Israel vs Andorra prediction: EUROPE: Euro – Qualification betting tips on match 2023-06-18 18:45.
Israel moved to third place in Group I of 2024 European Championship qualifying (ECQ) with a 2-1 victory over winless Belarus in Budapest and have the opportunity to climb even further should their first meeting with Andorra since 2015 go to plan. That would require Romania to lose to Switzerland at the same time, though other results should be the last thing occupying the mind of head coach Alon Hazan after inconsistency has plagued the beginning of his tenure.
Hazan described the come-from-behind win against Belarus as “deserved”, but forward Manor Solomon was far less forgiving of their performance, assessing that the players “weren’t good enough” despite a virus sweeping through the squad prior to the match. Israel’s boss is yet to enjoy the sweet taste of back-to-back wins as manager during his ten games in charge (W4, D3, L3), with failures to beat Kosovo (1-1) and Cyprus (2-3) at home highlighting that no opponent can be taken for granted.
As the sixth-lowest classified UEFA nation in FIFA’s rankings heading into this international window, Andorra were never expected to challenge for their inaugural appearance at a European Championship. Nearly four years after they picked up their first-ever ECQ victory at the 57th attempt with a 1-0 win at home to Moldova, the principality has far from disgraced themselves in their first three ECQ games of this edition (D1, L2).
A 1-1 draw in Kosovo in March means that Andorra have now drawn two of their last three away ECQ matches, after losing all of the first 28 in this competition! They continue to make life difficult for themselves, though, conceding the opening goal not only in their last five matches including friendlies, but also in their last 14 ECQs or WCQs that weren’t against San Marino!
Players to watch: After his first goal for club or country for four months, Israel’s Shon Weissman continues to be a good luck charm. He is now unbeaten in 30 consecutive goalscoring appearances for Israel or any club (W24, D6). Perhaps it’s no coincidence that Andorra’s recent improvement has seen 38-year-old Márcio Vieira score twice since the start of June 2022, after more than 100 internationals without a goal!
Hot streak: Andorra’s last 14 matches all produced fewer than 3.5 total goals.