Israel, making its debut at the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) Under-20 World Cup in Argentina, pulled off a miracle to upset traditional powerhouse Brazil and advance to the quarterfinals.
Israel beat Brazil 3-2 in stoppage time after a 2-2 draw in the quarterfinals of the FIFA U-20 World Cup 2023 at the Estadio San Juan del Vicentenario in San Juan, Argentina, on Thursday (July 4), with Dor David Turgeman scoring the winner in extra time.
Israel, playing in its first FIFA U-20 World Cup, finished second in Group C – which also included Colombia, Japan and Senegal – to reach the round of 16 before upsetting Uzbekistan and then Brazil to reach the last four. Israel will play the winner of the United States and Uruguay on Friday for a spot in the final.
Israel is a soccer underdog among UEFA members, ranked 78th in the FIFA rankings. North Macedonia (65th), Albania (68th), Montenegro (69th), and Georgia (77th) are ranked higher than Israel, which speaks volumes about the overall quality of soccer in the country.
However, Israel did manage to qualify for the FIFA U-20 World Cup for the first time at last year’s UEFA European Under-19 Championship, finishing second in Group B, which included England, Austria, and Serbia, and then defeating France in the quarterfinals. In the final against England, they came from behind to lose 1-3 in extra time. The team has shown that they are no underdogs.
After being rejected by Indonesia for oppressing Muslims, Israel’s participation in the tournament was in doubt, but the miracle of the tournament began to unfold when FIFA sided with Israel and switched the hosts to Argentina.
After conceding two goals in quick succession in their first Group C match against Colombia to go down 1-2, and drawing 1-1 with Senegal, they were on the verge of elimination, but in their final match against Japan, despite conceding a goal and having a man sent off, they fought back to equalize and then punch their ticket to the round of 16 with a late stoppage-time winner.
Israel didn’t let the tournament get away from them. In the Round of 16 against Uzbekistan, the Israelis scored a late winner in stoppage time to win 1-0 and overturned the odds to face Brazil in the quarterfinals.
Israel conceded an 11th-minute lead to Marcos Leonadru, but Anan Carlisle equalized four minutes later to send the game into extra time. 메이저놀이터 In extra time, they went behind to Mateus Nascimentu in the first minute, but Hamza Sibili equalized just two minutes later before Turgemann scored the winner in the first minute of stoppage time.
After defeating Brazil in the group stage and then England in the round of 16, Italy went on to beat Colombia 3-1 in the quarterfinals at the same venue as Israel and Brazil, with goals from Cesar Casadei, Tommaso Baldanza and Francesco Esposito.
It was Italy’s third consecutive quarterfinal appearance after finishing third at the 2017 tournament in South Korea and fourth at the 2019 tournament in Poland. The Azzurri will reach the final for the first time if they win their quarterfinal match against the winner of South Korea and Nigeria.
Meanwhile, Brazil’s loss to Israel means the trophy will go to a country that has never won the tournament. South Korea, Nigeria, and Uruguay all have runner-up finishes as their best result, while the United States’ best finish was fourth in 1989.
