The Israeli handball team will tonight (Wednesday) complete its preparations for the 3 preparatory games that are expected this weekend against the Italian team - on Thursday (18:30, Hadar Yosef), Friday (15:00, 'Golda' Petah Tikva) and Saturday (19: 00 in Nahalat Yehuda in Rishon LeZion).
These are training matches ahead of the World Cup qualifiers (for both teams), with the Israeli team competing in January in a tournament to be held in Romania against the local team, Moldova and Cyprus - with the first two qualifying for the next stage (Italy will also hold a tournament in January, where it will meet Luxembourg , Faroe Islands and Latvia).
The Israeli team, under the guidance of Oleg Botenko and Assaf Levy, started training earlier this week, when the Legionnaires joined them.
The squad for the 3 games includes 20 players - 8 of them Legionnaires.
The goalkeepers - Dan Tepper (Saran, France), Yahav Shamir (Winterthur, Switzerland) and Oz Yitzhak (Hapoel Ashdod).
The captain - Daniel Shekalim, Ram Turknitz, Eden Ginger, Yossi Apo and Tal Hershkovitz (AS Ramat Hasharon), Snir Natzia (Ness Ziona), Nivo Levy (Hapoel Ashdod), Yoav Lambroso (Limoges, France) , Lior Gorman (Sharbor, France), Yonatan Dayan (Rimper, Germany), Daniel Musindy (Saran, France), Tomer Bodenheimer (Zurich, Switzerland), Adir Cohen (Tremblay, France), Rotem Segal (Maccabi Rishon LeZion), And the new guests - Alon Oberman (Herzliya), Nadav Nizri (Maccabi Rishon LeZion), Omri Nadler (Ness Ziona / Rehovot), Nadav Cohen (Hapoel Rishon LeZion) and Or Maman (MK Holon).
The squad did not include Daniel Tzarfati, Omri Kushmero, Ofir Cohen, Tom Shem Tov and Amit Stellman who are carrying injuries.
The team held a formation evening last night, organized by the team manager Doron Ben Atia, ahead of the opening of the campaign.
Remember, in the previous World Cup qualifier campaign, the Israeli team qualified from first place in the early stages - the Israeli team finished in first place with 9 points (4 wins, a draw and a loss) at the top of House 2 - and was ahead of Greece, Finland and Cyprus, but continued qualifiers (and games In the second stage against Latvia) was canceled during the Corona crisis.
Israel national team at the weekend of preparatory games against Italy, Photo: Handball Association,
At the same time, the Italians landed in Israel today, and they come with an interesting squad - which includes players in the senior leagues in Spain and France, including in the sub-leagues in both countries.
Head coach Ricardo Trillini selected 18 players for the 3 games: Goalkeepers - Pascolino di Giantomenico (Conversano, Italy), Andrea Colalori (Nantes, France).
Corner players - Stefano Arsieri (Bolzano), Thomas Brutoli (Isters, France), Niccolò D'Antino (Nava, Spain), Giovanni Nardin (Sassari), Leo Frantner (Cuenca, Spain) Backline players - Davide Bolzamini (Cuenca, Spain), Pablo Marucci (Nice, France), Simona Mangon (Billar, France), Max Frantner (Marano), Giancomo Savini (Nice, France), Ignacio de Giorgio (Conversano) , Cresznik Casa (Isters, France), Filippo Angiolini (Passano). Axis players / center of defense - Andrea Carlo Parisini (Isters, France), Martin Dolden (Cuenca, Spain), Oliver Martini (Saran, France) - the latter is a player 20 included in Saran's wide squad, where he plays with Tepper and Musindi.