In a truly incredible benchmark, Israel's national youth soccer team made history late Tuesday night, beating France to advance to its first European final.

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The under-19 men's team will face England on Friday in Trnava, Slovakia for the final.

Their victory over France also gave them a spot for the first time at the FIFA under-20 World Cup in Indonesia in 2023.

The team also qualified for the semi-finals for the first time over the weekend. An Israeli team had never gone that far in the tournament.

"Proud of our youth team that made history and qualified for the Euro finals!" Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said on Twitter.

France was considered a tough rival even by national team coach Ofir Haim, who prior to the match said that his players would have to "make up with intellect and wisdom" for the speed and physical ability to stand a chance against the European team.

"Congratulations to coach Ofir Haim and the talented players who showed us that when you work hard together – it works," he added. "We have a young, wonderful and hopeful generation that brings us joy in all areas."

The match was an exciting one, with France accidentally scoring on its own goal in the 30-minute mark, giving Israel a 1-0 lead. At 57 minutes, Israeli midfielder El Yam Kancepolsky scored when he headed the ball into the goal, to make the game 2-0. France eventually scored once but lost 2-1.

The team, as stated, made history beforehand over the weekend by qualifying for the semi-finals.

Israel finished with a 2-2 draw against Serbia in its opening game of the competition on June 19 and was victorious 4-2 over Austria three days later. They lost 0-1 on Saturday to England, but still finished second in their grouping and qualified for the semi-finals.

Culture and Sports Minister Chili Tropper congratulated the Israeli team on making it to the semi-finals. In a statement, he told the team: "You brought determination and the spirit of victory to the field and proved just how much you are real winners."

Haim told Kan News on Sunday that reaching the semi-finals was a "tremendously exciting" achievement for the athletes."

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As the world marks International Guide Dog Day, the management of the Hapoel Tel Aviv soccer team is looking into ways to make it possible for fans with guide dogs to come to their upcoming game at Bloomfield Stadium, Israel Hayom has learned from sources involved in the matter. 

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The goal of the managers, and especially that of Boaz Toshav, who represents one of the team owners, is to allow as many people with disabilities, especially blindness, as possible to experience the games and attend matches with their guide dogs.  

Hapoel Tel Aviv has asked the Israel Football Association and the Bloomfield Stadium administration to approve the unprecedented initiative. If they do, the plan is to implement the changes ahead of the team's upcoming match against Kfar Saba. If successful, 3,000 seats at gates 10 and 11 will be transformed into a special zone for fans with disabilities. 

"For now, it is just an idea," one source told Israel Hayom. "We constantly want and think of how to make things better for our people and fans."

Hapoel Tel Aviv has already formed a special team that consists of players with disabilities. The goal of the project is for players to believe they can do everything and to meet with other fans and soccer players.  

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At this stage, the identities of the players are still unknown.

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According to the information passed on to the team, the two players allegedly engaged in sexual relations with the two underage girls.

The players, according to the information passed on to Maccabi Tel Aviv, met the girls at an event and exchanged telephone numbers with them. At a later date, the players are said to have ordered a taxi for the two girls, which took them to the home of one of the players – where they allegedly had sex.

After the alleged sexual encounter, the players again ordered taxis for the girls, which took them to their homes.

"We don't address rumors," the team said in its only statement on the matter as it waits to see whether the players will be summoned by the police for questioning or a criminal complaint is filed. The players themselves have gone underground and their teammates are refusing to address the matter.

According to sources familiar with the details, the girls' school contacted the team's management and told them about the incident in question.

It should also be noted that school authorities learned of the alleged incident through second-hand sources, not from the girls themselves, who are said to have "boasted" about the alleged sexual encounter on social media.

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In many cases, sex with a minor under the age of 16 is a criminal offense under the Israeli Penal Code. Additionally, the act is not considered illegal, assuming relations are consensual, if the adult is less than three years older than the 16-year-old, and if the relations occur within the framework of a romantic or friendly relationship, .

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The section where the teen was seated was located at Gate 8 and includes some 5,300 seats.

The teen, a student at Brenner Regional High School at Kibbutz Brenner, outside Rehovot, worked at the Red Pirate costume shop in Or Yehuda, where he apparently caught the virus from the shop manager, who returned to Israel from Italy.

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The Health Ministry issued a bulletin about the development which said: "The patient is a teenager from Irus [near Ness Ziona] who is a student at the Brenner regional high school and who worked at the Red Pirate store in Or Yehuda. The patient has been under quarantine at home since Saturday, Feb. 29."

According to the ministry, since he was exposed to the virus, the teen was at work at the Red Pirate from Feb. 23-26 from 4:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. and at school from Feb. 24-26. He was at Bloomfield Stadium for the Feb. 24 match from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m.

The Maccabi Tel Aviv soccer club put out a statement in response to the ministry's findings: "After the Health Ministry's announcement about the patient who was at the Feb. 24 derby, the club has begun looking into the matter and working with the Health Ministry, the league administration, and the company in charge of sports venues to determine its ramifications. The moment we have a clear picture and more information, we will provide updates."

On Wednesday, Brenner High School reported that it had sent some 1,000 students to quarantine.

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Before each game, the players will take to the field accompanied by a woman and will be holding signs reading, "No to Violence against Women."

"In most cases, the victims of violence stay silent because of fear or shame. We need to be cognizant and attentive to the people around us, mainly the women around us, and look for clues of violence before it's too late," Israel Professional Football Leagues Chairman Erez Kalfon said.

"Seventeen women have been murdered by weak, cowardly and violent men since the beginning of the year. These are our sisters. These are our daughters. And it's our responsibility," Kalfon added.

Eva Madjiboj, director of the Authority for the Advancement of the Status of Women, said: "The IPFL initiative, led by Erez Kalfon, is an excellent example of a way civil society can effect change and be involved in an issue that really is a matter of life or death. The decision by these soccer teams to enlist on behalf of the fight against domestic violence gives me great hope."

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According to Faurie, the decision was made because the match was moved from Haifa to Jerusalem.

"Over two weeks ago already we notified the Argentine Football Association that playing in Jerusalem would be a sensitive matter. When I was informed the match had been moved from Haifa to Jerusalem, we made the decision to let the AFA know our opinion. We as a government cannot determine what the AFA does, but our counsel certainly carries weight. The [AFA] responded to us that it was committed to playing due to the trade agreement [between the countries]. It was explained to us that a friendly match in Israel was already agreed upon, and approval was given for the match to be played in Haifa.

"Everything went ahead to the satisfaction of all sides until the Israeli sports authorities announced the game was moved to Jerusalem. When we were made aware of this we voiced our position to the AFA. We said that holding the game in Jerusalem is a sensitive step because the city is currently the focus of attention in the context of the American embassy transfer, which essentially sends a message of recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital; an issue which in our view is divisive because the city is important to the three religions and from the United Nations' viewpoint is the basis for future negotiations between the sides," Faurie said.

Israel has demanded that soccer's governing body, FIFA, investigate what it said were threats against Argentinean players that forced them to cancel the game, including Palestinian calls to burn replica shirts of superstar Lionel Messi if he played.

According to Faurie, "the vicious threats" toward the Argentine players and their families began after the venue was changed.

"In all matters of diplomacy," Faurie continued, "Argentina will always treat the sides equally and supports co-existence between Israel and the Palestinians. Moving our embassy to Jerusalem is presently not on the docket because the consequences are different from holding a soccer match. We will not move the embassy because we fall in line with the U.N. resolutions."

Culture and Sport Minister Miri Regev was prohibited from addressing comments issued by diplomatic bodies, her ministry said in a statement.

"We are based on facts we are intimately familiar with, conveyed to us through the event organizer's reports and from the material presented to us. The clear facts are that throughout the entire process there was no indication of refusal on the part of the Argentine team to play in Jerusalem and an announcement was even made about holding the game in the city.

"The decision to not come to Israel stems from threats, intimidation or other types of intervention from third-party elements hostile to Israel," the statement said.

Palestinian soccer officials praised Argentina and their captain Messi on Wednesday for calling off the match.

The Israel Football Association accused the Palestinians of crossing a "red line" by inciting anger towards the Argentine players in order to scupper the match.

The Palestinians accused Israel of moving the match to Jerusalem to exploit the presence of Messi and other stars to underpin Israel's claim to the Holy City.

Meanwhile, the Israeli firm that had been promoting the match accused Qatar of convincing the Argentinean team to pull out of the hotly anticipated exhibition and said the Gulf state had offered to foot the bill for compensation that the Argentinians will need to pay.

In addition to a reported $2.2 million in damages the Argentinians have already agreed to recompense, Danny Benaim, whose ComtecGroup organized the match, also demanded additional sums for aggravation caused to promoters and fans.

According to Hadashot evening news, ComtecGroup concluded that Qatar was involved because Argentinian officials did not seem troubled by the compensation demand, leading to suspicions that a wealthy entity was manipulating the situation behind the scenes.

Qatar's Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani adamantly denied his country had any involvement in the matter.

A person affiliated with CometecGroup, however, cited the close relationship between Qatar and Palestinian Football Association President Jibril Rajoub, who pushed for the cancellation of the match.

In Argentina on Thursday, AFA officials were quoted as saying that CometecGroup has asked FIFA to suspend Argentina from the World Cup, citing breach of contract based on religious discrimination. CometecGroup vehemently denied the report.

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One possible reason is the financial pressure that Qatar and Turkey have reportedly exerted on team captain Lionel Messi. The star player was featured in a promotional campaign for Turkish Airlines, Turkey's national carrier, and Qatar is a sponsor of FC Barcelona, the team where Messi plays as a forward.

A source in contact with Messi's staff told Israel Hayom that Messi's decision to call off the match may have been motivated by his fear of losing future contracts and sponsorships.

"He has been collaborating with various countries, including Qatar and Turkey, primarily in TV advertising and through various sponsorship agreements that have earned him tens of millions of dollars," the source said.

"Those countries may have been against the Argentinian superstar's arrival in Israel and he feared the visit would strain his relationship with them."

A Colombian radio station suggested that the cancellation could be a result of Palestinian officials' explicit promise that if the team arrived in Israel, the Palestinian Football Association and Arab states would try to torpedo Argentina's bid to host the 2030 World Cup with Paraguay and Uruguay.

According to that report, Susan Shalabi Molano, who sits on the Organizing Committee for FIFA Competitions, said: "The Argentine Football Federation must stay out of politics lest it face the consequences of being a fig leaf for Israel's occupation."

Threats by pro-Palestinian activists to physically harm Messi could have also played a part in the cancellation.

According to various reports, players on the national squad presented Messi with an ultimatum insisting that the match be called off.

On Monday, the players expressed concerns over the anti-Israel demonstrators picketing the team's training camp in Spain, saying the protests were a distraction and demoralizing for the team and for Messi.

They said Messi was particularly distraught after he learned that there were calls to attack him if he played in Israel.

"The decision was purely based on concerns for our own personal safety, nothing else," a player said.

The players approached Argentine Football Association President Claudio Fabian Tapia and told him that despite having a binding contract to play in Israel, they did not intend to show up. For Tapia, this was enough to call off the game.

Political sources in Israel agreed Wednesday that the cancellation was a result of security concerns.

"No one on the team, not Messi, not the players and not the coach, has anything against Israel," one source told Israel Hayom, adding that Messi has already visited Israel in the past.

But the source said other factors were involved.

"For such a prominent team, visiting Israel carries a lot of risk," the source said. "On top of that, with the 2018 FIFA World Cup taking place soon, the team wanted to focus on training rather than on other issues."

The sources conceded that Argentinians have been traditionally pro-Palestinian, which could explain the broad support the team has received from the local press.

"There were too many reasons to cancel and too few reasons to hold the match," a source said. "One reason to come to Israel was the hefty sum the team would have received from the Israeli organizers, but the loss of that will be offset by the likely sponsorships and advertisement deals in Arab states."

The sources said the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement against Israel was not a contributing factor.

"The campaign to boycott Israel definitely used the event for its purposes, but the cancellation was made because of the personal threats against the players and their families, including the blood-stained shirts that were displayed by protesters, which gave the players second thoughts," a source said.

"In this case, the instigators were the Palestinian Authority and Palestinian Football Association chief  Jibril Rajoub, not the BDS movement, which is taking undue credit."

A source close to Rajoub dismissed the accusation, telling Israel Hayom: "This is nothing but lies and vile incitement. The PFA expressed its legitimate protest through the accepted channels over holding the match in Jerusalem. We welcome Argentina's moral and correct decision not to take part in the glorification of the Israeli occupation and the Judification of Jerusalem by infringing the Palestinian rights."

On Tuesday, officials close to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticized Culture and Sport Minister Miri Regev for her insistence on holding the match in Jerusalem.

"Why did she insist on moving the game to Jerusalem [from the original plan to hold it in Haifa]?" one official wondered.

But other sources said that three months ago Netanyahu asked Argentine President Mauricio Macri to hold the match in the capital.

The Prime Minister's Office declined to comment.

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