The footballers of Israel have reached the semi-finals of the U21 European Championship as the first team. Co-hosts Georgia lost on penalties in the first quarter-finals.
After 120 minutes, the score was 0-0 on Saturday (July 1st, 2023) in front of well over 40,000 enthusiastic and then horrified spectators at the Boris Paichadze Stadium in Tbilisi.
Israel goalkeeper Daniel Peretz saved a penalty and a Georgian attempt hit the post. The Israelis, on the other hand, converted safely. Israel is about to qualify for the Olympic Games for the first time. Should France or England follow the team into the last four on Sunday, the Israelis would be at the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
In the second quarter-finals on Saturday, Spain and Switzerland meet in the evening.
On Sunday, the other semi-finalists will be determined in the games between England and Portugal and France and Ukraine. England had won the group with three wins, in which Germany was eliminated last with just one point. The DFB team got this point in the 1-1 draw against Israel. In that game, Perez saved two penalties from the German team.