The streets of Berlin are awash with orange as jubilant Dutch soccer fans celebrate their national team's advancement to the Euro 2024 semi-finals. Following a hard-fought 2-1 victory over Turkey, the Netherlands now faces England in a highly anticipated match. Amid the festivities, supporters remain confident of their chances against the Three Lions and beyond, while also expressing warm sentiments towards Israel.

The Euro 2024 quarter-finals concluded Saturday, with an exciting match between the Netherlands and Turkey in Berlin, where the Orange won 2-1 and advanced to the semi-finals. In the next stage, on Wednesday in Dortmund, England awaits them, having earlier eliminated the Swiss.

The great excitement among the orange-clad crowd after the game was because they returned to the final four for the first time in 20 years, but also because the last time they met the Three Lions in a major tournament was in the group stage of Euro 1996. Then they suffered from doubles by Teddy Sheringham and Alan Shearer, with Patrick Kluivert only reducing the score to 4-1 in the tournament hosted by the British. Now the Dutch believe they can make amends.

Berlin is Oranje. 𝐀𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧! #NothingLikeOranje #CreateHistory #NEDTUR pic.twitter.com/QqENlmXkDX

— OnsOranje (@OnsOranje) July 6, 2024

 Yesterday's game brought together two of the three best fan bases in the tournament, with the Scottish crowd also providing impressive scenes in the group stage. The Dutch love Israel, at least based on those I met. In the square where the fans of the beloved team gathered, I met Joop, a 22-year-old who works for ESPN Netherlands. He told me he's currently less known, working behind the scenes as a social media person, and hopes to be more recognized one day. When I told him I was from Israel, he gave me a wide smile and said he hopes Israel will one day qualify for a major tournament.

When I returned to the hotel hungry, I sat at the bar and ordered a cheese platter. It was the only thing left at 1 a.m. Next to me sat three Dutch guys, all from Eindhoven. Patrick, who sat beside me, showed me a video of the Dutch crowd dancing to the famous song that went viral throughout the competition days, where everyone moved from right to left. I responded with a video I filmed from the press box at the end of the game, where Ronald Koeman's group celebrated with the crowd. He asked me to send him these magical moments.

When his friend Alexander heard I was from Israel, he looked at me and said "Kill them all," making it clear which side he had chosen since October 7. I asked if he had been to Tel Aviv, "at least 20 times," he replied and said he has friends in Israel, how he remembers Eran Zahavi who played for PSV for two years, and that he does business in the Holy Land.

Alexander had been to all of the Netherlands' games so far, except for the loss to Austria, and he has a ticket for Wednesday at Signal Iduna Park. I told him a tough game awaits in four days and he replied: "England is not our problem, we will beat them." It might be the beers, maybe mind-altering substances, but the Dutch have optimism in abundance right now.

At the Dutch press conference, both coach Koeman and outstanding player Stefan de Vrij gave a lot of respect to England, but said they believe they can return once again to Berlin next Sunday, for the final.

Quite ironically, the question that drew the most attention was from an English reporter who asked the defender, who scored a goal, if he and his teammates were also addicted to the fans' big hit. De Vrij answered affirmatively: "We constantly see videos of our fans celebrating in Germany, it's a big hit in our country right now, it's great to see what soccer does to people, hopefully, we'll make them celebrate with it later on as well."

And what about the Turks? Usually, when politicians come to a soccer game they don't really do good for the team they came to support, and so it turned out that in the game attended by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, his team said goodbye to the tournament. They did take the lead, and looked good for quite a few minutes, and one can, in a non-political view, applaud them for the performances they provided in the last three weeks, but in the second half, Turkey failed to withstand the pressure from the Dutch and ended the evening in tears.

Next to me sat a young journalist from the Turkish media. She saw on my computer that I was from Israel and asked to verify. The guy wore a Turkey shirt with four signatures, including that of the current captain Hakan Calhanoglu. In the end, he gave me a Turkey scarf as a gift, but didn't agree to be photographed with me. Still, quite a few Turks live in fear despite their opinions being less conservative, especially when the all-powerful leader is in the stadium in Berlin.

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Most kids in Israel who dream of being athletes go into soccer, maybe basketball, but Tomer Benny, 19, who was born and raised in northern Tel Aviv, sat down a few years ago at age 13 with his father to watch a film about Mike Tyson and decided that all he wanted to do in life was to be a professional boxer. 

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Since then he has entered the arena, fallen in love with the victories, even with the punches he took, and is now about to sign his first professional contract, perhaps on the way to a glorious career after grueling work with his trainer Adam Hadad who has been with him since March 2022 and strength coach Yigal Lev.

"Everyone initially opposed it, except for my first trainer Mickey Newman," he recounts in a conversation with Israel Hayom. "My friends mocked me, told me I'm not built for this. The parents tried to bribe me. My dad told me 'I'll give you money for three ski vacations on condition that you quit this.' My mom can't come to the fights to this day not just because she doesn't want to see me getting hit, but because it even pains her to see me hitting others. Today the friends who laughed are complimenting me and waiting for me to climb up the ladder."

Q: Tell me a bit about yourself. When did you leave Israel? What have you achieved so far?

"These days I'm in the process of moving from Israel to Vegas. I was granted outstanding athlete status in the army [which allows deferment of service]. I've won six Israeli championships over the recent years across all age brackets including adults. I train six days a week, two sessions each day with the goal of building myself up. Recently I participated in a special event in Germany marking 50 years since the Munich massacre and finished in first place. I had prepared myself for the European championship that took place in November but due to the war, they didn't let us out [from Israel] so all those plans were ruined for me. Additionally, I was recently invited to train by Jamel Herring, a former world champion making a comeback at age 38 and trying to reclaim the world champion title. He trains with my coach Wayne McCullough and now he's trying to nurture young prospects starting out, so he saw me and offered me my first professional contract."

Q: What is your immediate goal and what is the long-term goal?

"The immediate goal is really to sign a professional contract as a prospect, which is someone they believe is young up-and-coming talent and ultimately a contender for the belt. This contract will allow me to get an athlete's visa much faster and the goal is to already have my first fight in a couple of months. Over the next three years, I need to compete in a number of fights per year, rack up as many wins with knockouts as possible so people take notice of me and invite me to more and more events. The fact that I'm Israeli can really help me because we're always in the headlines, and event organizers know it can bring ratings. If we compare my path to a singer's career, for example, I'm at the stage where I'm doing the opening act for big singers, with the goal of one day being in the main event."

Q: You've been mostly in the US in recent months. How hard is it to be in another country while Israel is at war?

"Very hard. I was in Vegas on October 7. Initially, we didn't know what was happening, we thought it was something routine and then we got the videos of the rockets in Sderot and it was terrible. The day after that I had a fight in Vegas and for the first time in my life, I went into the ring not with the desire to win, but just to wave the Israeli flag. I won, waved the flag, and was also named the outstanding fighter of the event. I felt really bad that everyone in Israel was suffering, but I knew there wasn't much I could do besides do my thing."

Q: What does your coach Wayne say about the criticism against Israel? Do you talk about it? 

"Wayne comes from Northern Ireland and there are many differing views there. They're very divided in their views, there are entire areas that are separated by walls, there are different Christian denominations. While there are streams that are pro-Palestinian, there are those who think the exact opposite and that's also how Wayne and his family view it. His mother-in-law has an Israeli flag hanging at home and they see a big similarity between us and them, after the history they have with the IRA, who carried out countless terror attacks."

Q: How physically and mentally difficult is this sport really?

"This sport is the most difficult in the world from every aspect. Physically, the punches you take aren't the problem, you recover from those. The problem starts when you don't feel anything and then you realize you're completely out of it and on your way to losing. Mentally it's not simple either, because unlike a team sport where you experience a loss or victory with your friends, here you're alone."

When I ask Benny if he's not scared, he answers honestly that there's no such thing. "I'm constantly scared but fear protects you, warns you, and puts you on alert. I'm not scared of getting hit, the only time I broke my nose for example was when I was surfing. I often think about IDF soldiers in combat. Soldiers are probably scared to fight in Gaza, I'm sure, but they rise above the fear and get into readiness mode."

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