World Cup European Qualifiers: Israel Looks For Wins and Answers

Israel's international break became complicated in the past week.

The draw against Scotland made the critics doubtful about the 2022 World Cup qualifiers campaign. The biggest question was whether Willi Ruttensteiner is the right person to manage the national team.

Thankfully, the third match was against an easier opponent. Moldova was drawn to this group as the last-ranked team. They won only once in their last 32 qualifying matches. In their previous game, they were thrashed 8-0 by Denmark, their biggest ever defeat.

Israel was looking for its first win in the campaign away in Moldova (Photo: Eitan Dotan / Israel FA)

FIRST HALF

The pressure on the Israeli side was too high, and they began the match badly. In the 29th minute, it became lethal. Another defensive mistake by Eytan Tibi led to an easy goal of Cătălin Carp. Moldova was suddenly leading, and there was a feeling that this is their chance to shock.

A few seconds before the halftime whistle, Dor Peretz assisted decently to Eran Zahavi. The team's leading scorer has finally found the net and equalized the score. It's Zahavi's 25th international goal, and he is also the second Israeli player to score in three different World Cup qualifiers campaigns.

מולדובה 1, ישראל 1

דקה 45+1': על סף השריקה למחצית, ערן זהבי מסיים מתפרצת יעילה של הנבחרת וכובש את שער השיוויון 🇮🇱 pic.twitter.com/qsrtk6DEzJ

— כאן (@kann) March 31, 2021

Second Half

Israel had to get some help from Moldova to get back to the match. In the 50th minute, Loai Taha and Ion Nicolaescu tried to challenge each other. They pushed each other until Nicolaescu aggressively pushed Taha and knocked him down. The referee decided to send him off.

7 minutes later, Israel took the lead back. Eran Zahavi was once again in the right place to take the chance, Alexei Koșelev tipped it poorly, and Manor Solomon took the rebound and scored. In the 64th minute, Eli Dasa tried to cross the ball into the box, Koșelev once again saved it not good enough, and Munas Dabbur scored. Bibars Natcho, the team's captain, joined the party two minutes later with the fourth Israeli goal.

Bibars Natcho, scored the last goal in an impressive 4-1 win (Eitan Dotan / Israel FA)

Time to Think and prepare

In the end, Israel won 4-1, but the questions around the national team are still here. The first half was disappointing, just like the last match against Scotland. On the other hand, the second half was much more impressive, as Israel played better and was close to scoring even more than four goals.

Now Willi Ruttensteiner will have five months to think about the next missions. Israel will play against the Faroe Islands, and then they will face Austria and Denmark.

No matter if Israel has a chance to finish in second place or not, Ruttensteiner's main goal will be to improve the team's ability. If he would do so, maybe there will be no doubt about his work.

מולדובה 1, ישראל 4

דקה 67': גם הקפטן עולה על הלוח. מולדובה מאבדת כדור עמוק בחצי המגרש שלה, ונאתכו לא מתקשה מול שער ריק. pic.twitter.com/nJ20dL28UD

— כאן (@kann) March 31, 2021