Israel eye history as final three Euro 2024 places up for grabs

MANCHESTER, United Kingdom, Mar 20 (AFP): Israel's footballers are aiming to make history by reaching the European Championship for the first time amid the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, with the final three places at Euro 2024 up for grabs over the next week.
Twelve teams still have dreams of reaching Germany later this year with three sets of four nations to face off in Thursday's semi-finals and the winners progressing to a final on March 26.
Israel became a member of Europe's governing body UEFA 20 years ago, but are yet to reach the continent's major international competition.
The war between Israel and Hamas has forced Alon Hazan's men to try and finish the job on the road with no international matches going ahead in Israel for the forseeable future due to security concerns.
Thursday's semi-final against Iceland will be played in Hungary's capital Budapest, with the winners facing Bosnia and Herzegovina or Ukraine away in the final.
But for the conflict, Israel may have qualified automatically as they were in a strong position prior to the October 7 attacks by Hamas.
On their return to action in November they suffered a shock 1-0 defeat to Kosovo and then failed to win either of crucial qualifiers against Romania and Switzerland, which should have been at home but were instead moved to Hungary.
"(It) is more important for us that we can be proud of our country and give some happiness to change the atmosphere," Hasan told Sky.
"This is more important than being part of the tournament."
Israel have faced calls to be banned from international football from a group of Middle Eastern football associations, including 2034 World Cup hosts Saudi Arabia.
And UEFA will be braced for protests and extra security measures should they reach the finals.
Israel are favoured to get past Iceland, but could face a much sterner test in another nation determined to give their war-torn people cause to cheer in Ukraine.
After narrowly missing out on the 2022 World Cup, a squad containing the likes of Real Madrid's Andriy Lunin, captain Oleksandr Zinchenko of Arsenal and Chelsea winger Mykhailo Mudryk are desperate to make amends.