Israel Ends Winning Streak in FIFA U-20 World Cup Losing in Semi-Finals to Uruguay 1-0
by Shiryn Ghermezian

Players from Israel’s national soccer team embracing during the country’s match against
Colombia in the 2023 Under-20 World Cup in Argentina. Photo: Eva Cabrera/Ulan/Pool / Latin America News Agency
Israel’s national youth soccer team is now out of the 2023 FIFA Under-20 World Cup tournament after losing on Thursday to Uruguay 1-0 in the semi-finals of the competition in Argentina.
The first half of Thursday’s game was evenly balanced until Uruguay’s Anderson Duarte scored the only goal of the match in the 60-minute mark, advancing his team to the finals. The country is now the sixth nation to reach three U-20 World Cup finals, according to FIFA.
Though Israel will not be moving forward in the finals, they will compete in the third place match against South Korea, which lost 2-1 on Thursday in the second semi-final against Italy. Despite the Israeli team’s loss on Thursday, their performance thus far in the World Cup garnered praise from Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The Israeli premier wrote in a Twitter post: “Thank you Israel team! Very proud of you!”
Israel secured a spot for itself in the semi-finals by defeating Brazil 3-2 in the quarter-finals in Argentina on Saturday following a match that went into overtime.
At the start of the World Cup the Israeli team was defeated by Columbia in the first game and then had a draw against Senegal in the second. Afterwards the Israelis achieved Israel’s first-ever win in any FIFA soccer World Cup, with a 2-1 victory over Japan, and then continued their winning stream with a 97th-minute goal in their match against Uzbekistan, also during overtime, ending the game 1-0 and reaching the quarterfinal.
The Israeli U-20 team has also made history this year in the World Cup by scoring Israel’s first knockout stage qualification and knockout stage win in any senior or youth FIFA World Cup.
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