Israel's chances of qualifying for next year's World Championship seem difficult and off the football field, the country's participation in the qualifying tournament for the championship in the USA, Mexico, and Canada next year is causing strong reactions.
On Saturday, Israel will play against Norway in Oslo and even before the players arrived at their hotel, Norwegian police had blocked off the area. Outside the arena, large protests against the war in Gaza are expected, even though Israel on Friday approved the first phase of the US peace plan for the war.
In Italy, the situation is similar. Tuesday's match will be played in the city of Udine to limit the influx of demonstrators, writes Gazzetta dello Sport.
"Dramatic and paradoxical"
According to the newspaper, the first security checks on match day will already be one kilometer before the stadium. Israel will also be staying at a secret address and the team will not be using the local airport.
We will have 6,000 people inside the arena and 10,000 outside. The situation has been forced upon us in a way, it is dramatic and paradoxical, says Udine's mayor Alberto Felice De Toni, who has vainly requested that the match be postponed, to the Italian news agency LaPresse.
When the countries met in September, Italy won 5-4. At the final whistle, a tumult arose and, among other things, Italy's national team coach Gennaro Gattuso was seen shouting at an Israeli player. The Italian coaches' association has previously requested that Israel be excluded from the World Championship qualifying tournament.
It would have been better to play in front of empty stands to avoid fueling the conflict, says the mayor.
"Everyone should be happy"
The International Football Association's (Fifa) chairman Gianni Infantino has previously said that "Fifa cannot solve geopolitical problems".
Now everyone should be happy about the peace plan and everyone should support the process. Of course, this is about more than football - but football is also included, said Infantino according to the news agency AP on Thursday.
Norway–Israel kicks off at 6 pm tonight at Ullevål in Oslo.
