Israel's under-20 national soccer team on Thursday fell to Uruguay 1-0 in the FIFA U-20 World Cup soccer semifinals match, bowing out of the tournament.
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The Israeli team made local soccer history last week when it defeated Brazil 3-2 in the quarter-finals in Argentina, after an epic match that went into overtime.
Despite an evenly played first half, neither Israel or the South American side could find the back of the net.
Uruguay came out of the break the stronger side, breaking the deadlock halfway through the second frame on an Anderson Duarte goal, in what would be the eventual match winner.
Israel's cinderella story came to a close despite the Blue and Whites leading the statistics throughout the match, including having a surprisingly large lions share of possession, shots, and passes.
While Israel has been eliminated from making the final of the competition, they will face the losing side of the second semifinal between South Korea and Italy in the third place match.
The young Israelis will leave Argentina having etched their names into the country's soccer history books: The u-20 squad recorded Israel's first ever FIFA World Cup win, knockout stage qualification, and knockout stage win in any FIFA World Cup tournament ever, both on the senior and youth level.
This article was first published by i24NEWS.
