Preview: Israel vs. Czech Republic - prediction, team news, lineups

Israel will be looking to recover from their European heartbreak when they welcome the Czech Republic to the Sammy Ofer Stadium for Sunday's Nations League clash.

In contrast, the visitors head into the weekend showdown after scraping a friendly victory over Cyprus in the midweek round of fixtures.

Match preview

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Israel and Scotland could not be separated after 120 gruelling minutes of football on Thursday evening, with the game eventually going to penalties to see who would be facing Serbia in the Path C playoff final.

However, Eran Zahavi 's missed opening penalty set the tone for the shootout early on, and Scotland converted all five of their spot-kicks to advance to the final and leave Israel still awaiting their first qualification for a major tournament since 1970.

Willibald Ruttensteiner 's men have no time to dwell on that dampening exit as they continue to search for their first Nations League victory of the 2020-21 campaign, with the Blue and Whites recording two 1-1 draws against Scotland and Slovakia in September's fixtures.

Sunday's clash represents only the third time ever that Israel have locked horns with the Czech Republic, and Ruttensteiner's side will hope it is a case of third time lucky for them following 4-1 and 2-1 friendly defeats in 2000 and 2012 respectively.

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Meanwhile, the Czech Republic's preparations for the upcoming Nations League fixtures began in ideal fashion with a hard-fought 2-1 victory over Cyprus in Wednesday's friendly.

Jaroslav Silhavy was able to welcome a number of well-established internationals back to the fold for that midweek game, which was not the case for their most recent Nations League clash against Scotland last month.

Indeed, the Czech Republic were hit by a coronavirus outbreak prior to their showdown with the Tartan Army, and a squad comprised of uncapped and up-and-coming players performed valiantly but ultimately succumbed to a 2-1 defeat against Scotland in that encounter.

However, Silhavy guided his team to a 3-1 victory against Slovakia with a fully-fit squad, and promotion to League A will be well within the Locomotive's sights if they can take maximum points against Israel and Scotland in the coming days.

Incredibly, the Czech Republic have not drawn a game since a 1-1 stalemate with Norway in June 2017 - winning 16 and losing 13 in all competitions since then.

Israel Nations League form: DD

Israel form (all competitions): WLLDDL

Czech Republic Nations League form: WL

Czech Republic form (all competitions): LWLWLW

Team News

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Israel's Eyal Golasa lasted for 101 minutes against Scotland before being forced off through injury, and as a result, Sun Menahem could come in on the left-hand side.

Celtic's Nir Bitton turned out for Israel against some of his club teammates in midweek despite injury concerns, but the midfielder may not be involved in the Nations League, meaning that Ilay Elmkies could look forward to a start in the middle of the park.

As for the Czech Republic, Silhavy can look forward to naming a near full-strength contingent for Sunday's encounter, starting with Tomas Vaclik in goal, with the Sevilla shot-stopper expected to demote Tomas Koubek to the bench.

West Ham United duo Vladimir Coufal and Tomas Soucek are both holding out for recalls to the first XI, although the former could struggle to displace Pavel Kaderabek at right-back.

Eighteen-year-old Adam Hlozek will look to earn his third cap for the national team here, with Patrik Schick missing out due to injury.

Israel possible starting lineup:

Marciano; Dasa, Abu Hanna, Abd Elhamed, Arad, Menahem; Elmkies, Natcho; Saba; Weissman, Zahavi

Czech Republic possible starting lineup:

Vaclik; Kaderabek, Kudela, Hovorka, Novak; Soucek, Kral; Masopust, Darida, Hlozek; Vydra

We say: Israel 0-1 Czech Republic

The Czech Republic have had an extra day off to prepare for this clash and should feel confident of picking up all three points here. Israel will be determined to put things right and perform strongly in the Nations League following their playoff exit, but we expect the visitors to prevail, albeit by a narrow margin.

Top betting tip

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