TFT Issue 3265!

Czech Republic vs Israel

KO: 19:45 (UK time)

This is a good time to back Czech Republic, and a good time to oppose Israel. The visitors are still not used to their new manager; they’ve reverted back to their old ways of sitting back, and praying something saves them. Their only hope is the brilliant but inconsistent Zahavi, who will either bag a hat-trick or simply not show up, such is his nature. 

I would normally be inclined to blame a lack of quality in the squad but Israel didn’t find that too problematic in any other area than defence when Herzog was in charge. Typically, Israel decided not to renew his contract when it expired despite him producing the best, most efficient Israeli team in decades, and his successor, fellow Austrian Ruttensetiner, has not managed to get anywhere close to his predecessor. Israel are still atrocious at the back, but now they’ve matched it by being just as bad in attack.

As I said earlier, Zahavi is their only leading light; the rest look a bit out-of-sorts at the moment. Dabbur is out of the squad, last seen with Covid-19 in October, Weissmann’s move to play for Real Valladolid hasn’t exactly gone according to plan, and Solomon has gone off the boil at Shakhtar Donetsk too. That’s why Yonatan Cohen and Osama Khalaila are in line to potentially debutise here. Their midfield is still bereft of Kayal, who is without a new club, meaning that Bitton and Natcho have to carry the team. I like the two of them a lot, especially the latter, who is a really good holding midfielder, but they’re on their own here. There aren’t enough legs around them to allow them to show what they’re capable of, and there’s certainly not good enough movement ahead of them either.

In defence, things are just atrocious for Israel. Seriously bad. They have no good goalkeepers. They don’t have a single organiser back there. They don’t have any kind of relationship where one centre-back is an interceptor and the other drops off. It all looks very clumsy and ad hoc whenever I see Israel play. It didn’t matter against Slovakia back in October because Slovakia – well, suffice to say it’s the worst Slovakian team I’ve seen in my lifetime for a multitude of reasons. Even then, Israel still conceded twice, and as per usual, it was Zahavi that had to carry them to victory.

Zahavi really is the only genuine threat to Czech Republic today, and even he wasn’t enough to stop Israel losing the reversal of this fixture 2-1. If they’re really lucky, Scotland will beat Slovakia in the other game, meaning that next week’s match against Scotland is irrelevant as Slovakia will thus be unable to catch Israel, and then it becomes impossible for Israel to be relegated from their UEFA Nations League group. I do think it’s safe to say that it’s out of Israel’s hands though, based upon their displays. They go with the flow too much, Israel, almost never controlling games.

For me, this game is more about Czech Republic showcasing how good they’ve become again. No, it’s not like the Poborsky/Nedved/Cech/Koller/Rosicky days of the past; they’re gone. This is a brand-new Czech Republic team, and although it’s not as good as those before it, I’m quietly impressed by what they’ve done, sticking to what they’re good at. I can’t say I’m ever fully confident that this team will keep opponents out, but I am confident that they can outscore their opponents more often than not, assuming that nobody does a ‘Scotland’ on them i.e. sitting deep and not moving out. The Czechs aren’t quite good enough at crossing to deal with such setups, which is fortunately impossible here anyway, as Israel’s defence couldn’t keep a cow out.

Czech Republic lost 1-0 against Germany mid-week in a friendly. I thought they played well, and managed to rest the likes of Soucek, Coufal, Darida, and Vydra for the occasion ahead of their push to top the group. They’ll still need a big favour from neighbours Slovakia and then Israel, but whilst it’s possible, I don’t see Czech Republic giving up. The absence of Kudela and Kaderabek isn’t ideal for the Czech defence, but let’s face it – they’re not a clean sheet kind of outfit anyway. They’ve been geared up to outscore teams, and they’re quite capable of that here, even without the injured Schick.

They’ve got excellent creators, the Czech Republic, and good target men too. Schick is their best finisher, but given the amount of chances that Israel tend to afford their opposition, I’m not concerned by his absence. Similarly, I’m also not concerned by Czech Republic not being as good at crossing as they could or should be. Instead, I have faith in their pass-and-move game fused with direct running causing disorganised Israel a lot of problems, and that in itself should guarantee the home team enough chances to win this game by a couple of goals.

I cannot emphasise enough that you should back the -1 Asian Handicap rather than the -1.5 Asian Handicap here though; I do not trust the home team to keep a clean sheet, and you simply cannot bank on Zahavi not showing up either. However, with the insurance of a one-goal victory in mind, I can’t help but like the odds available on the home team to win by two goals or more today.

Verdict: Czech Republic to beat the -1 Asian Handicap at 27/25.