Israel Out of the 2022 World Cup as Scotland Defeats Moldova

The national soccer team of Scotland defeated Moldova in their last match, with a score of 2-0. The victory put a final nail in the coffin for the State of Israel, preventing it from advancing towards the qualifying games. Had they qualified, the team would have made it into the FIFA World Cup finals, to be held in Qatar next year. 

The loss of the Scottish team would have meant that Israel could have moved up from the third position in Group F to the second place. Moreover, it would have been able to enter the playoff round and competed further to make it to the 2022 World Cup. However, with Moldova’s defeat, this chance was taken away from Israel. Instead, Scotland will be advancing to the playoffs, whereas the leader in the group, Denmark, will be directly playing in the tournament next year in Qatar. 

Later on, Israel went up against Austria to play its penultimate qualifying match in Austria. It surrendered its lead twice and ended up losing with a score of 4-2. The national team will play its last game in the qualifiers by welcoming the Faroe Islands on the 15th of November. Despite the fact that Israel is expected to win its final game, the finals in Qatar are out of reach. 

The current team was largely written off in the month of October, after it lost 3-2 to Scotland in the city of Glasgow. In the month of September, the Danes emerged victorious from Israel with a final score of 5-0. Israel was quickly brought back to reality with this loss, after a winning euphoria it experienced by defeating Austria with a 3-goal lead. 

Scotland has not qualified for the World Cup since the year 1998, whereas the Jewish State last participated in the renowned competition back in 1970. 

In other news, a handful of national parks across the country were shut down over the weekend. Hikers were not permitted to enter amid fears that dry and hot conditions could cause huge wildfires to break out. 

The Nature and Parks Authority took to announce that all the hiking paths in the region of Carmel Forest, excluding the Me’arot River reserve, were off limits, along with any other trails in the Shfela region and the Judean Mountains. 

The Amud Stream reserve, located in the Galilee, had also been shut down, as well as all of the hiking paths that are situated along the coast. This included those between Zikim in the south and Hadera in the north. 

The closure will be effective all through Sunday, while the country experiences unseasonably warm weather. The forecasts on Saturday predicted that the country would be reaching highs of 31°C in the region of the Dead Sea and 27°C in Haifa, and 30°C in the city of Tel Aviv. A nationwide ban on fire was also placed earlier in the week. It is going to stay in effect until the 30th of November.