The U20 World Cup (also known as the World Youth Championship) being held in Argentina has been unpopular since its start, with Japan and France eliminated in the group stage, and now the new Asian champion Uzbekistan is also out early, eliminated by Israel, which is participating in the World Youth Championship for the first time, which made history, and the crazy celebration after the game was as excited as winning the championship, and the coaches and players hugged and cried.
Unlike the World Cup, FIFA has only given five places in the European zone, and England, Slovakia, Israel, Italy and France have qualified for this year's World Youth Championships, and in addition to Israel, the other four teams have participated in the past.
Previously, at the U19 European Youth Championship, Israel completed a series of counterattacks, breaking records to reach the final for the first time, and finally lost to England to finish second, which was also the first time in the team's history to qualify for the World Youth Championship.
Coming to Argentina, Israel lost 2-1 to Colombia in the first round of the group stage, drew 1-1 with Senegal and defeated Japan 2-1 in the next two rounds, and finally accumulated 4 points to seal the second place in the group, and advanced to the knockout stage for the first time.
Advancing to the round of 16, Israel is well placed against the ST Asian champion Uzbekistan, and both teams are equally strong, and both teams have a chance to advance to the next round of knockouts.
In the end, Israel won by taking advantage of the opportunity, scoring from a free-kick attack in the 97th minute of the second half to knock out Uzbekistan 1-0, once again setting the team's best result in the history of the Youth World Championship.
With two consecutive matches, against Asian teams, Israel's performance was amazing. After the match, the Israeli team frantically celebrated their first advance to the last eight, and the coaching staff rushed directly into the stadium, hugging the players and cheering like they had won the final final. However, the Uzbek players were emotionally frustrated and many were in tears.
Originally, Israel was also an Asian team, winning the Asian Cup in 1964, runners-up in 1956 and 1960, and even representing the AFC in the 1970 World Cup finals.
However, after being expelled by the AFC, the Israeli Football Association chose to leave Asia and join UEFA to participate in various competitions, including the World Cup and qualifiers, the European Cup and qualifiers, and the UEFA Nations League, but there are too many strong teams in the European zone, and it is difficult for Israel to achieve good results, including the failure of the World Cup again and again, and has been absent for 52 consecutive years.
Now the World Youth Championship has reached the last eight for the first time, which means that the strength of the national team will strengthen in the next few years, because these youth teams have entered the national team one after another to play and once again hit the World Cup.