“We are about to launch the next campaign that is very significant for Israeli basketball and for all of us,” noted Beit Halachmi. “It’s a very big challenge, but also a huge opportunity.”
The Israeli men’s national basketball team will be in action this weekend as the blue-and-white begins the 2027 World Cup European qualifying with a pair of games against Germany and Croatia.
Coach Ariel Beit Halachmi’s squad is coming off this past summer’s EuroBasket, in which it advanced to the round of 16 in Latvia, but then succumbed to Greece and NBA All-Star Giannis Antetokounmpo.
For this campaign, Israel was drawn in Group E with Cyrus, Germany, and Croatia, as the top three teams will advance to the second round. However, the record obtained in the first round rolls over, and the top three of six teams will then punch their ticket to the tournament in Qatar.
The next set of first-round games will be played at the end of February 2026, and the third set will take place in July.
Just ahead of the opening contests, Beit Halachmi and veteran swingman Yovel Zoosman spoke about the challenges ahead, as well as the return of Tamir Blatt to the team and much more.
“We are about to launch the next campaign that is very significant for Israeli basketball and for all of us,” noted Beit Halachmi.
“It’s a very big challenge, but also a huge opportunity to continue the path we’ve been on over the past two years. We are proud to be here, proud to always represent our country, and we will come into these games, as we have in recent years, with a lot of commitment, desire and hunger. Our goal is to accomplish something here and qualify for the World Cup after many years of not doing so. The road is not easy, and it’s a long one. We respect all of our opponents, of course, but the focus is on us. We need to come and play our best, bring our desire and hunger, and do everything that we can to qualify for the World Cup from here on out.”
Israel basketball coach on tough Germany, Croatia games
The bench boss also spoke about the side’s first two opponents, Germany on Friday and Croatia on Monday.
“I don’t want to talk too much about them, as we all understand the level of play that these two are on. But if we want to accomplish something big, we need to beat the teams that, on paper, are better than us. The competition is a very long one, two years until the actual tournament and in the upcoming window, we first need to bring the players together. As you understand, we don’t have too much time together. But I trust the players, I believe in them, and we need to look every opponent in the white of their eye.
“The upcoming window, because of the complexity of the schedules between the Euroleague and FIBA, we’ll basically see the full squad only on Thursday in practice, but I trust the players and their seriousness. We need to find the best way to play together and to play basketball.
Blatt is making his return to the blue-and-white for the first time since the 2022 EuroBasket, a situation which was the cause of some controversy over the past few years.
“We had a good conversation, and Tamir is arriving here committed and one who wants to be here, and we want him here,” said Beit Halachmi. “We’re all happy about his return. We’re starting a new path, and our whole goal is for the national team to be as good as possible. Tamir definitely strengthens us, and we’re happy about his return. We’re not going to look backwards.”
Zoosman also discussed the upcoming pair of games as well as some other issues that were recently brought to the forefront, including that of workload.
“I’m not going to hide from it, but there is a general physical load of flights and a thousand different things attached to them, which we have experienced since the start of the war. But when the national team wants you, you show up full of motivation. You have to throw those complaints out the window and want to do what we all love most. It’s a bit different from regular club play; you need to adapt and understand where you can help. That’s more important than anything. Any fatigue is something that we put aside.”
Zoosman has been playing extremely well recently for Hapoel Jerusalem and hopes that this stretch will continue into the national team window, where he will also have the opportunity to play with Blatt.
“I’m doing what I’ve done until now. I believe in myself. I’m going through a good stretch, and I know what needs to be done, and in this opportunity, I can also be more vocal with the experience I have. Regarding Tamir, I’m happy to see all of the guys. It’s fun, emotional, and we all share stories from our clubs. We’ve known each other since we were young, and we played together at Alba Berlin as well as youth national teams. The bottom line is that it’s very nice he’s here. I hope he can help us win the upcoming games and that everyone will do their job and do their best. I’m looking forward to playing with Tamir again. It’s been a long time, and I miss him.”
As for the upcoming opponents, Zoosman shared his thoughts on what will no doubt be quite a pair of contests.
“First of all, the German national team is very good, especially with their NBA players, world champions and European champions. Even without the NBA players, they’re still very good. There isn’t just one player who will do more damage than another; they have a lot of talent, and they are a very quick team. I can talk about specific players from what I’ve seen. It’ll be nice to meet some players I played with; I miss all of them there. They’re really good people who welcomed me with open arms as a foreign player in Germany. It was a very nice time, and I’m grateful for that. But hopefully we’ll play against them and win, and then afterwards we’ll still stay friends, because I truly like them.”
As for Croatia, led by Mario Hezonja, the squad has plenty of other weapons, but ultimately it’s a team effort, Zoosman explained.
“Basketball is played 5-on-5. Hezonja’s a player with many years of experience in the EuroLeague; he’s a top player and double-digit scorer who was also an NBA player who was a top-10 draft pick. It’s not just me against him; stopping him is a collective effort. With players like that, your job isn’t to prevent them from entirely scoring, but to limit them and make them less efficient. We’ll see together with the coaches what the best way is to do that. But it’s a team effort. A player like that can’t be stopped at zero or two points, or even five or six. But in terms of efficiency, we can do a better job.”
