Israel Coach Blames High Expectations for Ireland Loss

Israel national team coach Ran Ben Shimon stated that excessive expectations "choked" his players during their heavy loss to Ireland in the Nations League. Speaking at a press conference ahead of Thursday's match against Kosovo in Hungary, Ben Shimon acknowledged the team's need to recover from the defeat and a prior loss to Austria.

Ben Shimon announced significant changes to the starting lineup for the Kosovo game, with six players being replaced. Daniel Peretz, Roy Revivo, Guy Mizrahi, Gabi Kanyukovsky, Oscar Gloukh, and Dor Turgeman will be benched, making way for Omri Glazer, Eidan Nahmias, Liel Abada, Dor Peretz, Eitan Azulai, and Tai Baribo.

"I believe that great hopes were placed upon us," Ben Shimon said. "I accept it, it's part of life, but we must be fair. The expectations against Ireland were very high, they choked us a bit, we choked. It's not an excuse, but it's simply what happened." He added that the team focused on analyzing mistakes and improving immediately after the loss.

Ben Shimon downplayed the term "revolution" for the lineup changes, emphasizing that player selection considers various factors, including fatigue. He praised Kosovo as a very high-quality team, potentially the best in their group alongside Austria, and anticipates a difficult match.

Defender Eli Dasa agreed that the criticism following the Ireland loss was justified and that the team needs to learn from its mistakes. When asked about his future, Dasa responded briefly, "Let's see."