Israel vs Iceland Predictions

• Both teams have scored in five of Israel’s last eight qualifying games
• Both teams have scored in two of Icalend’s last three away qualifiers
• Both games between Iceland and Israel during the Nations League in 2022 were drawn 2-2

Israel will be worried about Iceland’s aerial threat

Israel may lack the physicality to justify their match odds in Thursday’s Euro 2024 qualification play-off clash with Iceland in Hungary.

Alon Hazan’s team are back in Budapest — Hungary having been their temporary base for their last couple of qualifiers — and it has not been a particularly successful home for them. Last November, Israel needed an 88th-minute leveller to rescue a draw against Switzerland before losing 2-1 to Romania a few days later.

They were a similar price in the Romania game as they are here against an Iceland side whose recent record does not look great. Age Hareide’s team lost four of their five away Euro 2024 qualifiers and conceded multiple goals in each defeat.

Both teams can score in Hungary

But Iceland drew home and away with Israel in the last Nations League games and seem to match up well against them because of their superior physicality. It is something Israel will be well aware of as they attempt to deal with Iceland’s aerial threat on set-pieces and long throws.

Hareide is nurturing a young squad and they may not quite have the required experience to get through at this moment in time, but they can certainly score against an Israel outfit that has kept only three clean sheets in the last four years — against Faros Islands, Belarus and Andorra.

Iceland are a much better side than any of those three and with in-form Albert Gudmundsson leading the way for Genoa with 10 Serie A goals, they can ensure both teams find the back of the net on Thursday.