Israel up ante for England visit

Tight group
Both sides have taken seven points from four games in Group E and lost their last matches to section leaders Croatia. Slaven Bilić's team are in pole position to top the group and underlined their quality by claiming a 2-1 friendly success against Norway despite fielding an under-strength lineup, while Russia have eight points from four outings.

Key absentees
England coach Steve McClaren insisted his side - who left the Old Trafford turf to a chorus of boos after stretching their winless streak to four games following Andrés Iniesta's solitary strike for Spain - will be a different proposition when key players return. "I can understand the reaction as we don't like to lose but the key is building towards the game with Israel," he said. "We were missing half a squad - the likes of Owen Hargreaves, Wayne Rooney and John Terry are big players that can win you big games.

'Massive performances'
"We created opportunities but lacked that final bit of quality around the box that Iniesta had for his goal. I was pleased with some of the performances and learned a lot about some of the players." Steven Gerrard, captain in the absence of Terry, also spoke optimistically ahead of the away dates against Israel and Andorra, saying: "We're looking forward to those qualifiers and we'll be confident we can get two good results. We want two massive perfomances and I'm confident we can produce."

Friendly draw
Israel took more plus points from their 1-1 home draw against Ukraine. Coach Dror Kashtan awarded debuts to full-back Yuval Shpungin, 19, and 17-year-old striker Ben Sahar, while Arik Benado extended his appearance record for his country by collecting his 90th cap. Kashtan said: "We used the match against Ukraine to prepare for England because they are also big, strong and can shoot well from distance."

Coach pleased
The coach, who saw Walid Badir's 38th-minute opener cancelled out by Maxym Kalynychenko (74), added: "I was very pleased with the way we played and tactically it was a very good performance, particularly in the first half. Ever since taking charge of Israel, we have integrated a lot of young players into the squad and I honestly think we have a rosy future." How rosy could depend on the outcome of that qualifier at the Ramat Gan Stadium.