Israel’s fairy tale run in the Under-20 World Cup in Argentina on Sunday ended with a bronze with a 3-1 victory over South Korea in the third place place match
Two superb goals put an exclamation mark on an unforgettable debut tournament for Israel at the tournament.
Israel appeared first on the scoreboard when Hamza Shibli produced an accurate ball for Ran Binyamin who buried the ball in the back of the net with a spectacular half-volley in the 19th minute.
However, it took only five minutes and a penalty for South Korea’s Seung-Won Lee to send Israeli goalie Ofek Melika the wrong way and score the equalizer in the 24th minute.
Ofir Haim’s men kept the pressure on the South Koreans in the second half and a goal was in the air.
Anan Khalaili delivered another sensational Israeli cross as Omer Senior found some space inside the box and fired the ball mid-air to score the second goal for Israel in the 76th minute.
Ten minutes later, Khalaili swooped on a loose ball inside the box and beat the South Korean goalkeeper with a shot to the bottom left corner, as he nailed Israel’s third in the 85th minute.
Shortly after the match, Israeli President, Isaac Herzog, congratulated the players on twitter and praised the team for the historic achievement at the tournament.
”Congratulations to the Israeli national youth soccer team on their historic achievement.
“It is wonderful to place third place in the World Cup!
”You have completed a wonderful and exciting journey in the U20 World Cup, and we are all proud of you,” he tweeted.