Israel coach urges team to focus on football
Israel coach Ran Ben Shimon said he wanted to separate football from the “difficult” context as his side prepare to take on France amid high security in the Nations League at the Stade de France on Thursday.
Israel has urged its citizens to avoid attending cultural and sporting events abroad following last week’s violence in Amsterdam surrounding Maccabi Tel Aviv’s Europa League match against Ajax.
Police said that there had been “hit and run” attacks against visiting Israeli fans, while adding that the Maccabi fans had burned a Palestinian flag and used sticks, pipes and rocks in clashes with opponents.
At least five people were injured in assaults that Dutch authorities and foreign leaders including Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced as antisemitic.
Tensions over Israel’s conduct in the war in Gaza are also running high in France, home to Europe’s largest Jewish and Muslim communities.
When asked about the context in which Thursday’s game was taking place, Ben Shimon said he remained focussed on the match.
“We have to adapt. I separate the context from football. I don’t want to use the news as an alibi. Off the pitch, it’s very difficult to hear so much bad news coming out of Israel. It affects us,” Ben Shimon told a press conference on Wednesday.
“But I come from the world of sport, and I want to negotiate this match in the best possible way to make people’s daily lives a little bit easier.”
French media expect only 20,000 fans to attend the 80,000-capacity venue in northern Paris. President Emmanuel Macron will be in attendance amid tight security, with 2,500 police around the stadium, 1,500 in the city and 1,600 stadium staff.
France defender Dayot Upamecano said on Tuesday that a low turnout for the match would be understandable, and Ben Shimon said it would not affect his team’s performance.
“I try to focus on the team and what I can handle. What I can manage is how my team will play against one of the best teams.
“15,000, 20,000, 25,000 spectators, it doesn’t matter. I hope that we will have people from the Israeli community who will come to watch the match, that we will give them pleasure, hope. And that they will then be able to return home safely, because it’s just sport.”
France coach Didier Deschamps echoed Ben Shimon’s sentiments, saying he would also be concentrating on his team’s efforts.
“We know what to expect… The observation is this. That’s how it is. I’m going to get out the usual word: adapt. Focus on what we have to do on the pitch,” he said.
France are second in Nations League Group A2 on nine points from four games, a point behind Italy and five ahead of Belgium. Israel are bottom of the four-team standings without a point.