The Israel national soccer team will be playing against Uruguay this Thursday in the semifinals of the FIFA Under-20 World Cup, which is being hosted in Argentina.
The announcement of Israel's match against Uruguay was confirmed once the Latin American team defeated the United States on Sunday 2-0 in the quarterfinals - with goals scored by Uruguayan players Anderson Duarte and Joshua Wynder, despite ESPN statistics showing that the USA held possession of the ball for two-thirds of the game. Israel had their quarterfinal match on Saturday, where they achieved a historic victory over Brazil 3-2 in overtime.
The other semifinal match is between Italy and South Korea, meaning that if Israel wins their Thursday game, they will play against one of those two teams in the finals. However, should Israel lose their upcoming match, they will play against the loser of the other semifinal for the title of third place.
The match on Thursday will start at 8:30 p.m. Israel time, according to Hebrew media. The match will be held at La Plata Stadium in northeast Argentina.
Significance of Saturday's game
Regarding the blue-and-white's match last Saturday, Dor Turgeman, the Israeli who scored the winning goal, spoke about the murder of the three IDF soldiers at the Egyptian border, saying that he and his team wanted to "dedicate this win to their families and the entire country. We hope that this gives them a bit of comfort." The Israeli Under-20 team is composed of both Jewish and Arab Israelis.
Israel's win over Brazil had Israelis all over the country celebrating, with politicians President Isaac Herzog, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Josh Halickman contributed to this report.