Israel National Team Arrives in Austria Ahead of Nations League Opener

The Israeli national team spent Yom Kippur at a hotel in Linz, Austria, and will hold its first training session tomorrow morning (Tuesday) ahead of Thursday's match against Austria, which kicks off their UEFA Nations League campaign. As a reminder, Israel is grouped with Austria, Ireland, and Kosovo.

The delegation arrived in Linz yesterday afternoon. Legionnaires playing abroad joined the squad throughout the day, except for five players based in the United States: Tai Baribo, Dor Turgeman, Idan Toklomati, Liel Abada, and Elay Feingold. The only player arriving from the US yesterday was Sayed Abu Farhi, who is a candidate to start in the team's attack the day after tomorrow.

The remaining five players who observed Yom Kippur in the US will depart tomorrow and are expected to arrive in Linz on Wednesday morning. They are scheduled to train in the final session on Wednesday evening, though due to jet lag, it remains uncertain who will be able to play on Thursday or how many minutes they can log. Nikita Stoyanov, expected to start as a left center-back, missed Dinamo Bucharest's match yesterday and arrived at the team hotel to join his teammates.

"We are starting to feel the first match," one of the players said this evening. "We feel we are on the threshold of a new campaign through which we can reach the Euros. We will do everything to finish this gathering, which includes four matches, on a good note." Coach Ran Ben Shimon faces numerous absences, especially in defense, with Stav Lemkin, Or Blorian, and Itai Rotman missing. Ben Shimon has called up Raz Shlomo and Noam Steifman, and recalled Elay Feingold to address defensive shortages. The coach set a goal during his press conference to finish the group in first or second place.