p]
[p]Despite this being listed as a home game for Belgium, they won’t have home advantage, since this encounter is taking place behind closed doors in Hungary, due to the Belgian Football Federation having security concerns about hosting Israel due to conflict in their country. They shouldn’t have any on-field concerns though as they face a side they’ve beaten in six of the last seven H2Hs (L1).[/p]
[p]The Israel Football Association have their own headaches to contend with, as FIFA is considering a proposal from the Palestinian Football Association to have Israel banned from the international arena. The independent legal assessment was meant to be shared with FIFA’s council members by the end of August, but that deadline has been pushed back to October, meaning a cloud of uncertainty hangs over them here. [/p]
[p]On the pitch, Israel will take part in their first-ever UNL League A campaign, having emphatically earned promotion from Group B2 by going undefeated in their four matches (W2, D2). Success in this iteration will obviously be much harder to come by however, and with Israel’s last victory against a current top-ten FIFA-ranked side coming way back in April 1998, the size of this task cannot be overstated.[/p]
[p]Players to watch: Belgium will be happy to still be able to call on the services of captain Kevin De Bruyne – whose future with the national side had been uncertain after Euro 2024 – especially since they haven’t lost any of the 26 matches he’s scored in (W24, D2), including their 3-1 win when last facing Israel in October 2015. Things could get interesting though if Manor Solomon finds the net for the Sky Blue and Whites, since he too has never tasted defeat when scoring for his country (W6). [/p]
[p]Hot stat: Only one of Belgium’s last ten matches saw both teams score. [/p]
[p][i]Written by Peter Stavrinou[/i][/p]