How close and how far.
No one expected the young Israeli team to beat European champions Germany, certainly not in front of the local crowd, but Israel tonight (Thursday) provided a tremendous close game, and even managed to score and lead twice.
In the end, despite the compliments and good performance, the Germans showed superiority and achieved the justified victory for them.
National coach Alon Hazan promised before the game that his team will try to play good football despite the huge level differences in favor of Germany, some of whose players are on Bundesliga teams.
So true, it is impossible to control and initiate against such a talented and powerful team, but have to play more aggressively, on fast passing attacks and take advantage of minutes that Germany gets off the gas, which is exactly what it was, and almost enough for the team to achieve a good result.
In moments when everything else was pink.
Photo: Getty Images,
Doron Leidner with a great goal (28) after a master delivery by Ilai Almkeys raised smiles on the bench of Israel but Germany immediately responded with a quick goal.
In the second half, the hosts pressed the Israeli goal, but it was Hazan's team that scored in one of its few attacks after Yuval Sadeh found Omri Gandelman (51) who scored and left the Germans completely stunned.
The Israeli players gave their souls on the field.
Omar Niron provided a huge performance between the posts and saved the team from absorbing at least 3 more goals.
Until the 89th minute it seemed that the goalkeeper's saves and Israel's heroic performance would be enough for her to be signed by a huge sensation, but then the Germans' bleach paid off in the end and in the last minutes they completed a big turnaround and remained in first place at home.
Photo: Getty Images,
Photo: Getty Images,
Photo: Getty Images,
Photo: Getty Images,
