The clock showed 118 minutes.
In random locations on the manicured turf of the Arthur Maltinski Stadium in Tarnava, the players of the Israeli national team lay injured, bruised and in pain.
One grabbed the leg, the other tensed the muscle, the third tried to return air to the lungs.
The scoreboard then changed to 1: 3 in favor of England, whose players celebrated on the grass an achievement for which they spat blood.
The Israeli team, as all indications showed, lost the battle.
She was good in many episodes of the game, especially in the first half which was mesmerizing and the best presented by an Israeli team at any age and in any setting, but in football the best team does not always win.
In the end, Israel lost the battle mainly due to physical and physical inferiority, but it certainly did not lose the war.
To a large extent, she even won.
Frenchman and Israelov give everything, Photo: Asi Kiefer, Football Association
This message was very difficult to convey to Ofir Haim's players when in the golden confetti background the English players fell like rain.
Loss, no matter the size of the class and the course of events, always produces a sense of disappointment.
Autumn Lemkin walked around the grass with teary eyes and as he bit his lip, mumbled words that made clear the feeling of missing out.
Thai Abed put his head on the side of the substitutes bench and looked into space, while Tomer French sat on the grass and stared at the green ground beneath him.
Oscar Gluch, just like in the game, walked back and forth trying to find a vacancy.
Instead of a ball, this time he sought silence.
El-Yam Kanzapolski put his head on Eli Madmon's shoulder, and Ahmed Salman, Roy Revivo and Ariel Lugassi simply stood in silence, waiting for the English hoisting ceremony to end as soon as possible.
Youth players digest the loss in the final, Photo: Reuters
For these young guys, it was a loss.
The biggest and most painful experience they have experienced in their short career.
In those moments after the final whistle there was no way to present them with the big picture.
The magnitude of the achievement, the meaning, the importance, the way an entire country swept after them, the honor they brought, the ability they displayed, the pride.
In those minutes they were not comforted by what they had done up to that point.
In first place in the qualifiers, in the show against Austria in the home stage, in the amazing victory over the French Empire in the semi-finals, in goals, in performance, in nothing.
The players of the Israeli team looked exactly like a man who loses a battle.
Defeated.
The Israeli flag in the stands in Slovakia.
The whole country was swept away after the team, Photo: Asi Kiefer, Football Association
Now that the night has passed and they have had time to peek at the cell phones, the team players will surely start digesting what they have been doing for the last two weeks in Slovakia.
The fact that despite the brutal loss in the final, they can see themselves as winners.
Ophir Haim, who in addition to being a great football coach is also an exemplary educator, was alert and sensitive enough to understand that one of his most important roles at the end of the game against the English is to convey to players and anyone interested in hearing this exact message.
He wore the Israeli flag as a robe, with great effort hid any hint of a tear or heartache, and passed a player to give a good word that makes clear how proud he is of each of them for what they gave throughout the tournament and before it.
"I play the same voice, but completely inside," he told the Israeli media with a twinkle in his eye;
"Another drop of concentration and we could have made it 0-2 and our trophy. But I pick up the players, they are only at the beginning of their careers. They will reach very big heights."
Haim, in two or three sentences, summed up the feeling left at the end of this final.
That despite the loss, this team managed to do something that no Israeli team did before - certainly not after coming off the field defeated - it left a taste of more.
She made everyone who watched her and accompanied her want and preserve her, imitate her, replicate her, learn her, learn from her.
Ofir Haim.
Much more than a coach, Photo: UEFA website
This team not only presented what is the Israeli dream for "Israeli football" - cunning, smart, eye-catching and uncompromising - it also presented character traits that are not typical of our football and our footballers.
At this point it should be added all the asterisks that mention that these are youth players and that achievements at this age do not necessarily indicate what will be in the future, but this team managed to leave the impression that it is really made of a different material.
Impressive in wins as in losses, loses battles but wins the clichés.
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