Israel’s national youth soccer team made history over the weekend by becoming the first Israeli team to qualify for the semi-finals of the UEFA Under-19 European Championships in Slovakia.
Israel finished with a 2-2 draw against Serbia in its opening game of the competition on June 19 and was victorious 4-2 over Austria three days later. They lost 0-1 on Saturday to England, but still finished second in their grouping and qualified for the semi-finals.
Israel will compete against France in the semi-finals on Tuesday while England will go head-to-head with Italy. All four semi-finalists have qualified for the 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Indonesia, set to take place next year.
The Israeli team’s coach Ofir Haim told Israel’s Kan News on Sunday that reaching the semi-finals is a “tremendously exciting” achievement for the athletes. He admitted that the Israeli soccer players will face strong opponents on the French team, but added, “In Israel, we don’t have the physical [ability] and speed of Europe … so we need to make up for it with intellect and wisdom and in other components, and in that we are better than everybody else.”