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Argentina 2023: Israel dump Brazil out of U-20 World Cup

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by

Abimbola Fabunmi
in ,

Debutant Israel came from behind to defeat five-time champions Brazil 3-2 in their 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup quarter-final tie on Saturday night.

A tightly contested encounter saw Israel come back from behind twice before grabbing the shock victory through Dor Turgeman’s brilliant solo strike. The Israelis will face either Uruguay or the United States in the semi-finals.

Marcos Leonardo’s excellent strike with his weaker left foot put Brazil ahead at the start of the second, but Anan Khalaili equalized with the header of this tournament.

After a scoreless first half at the Bicentenario stadium, Brazil, five-times winners of the tournament, broke through in the 56th minute on Marcos Leonardo’s superbly-taken, first-time left-foot shot.

Anan Khalaili brought Israel level, rising at the back post to angle home a header from a pinpoint El Yam Kancepolski cross in the 60th minute, delighting a largely pro-Israel crowd in the stands.

But Israel’s hopes dimmed just 20 seconds into extra time, when Andrey Santos set up Matheus Nascimento to restore Brazil’s lead.

Just two minutes later, however, Hamza Shibli equalized, tapping in a low ball from Ilay Feingold at the back post to make it 2-2.

The decisive goal came, near the end of the first period of extra-time, when Turgeman collected the ball on the edge of the box, jinked cleverly past two defenders and then fired past Kaique Pereira.