Israel Eliminated from World Cup Race After Loss to Latvia
Israel’s World Cup qualifying campaign ended with a whimper in Riga, a second straight double-digit defeat in three days confirming their elimination as Latvia rolled to an 85-70 win on Sunday night.
It wasn’t supposed to unravel this quickly.
A week that began with hope closed with back-to-back losses – 106-86 to Poland and now this – and a national team searching for answers as much as for points.
Big lead, brutal swing
For a spell in the second quarter, Israel looked like a team fighting for its life.
Lior Carrera and Netanel Artzi helped set the tone early, Eitan Burg added a spark, and by the middle of the period the blue-and-white were flying. Threes from Guy Palatin and Burg forced a Latvian timeout, the offense flowed, and a 12-2 burst pushed Israel into a 40-29 lead – their biggest of the night.
Then the game flipped.
Latvia came out of that timeout with purpose, attacked the paint, and found their rhythm from deep. A 12-1 run wiped out the entire advantage before Israel could blink. By halftime it was 41-41, the momentum gone, the pressure squarely back on Ariel Beit Halachmi’s men.
“We started the game well, but toward the end of the second quarter we lost the momentum,” the Israel coach admitted afterward. “In the second half, we got into foul trouble, and that changed the momentum of the game. They shot a high percentage from 3-point range and took advantage of the mistakes we made.”
The second half only underlined his point.
Artzi opened the third quarter with five straight points to briefly steady Israel, but Latvia answered with an 8-2 run to jump in front 49-48. Arturs Strautins then took over. The forward repeatedly punished Israel’s defense, stretching the hosts’ lead to 58-52 and then 67-58, forcing Beit Halachmi into another timeout that did little to halt the slide.
The knockout blow arrived early in the fourth. Latvia drilled three consecutive triples, the lead ballooned to 76-62 with seven minutes still on the clock, and Israel’s offense simply dried up. Just 29 points after the break told its own story.
Yam Madar led Israel with 15 points, Artzi added 11, while Itay Segev and Roman Sorkin chipped in 9 apiece, but the numbers felt hollow against Latvia’s relentless outside shooting and superior composure.
“We can’t look like this”
If Beit Halachmi focused on structure and continuity, Sorkin’s words cut straight to the players’ pride.
“I can say that from the players’ side, which I’m part of, we have to look better. We can’t look like this. We need to play better,” the big man said. “I’m speaking about myself right now and not criticizing anyone else. I have no excuses; the only thing I know is that we have to play better and show up differently for games.”
The honesty matched the reality on court. Israel’s rotations were patched together, their rhythm fragile, their margin for error nonexistent.
Beit Halachmi didn’t hide behind that, but he did underline the structural problem.
“I think we don’t have the luxury of showing up for international windows without our leading players. We were missing quite a few players, and that had an impact,” he said. “Different players have been available for each window, and it’s difficult to implement a style of play. Israeli basketball doesn’t have the option of throwing away games; we need everyone with us. Other national teams have been playing with the same roster for a long period of time, but unfortunately, that’s not the case for us.”
He also took time to thank the Latvian Basketball Association “which has been hosting us here for some time and helping us with everything possible,” a gracious nod on a tough night.
Poland set the tone for a harsh window
By the time Latvia delivered the final blow, the damage had already been done 48 hours earlier.
Israel’s second-round campaign had opened against Poland in Riga, and that game quickly became a warning sign. Poland exploded out of the gate, with Mateusz Ponitka, Jordan Loyd and Aleksander Balcerowski dominating the first quarter and building an early eight-point cushion.
The gap widened in the second. Loyd found his groove, Poland’s offense hummed, and Israel trudged into halftime down 55-42, chasing shadows.
After the break, Israel’s mainstays – Sorkin, Madar and Tamir Blatt – tried to drag the team back, but Andrzej Pluta and Jarosław Zyskowski answered every challenge, shooting with confidence and stretching the margin again. Israel produced an excellent final quarter, even hinting at a comeback, yet the 20-point deficit proved too deep. Poland closed out a commanding win and set the tone for a punishing window.
By Sunday night, there was no more room for illusions. Two games, two heavy defeats, and the World Cup dream gone.
The questions now move beyond one bad weekend. Can Israel build the continuity Beit Halachmi craves, keep its core together from window to window, and turn nights like Riga into a lesson rather than a pattern?
