Israel – Romania Prediction & Picks (24.03.2018)

Israel and Romania meet at Winner Stadium, in what will be the first friendly match of the year for both teams. There is no record of direct confrontations between these two teams in the last 3 years. The last match was played on 03-03-2010 and ended with the score: Romania (0-2) Israel. In this game the home factor may be decisive, since Israel presents considerable differences in their results at home and as a visitor.

Israel:

The home team played their first friendly of the year, after having played only 1 last year, which ended with the score: Israel (1-1) Moldova. This is a team that usually gets better results in away matches than at home, since in the last 30 matches they register 6 wins, 2 draws and 7 losses in away matches, with 21 goals scored and 25 conceded; against 3 wins, 4 draws and 8 losses at their stadium, with 18 goals scored and 24 suffered. The team comes to this match after a home loss to Spain by (0-1). In the last 6 home matches for all competitions, Israel won 1, tied 1 and lost 4. The team allowed goals in 8 of the last 10 matches for the opponent, so there are defensive processes that need improvement. In 12 games, he never got the comeback in the 8 games in which he suffered the first goal.

The Israelis come to this match with a defeat against Spain, by 0-1, adding in this way the fourth snub in the last five games played, all for the qualifying phase for the 2018 World Cup. In this friendly match, the Coach Elisha Levy must play in the usual 4-3-3, privileging the defensive organization and the passes in depth for the attack: Bibras Natcho, player of CSKA Moscow, owns great quality of pass and vision of game. Of note that the Israeli team demonstrates several offensive weaknesses: scored on average 1 goal in the last 10 games played. For this game the coach can not count on Nir Bitton, a player recovering from an injury.

Romania:

The visiting team plays their first friendly of the year, after having played 3 in the last year, with the following markers: Romania (0-3) Holland, Romania (2-0) Turkey and Romania (3-2) Chile. This is a team that usually maintains its competitive levels in home and away matches, since in the last 30 matches they register 4 wins, 6 draws and 5 losses in away matches, with 18 goals scored and 13 conceded; against 6 wins, 5 draws and 4 losses at their stadium, with 21 goals scored and 18 conceded. In the last match they played, for the Friendlies, they lost to the Netherlands at home (0-3). In the last 8 away matches Romania has a record of 1 win, 3 draws and 4 losses. They have not been very strong defensively, since they have suffered goals in 7 of the last 10 matches. In 15 matches, they suffered the first goal 8 times and only managed 1 comeback.

Romania leaves for this match with a defeat against the Netherlands, by 0-3, putting a final point to the three games in a row without losing in several competitions. The last triumph of the Romanians was in a friendly against Turkey, when they won 2-0. In this game against Israel, Coach Cosmin Contra must act in 4-4-2, privileging the possession of the ball and the successive attacks, mainly through the flanks: Stanciu is a very fast player and exempt in the offensive transition. It is important to underline that the Romanian national team has shown some difficulties in scoring, as it scored an average of 1.1 goals per game in the last 10 challenges. For this game the coach can not count on the injured Chiriches and Andone.