{"id":75016,"date":"2023-06-09T13:04:31","date_gmt":"2023-06-09T18:04:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=75016"},"modified":"2023-06-09T13:04:31","modified_gmt":"2023-06-09T18:04:31","slug":"israels-historic-u-20-world-cup-soccer-run-comes-to-an-end-with-loss-to-uruguay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/israels-historic-u-20-world-cup-soccer-run-comes-to-an-end-with-loss-to-uruguay\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel\u2019s historic U-20 World Cup soccer run comes to an end with loss to Uruguay"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By JUAN MELAMED<\/p>\n<p>LA PLATA, Argentina (JTA) \u2014 The most successful run in Israeli soccer history came to an end on Thursday, as the country\u2019s under-20 team lost in the semifinals of the FIFA U-20 World Cup to Uruguay.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_75018\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/6-8-23-israel-soccer-scaled.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-75018\" class=\"wp-image-75018 size-medium lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/6-8-23-israel-soccer-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/6-8-23-israel-soccer-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/6-8-23-israel-soccer-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/6-8-23-israel-soccer-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/6-8-23-israel-soccer-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/6-8-23-israel-soccer-2048x1366.jpg 2048w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/200;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-75018\" class=\"wp-image-75018 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/6-8-23-israel-soccer-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/6-8-23-israel-soccer-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/6-8-23-israel-soccer-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/6-8-23-israel-soccer-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/6-8-23-israel-soccer-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/6-8-23-israel-soccer-2048x1366.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-75018\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Stav Lemkin of Israel, left, battles for the ball with Andres Ferrari of Uruguay during the FIFA U-20 World Cup semifinal at Estadio La Plata in La Plata, Argentina, June 8, 2023. (Tim Nwachukwu\/FIFA via Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The 1-0 loss means Israel will play the winner of the other semifinal match between Italy and South Korea in a third place game.<\/p>\n<p>Local Jews and Israeli visitors made up a large portion of the crowd of over 27,000 at the stadium in La Plata, Argentina, a city about 40 miles outside of Buenos Aires. They chanted in Hebrew and waved Israeli flags while rooting for a team that repeatedly came from behind for a series of stunning underdog wins en route to the semifinal.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe support from the Jewish community really helped us,\u201d midfielder El Yam Kancepolsly told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency after the match. \u201cSoccer in Israel is improving, we have a good generation, and the people understand what we can do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The lone goal Thursday was scored by Anderson Duarte in the 61st minute. Israel had previously qualified for one World Cup, the general edition in 1970, at which they scored one goal and did not make it past the first round. In this tournament, the under-20 team scored eight times in beating teams such as Japan and Brazil.<\/p>\n<p>The competition was originally slated to be played in Indonesia, which protested Israel\u2019s participation. FIFA objected to the protest and moved the tournament to Argentina, home to a Jewish community of close to 200,000.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s shocking, we have a very good future in Israeli soccer. This is something new in the history of the country,\u201d said Ilan Zarfati, father of Israeli team\u2019s goalkeeper, Tomer Zarfati.<\/p>\n<p>But beyond showcasing a new generation of talent, Israel\u2019s first-ever appearance in the under-20 tournament brought together South American Jewish fans, highlighting the strong pro-Israel sentiment in their communities. Jewish groups and community centers held watch parties, and thousands showed up to the team\u2019s games.<\/p>\n<p>On Thursday, Israeli fans brought 500 t-shirts emblazoned with Stars of David that they gave away to fellow supporters in the stands. Members of the Hasidic Chabad-Lubavitch movement brought tefillin to Jewish fans in the stands and outside the stadium in La Plata.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Fabian Zaidenberg, the rabbi of the Jewish community in Mendoza \u2014 a city over 600 miles west of Buenos Aires \u2014 said the tournament brought him mixed emotions.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOn Shavuot here, we can\u2019t get a minyan, we were seven people \u2026 and last Shabbat we were exactly 10, just at a minyan,\u201d he told JTA last week, after the match between Israel and Japan held in Mendoza. A minyan is a prayer quorum of 10 men. \u201cIt is incomparable how attractive an Israeli match is\u2026 500 from our community were at the field.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was there with families of the community, it was a big joy, it was a party of sports and identity. What is a kind of contradiction, or in fact what hurts me, is the big difference in the appeal of a soccer match in comparison with an activity on Shavuot or an activity in a synagogue,\u201d he added. \u201cI want this in the synagogue.\u201d<\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/noscript><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"Tumblr\",\"Email\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"Israel%E2%80%99s%20historic%20U-20%20World%20Cup%20soccer%20run%20comes%20to%20an%20end%20with%20loss%20to%20Uruguay\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":75018,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1491],"tags":[8781,8790,8795,8788,1029,4017],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75016"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75016"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75016\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":75019,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75016\/revisions\/75019"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}