Perhaps it’s cold consolation for the long-eliminated German team that the semi-finals of the U-21 European Championship changed the perspective on the participants. At first, the group of the DFB team with the strong English, the Czech Republic and Israel seemed rather easy, Germany’s last place seemed embarrassing.
But now both the Israelis and the English are in the semifinals, where they will duel on Wednesday evening (6 p.m. live on Sat.1) for a place in the final. In the case of the outsider from the Middle East in particular, this is a minor sensation. “We have 7.8 million people back home in Israel who support us,” said coach Guy Luzon after the quarter-final win over hosts Georgia on penalties. “We are the dream of these people, we dedicate this victory to them.” With dances, songs and a raid by the players at the press conference, this coup was celebrated like a title win.
It is the biggest European success of an Israeli U21 and a further step in a development that has been going on for some time. There is a circle of very talented players, the most notable of which is 19-year-old Oscar Gloukh, a striker from RB Salzburg who Borussia Dortmund were also said to be interested in last winter. In the spring of the U20 World Cup in Argentina, Israel defeated Brazil in the quarter-finals and finished third.
Junior football is a decisive driver of progress for this small football nation. In 2013, with the then edition of the U-21 European Championship, a European football tournament was held in Israel for the first time. And now, in the men’s European Championship qualification group with Romania and Switzerland, it is even possible to take part in the big European Championship next summer in Germany.
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If Israel were there, there would be a lot of talk about know-how from Vienna, because from 2018 to 2020 the Austrians Andreas Herzog and Willi Ruttensteiner worked as national coaches and technical directors at the Israeli association. “Together with Andi Herzog, I created new standards. For the national team, the youth teams, the promotion of talent, the training of coaches,” said Ruttensteiner of the “Kronen-Zeitung”. Apparently this is now bearing fruit.
