Israel vs Andorra

Teddy Stadium is the venue as Israel and Andorra face each other in contrasting Euro 2024 qualifying circumstances.

Israel’s 2-1 victory over Belarus in Budapest propelled them to third place in Group I of the 2024 European Championship qualifying. They now have a chance to climb higher in the group standings if they can secure a favorable outcome in their upcoming match against Andorra, which will be their first meeting since 2015. However, for this to happen, Romania would need to lose to Switzerland simultaneously. Moreover, Israel head coach Alon Hazan has not yet achieved back-to-back wins in charge of the ‘Chosen Team.’ Indeed, the team’s inability to beat Kosovo (1-1) and Cyprus (2-3) at home highlights the importance of not underestimating any opponent, though a flawless record (W4) across their four previous meetings with Andorra opens the door for complacency.

In the meantime, with a low classification in FIFA’s rankings, Andorra were never expected to contend for their first-ever appearance at the European Championship. Almost four years after securing their first victory in the European Championship qualifying after 57 attempts with a 1-0 win against Moldova, the visitors have performed admirably in the first three qualifying games of the current edition (D1, L2). Speaking of Andorra’s newly-found resilience, a 1-1 stalemate against Kosovo in March extended their streak of drawing two out of their last three away matches in Euro qualifiers. That is quite an improvement considering they had previously lost all of their first 28 matches in this competition. But Andorra’s traditionally slow openings remain an issue, as they have conceded the first goal in their last 14 qualifying matches for major international tournaments, excluding games against San Marino.