World Cup preview: Israel wants to rebound after losing three games in a row, while Moldova loses five games in a row.
At 3:45 a.m. on November 17th, Beijing time, in the final round of the 2026 World Cup European Qualifying Group Stage, Israel will face Moldova to bring the Group I journey to an end.
Although both teams have been determined to miss the top two spots in the group (the qualifying spots have already been occupied by Norway and Italy), Moldova still retains a glimmer of hope - with their performance in the UEFA Nations League last year, they are still theoretically qualified to fight for a World Cup ticket through the "play-off channel".
For Israel, this is another defeat for them in the World Cup. Since 1974, they have missed the World Cup for 50 consecutive years, and this qualifying round is no exception.
In the last three games, Israel lost to Italy with scores of 0-3 and 4-5 respectively, and was defeated by Norway 0-5 in the away team. It is currently ranked third in the group, with a clear gap between the top two, and has completely lost the possibility of promotion.
It is worth mentioning that during the International Competition Day in September this year, Israel was on full fire, scoring 8 goals in 2 games; but in the last 3 games of various competitions, it failed to score, and fell into a goal drought that lasted nearly 270 minutes. In their last friendly match, they drew 0-0 with Lithuania - in fact, the game was played in an almost empty stadium.
Due to security reasons, Israel is prohibited from holding official competitions on its home soil, so this "home team" match against Moldova had to be held in the other country.
Coincidentally, just 2 months ago, the two teams played against each other in Chisinau, the capital of Moldova, when Israel defeated its opponent 4-0.
For Moldova, this qualifying round is difficult. After losing to Israel 0-4, they lost 11-11 to Norway in the away team, setting the record for the most painful defeat in the history of the national team.
However, last month they finally got their first point in the group - a 1-1 draw with Estonia, which also ended their previous seven-game losing streak. Against Italy on Thursday, Moldova defended tenaciously for more than 80 minutes, but unfortunately missed two headers in the final stage and lost 0-2. So far, they are still ranked at the bottom of the group and have not won a single game in 7 rounds.
Despite the poor record, thanks to its performance in the 2024 UEFA Nations League, this FIFA-ranked 156th-ranked team still has a glimmer of hope and is expected to qualify for the European play-offs.
Israel will be missing three wide players in this campaign: Villarreal's Manoel Solomon, San Giros United's Anan Khalili, and Maccabi Tel Aviv's Sajev Yehzkir are all absent due to injuries.
Coach Simon made a significant rotation in the last friendly match against Lithuania. This game is expected to re-activate captain Dasa, core player center back Nakmeas, and midfielder Perez.
Since forward Baribeau was not selected for this issue's list, Tugman, who has been in excellent form at the New England Revolution in the MLS recently, is expected to start as a lone forward.
For Moldova, midfielder Motepan is absent due to injury. However, the 35-year-old veteran player Ionita has returned from injury and may start again after the game against Italy.
On the forward line, the national team's top scorer in history Nicolascu (averaging 1 goal every 3 games) may be partnered with Vergilius, who came from the youth training of Paris Saint-Germain and currently plays for the University of Cluj in Romania.
In the history of World Cup qualifying, Israel has won all five previous matches against Moldova. If they win this game, they will end the history of the two sides' confrontation in the world preliminaries with a six-match victory.
