“I take the final moments from the last game in Estonia, and they give us a lot of optimism. I’m sure that with a little more concentration, and with the crowd’s push tomorrow – we can absolutely do it. I invite the crowd to come and unite around the team in the days when the country is going through. I’d love to see Tomorrow is a hall where the fans demonstrate their presence and wave Israeli flags – and we will do everything to make them proud of us” – said the captain of the Israeli national team, Dan Teper, ahead of tomorrow’s match (Sunday, 18:00, Shlomo Hall in Tel Aviv, free entry) against the Estonian national team – In which the goal is one – victory and with a difference of at least 3 goals – to pass the Estonians – and at least practically guarantee the third place at home.
The team is determined to achieve a first victory of the campaign, and by the required margin – after the loss 30:28 on Thursday in Tallinn, and towards the last two games next month against Iceland in Tel Aviv and the Czech Republic. The players and the team returned to Israel last night, and tonight the national coach, the Serbian Dragan Jokic, held the final training session. Lior Gorman, who was injured in the match in Estonia, is not expected to be included in the squad – which the Serbian will announce only tomorrow morning.
As mentioned, the importance of finishing in third place – from which 4 teams with the best balance among the 8 qualifying houses will qualify for the European Championship – is the realistic goal, even if as of this moment – the chances of the Israeli team to qualify for the European Championship are not high following the losses to the Czech Republic and Iceland and the goal ratio. The team will do everything tomorrow to meet the goal, and no less than that – to avoid ranking in last place at home – when at least 4 teams with the worst balance of the last – will have to go through another qualifying round in the next campaign
Tomorrow the Israel national team will host the trainees of the Feuerstein Institute, who will accompany the national team players in the introduction of the players and the national anthem.