Fans of the Israeli national team in the semifinals of the World Cup (Shlomo Weiss)
The dream of winning the World Cup, which turned from an imaginary fantasy into a possible reality after the sensation against Brazil, vanished on Thursday evening for the Israeli under-20 team, which lost 1-0 to tough Uruguay in the semifinals. Nevertheless, the journey in Argentina is not yet over.
Ofir and Haim and his players will not participate in the final on Sunday, but in the World Cup, as in the senior World Cup, bronze medals are also handed out and standing on the podium can be an appropriate reward for Israel's historic performance.
The third-place match will take place at the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium in La Plata, on Sunday at 20:30 p.m. (live on Kan 11). The opponent will be the loser of the semi-final between Italy and South Korea.
There's still something to play for. Thai Abed (Photo by Getty Images, Eurasia Sport Images)
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The third-place record holder is Brazil, the team Israel eliminated in the quarterfinals, which settled for a bronze medal in three different tournaments. Mali did it twice and all the other teams once. Italy were ranked third in 2017 with a penalty shootout victory over Uruguay, while in the last tournament in 2019 they participated again in this game, but then it was Ecuador who made history by winning in extra-time.
Apart from Italy, only one other European team has finished third in the 21st century: Hungary, which beat Costa Rica on penalties in 2009. A total of nine teams from Europe won bronze at the World Cup, while seven lost the medal game and remained in fourth place. On two occasions there was a European match for third place: Romania beat England 0-1 in 1981 and Portugal beat Spain 2-3 in 1995.
In the 22 tournaments since the establishment of the factory in 1977, eight of the third-place matches have not finished in 90 minutes. Two were decided in extra-time and the other six were dragged to penalties.
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- Israeli football
- Israeli national teams
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