https://www.jta.org/2023/07/07/spor...cN9wXRI7BJjT9ucJWYgPxCEla-HQfVqKJ4l9xthv8J5oo Israel’s national soccer team qualified for the Olympics for the first time in nearly 50 years by making a surprising run at a major under-21 European tournament.
Men's Soccer has four groups of four, and Israel is in Group D. On 24 July, Japan plays Paraguay in Bordeaux, and then Mali plays Israel in Paris. On 27 July, Israel plays Paraguay in Paris, and then Japan plays Mali in Bordeaux. On 30 July at the same time, Israel plays Japan in Nantes, and Paraguay plays Mali in Paris. The top two teams in each group advance to the Quarterfinals, where second place in Group D faces first place in Group C in Marseille, and first place in Group D faces second place in Group C in Decines-Charpieu in the metropolis of Lyon. Group C has Uzbekistan, Spain, Egypt, and Dominican Republic. Teams can have very different quality at senior level and youth level, but if you go by the FIFA Rankins, the only elite team in Group C or Group D is Spain. With Israel, and USA in both genders, I have three Olympic soccer teams to root for.
Here are Israel's start times: Wednesday 24 July vs. Mali at 10:00 P.M. Israel/9:00 P.M. local/3:00 P.M. USA Eastern Saturday 27 July vs. Paraguay at 8:00 P.M. Israel/7:00 P.M. local/1:00 P.M. USA Eastern Tuesday 30 July vs. Japan at 10:00 P.M. Israel/9:00 P.M. local/3:00 P.M. USA Eastern (Paraguay vs. Mali will be at the same time)
Mali 1-1 Israel Mali's Hamidou Diallo scored an own goal in the 56th, and Mali's Cheickna Doumbia tied it in the 63rd. Mali dominated statistics including more shots 25 to 10, and more shots on goal 8 to 2.
Israel 2-4 Paraguay Israel's goals were by Omri Gandelman in the 53rd, and Oscar Gloukh in the 80th. Gloch had his penalty kick saved and scored on the rebound. Flash Score spells names differently. https://www.flashscore.com/match/pva3LTol/#/match-summary/match-summary is for the game and says Gandelman and Gloukh, but the player pages say Gendelman and Gloch. Paraguay saved their substitutions and made only one before the 90+2nd. It was 2-2 until Paraguay scored in the 90+3rd and 90+6th. Eight minutes of stoppage time were announced, but the goals increased that, and both teams made substitutions in the 90+10th. There was over thirteen minutes of stoppage time The other game in the group is Japan vs. Mali, which just started. Israel's only chance at advancing is by beating Japan, who beat Paraguay 5-0, so I do not think Israel has a chance at beating Japan. I may not post the result of Japan vs. Mali until the group ends on Tuesday. The odds had Israel as s light favorite, so today continued the poor performance of Israeli's Olympic team and clubs going back to the UEFA Champions League Second Qualifying Round first leg on Tuesday, and the UEFA Conference League Second Qualifying Round first legs on Thursday. The Israeli Olympic teams and Israeli clubs could be eliminated on three consecutive days on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, albeit if Maccabi Tel Aviv loses on Wednesday they will go to the Europa League Third Qualifying Round.