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Huge celebrations in the youth team after qualifying for the eighth final of the FIFA U-20 World Championship. Going down to the break in tonight's game (between Saturday and Sunday) against Japan, it seemed that Ofir's players were on the road to elimination, but then came the motivational talk of the coach in the dressing room. "We performed really well on the field," the coach told the players, "let's get back to playing our game and get back on track. I believe in you very much, believe in you too."
Indeed, in the second half the team came up completely differently and despite the exclusion of Ran Binyamin, managed to register a tremendous turnaround and a historic qualification. Another thing that pleased the blue and white camp was that the victory over Japan, combined with the draws of Colombia and Senegal, meant that the team finished second in the group and avoided a meeting with host Argentina in the eighth final. Ofir Haim's team will meet Uzbekistan for a game that, at least on paper, should be less difficult. Also, the game will be held in Mendoza so that the team will stay in a hotel in a city in western Argentina and will not return to Buenos Aires.
Penetrating words. The players celebrate with Ofir Haim (Photo by Getty Images, ANDRES LARROVERE/AFP)
In the morning (Argentina time), the association will work to close a training ground ahead of the match against the Uzbeks. The team complimented Chaim and his staff on the substitutions that ultimately won the game, while besides the substitutes, Dor Turgeman also received great compliments. The national team is convinced that the excellent tournament of the Maccabi Tel Aviv striker, whose heel led to Omer Senior's winning goal, will significantly increase interest in the player whose name has already been linked with Benfica Lisbon. Turgeman was substituted after Senior's goal after complaining of pain, but the team reassured them that it was a muscle spasm, and the striker is expected to start against Uzbekistan.
Another player who extorted great compliments was Tomer Sarfati, Maccabi Netanya's goalkeeper, who excelled throughout the tournament and yesterday in large parts of the game "saved" the team from a certain defeat.
Mainly enthusiasm in the team for the character of the players. "We proved that there is something special about us," said a team source, "Usually we stumble on the mental side, but here despite a cruel loss in the opening game we managed to qualify and yesterday was the highlight. Any other team would have fallen apart, we as the minutes went by we gained more and more confidence in ourselves. We did it against all odds."
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Not only Benfica followed. Dor Turgeman, center (Photo: official website, from the official website of the Mondialito)
The professional staff decided not to give the players a night off despite the victory and allowed them to celebrate at the hotel. The team made it clear that as long as the tournament was underway, the team would remain professional and would not allow excessive celebrations. Now the team will prepare for the game against Uzbekistan, from which Ran Binyamin will be absent. The professional team will analyze the Uzbek's games, which are not known to say the least in the Israeli camp. Haim will examine the load on the players and make a decision regarding the lineup, but as of now it seems that there will not be too many changes.
"We recorded one of the greatest achievements of Israeli football," the team boasted, but clarified that "we really don't want to be satisfied with this and want to continue the magical journey of this team that began with the Euro qualifiers, continued with the Euro final and ends with this tournament. Let's hope it ends as soon as possible."
- sport
- Israeli football
- Israeli national teams
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- Youth team
