Focus is on the Pitch for Israel Men’s Soccer

Even before the games began, the Israel men’s soccer team faced imposing headwinds.

It was less than a week before Israel squared off against Mali in opening group play competition of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games — the blue-and-white’s first Olympic appearance since the 1976 Games in Montreal and one that they secured after reaching the semifinals of the UEFA European U-21 Championship last summer – that soccer’s global governing body, FIFA, cleared the Israel Under-23 men’s soccer team for Paris following a Palestinian bid to temporarily bar Israel from participating. But ultimately, FIFA Council, the organization’s top executive body, decided to postpone ruling on Palestinian soccer officials’ impassioned plea to remove Israel from global soccer competition until after the Olympics.

Then, there was the not-so-minor on-field development of the Israel Football Association (IFA) revealing that Israel starting goaliehad suffered a muscle tendon injury in his thigh and would be shelved for the Paris Olympics. “It’s not easy to be this close to realizing your dream and then to hear you won’t be able to experience it, at least not this time,” said the 24-year-old Peretz, formerly of Maccabi Tel Aviv, in an IFA press release. (Because club teams don’t have to allow their elite players to partake in Olympic competition, the Olympics rolls out an under-23 competition in which the 16 teams are allotted three over-age roster spots; joining Peretz on Israel’s over-23 contingent were Sean Goldberg and Omri Gandelman.)

Yet in the wake of geopolitical issues seeping into FIFA and disheartening injury setback – in addition to Peretz, forward Manor Solomon has been sidelined since October with knee issues — Israel prevailed to have a strong showing in its opening Group D match, playing Mali, a majority Muslim nation, to a 1-1 draw at the open-air Parc des Princes stadium in Paris last Wednesday night. In front of throngs of Israeli flag-waving countrymen and French Jews – as well as dignitaries such as President Isaac Herzog and Minister of Culture and Sports Miki Zohar – Israel, currently No. 78 in FIFA’s men’s world rankings, held its own in a scoreless first half before Mali defender booted the ball into his own net shortly after intermission, only to see his teammate Cheickna Doumbia bang home the equalizer five minutes later.

By virtue of the 1-1 tie, Israel, whose Olympic soccer track record consists of quarterfinals appearances in the 1968 and 1976 Games, received a point heading into its second Group D match against Paraguay on Saturday evening in continuation of the opening 16-team round-robin competition. During round-robin play, the 16 participating nations are divided into four groups with each team competing against the others in its grouping; the top two squads from each cluster advance to the final knockout stage that kicks off Aug. 2.

“Mixed feelings,” Israeli head coach Guy Luzon remarked following his team’s opening match, actually held prior to the much-ballyhooed opening ceremony. “We played against a very physical team, and it was not easy for us defensively. Offensively, we created decent chances to score a goal and we should have been calmer when we tried to finish. I think that once I added more midfielders it helped us score. I expect more from the team and more from myself. There are no free meals and no honeymoon, you have to suffer to get points.

“I’ve been a coach for over 20 years, and this is the most exciting game of my life with all of the Israeli flags and all of the Jewish people who came to support us.”

Maccabi Tel Aviv’s Osher Davida added: “I think it’s a bit of a miss because we could have won. This is not a bad result, because on paper everyone thought that we would lose, but we showed that we are at the same level as they are.”

Sadly, Israel’s first Olympic soccer game in nearly a half century was also noteworthy for an outpouring of jeers during the pregame rendition of “Hatikvah,” the Israeli national anthem, the continuation of which occurred seemingly every time an Israeli player toed the ball. While disappointing, this reaction didn’t come as a surprise for an Israeli squad that arrived in France under a robust police escort and has since grown accustomed to the ubiquitous presence of pro-Palestine protesters.

“Bring on the loudest protests,” Luzon said during a press conference preceding the opener against Mali. “They will make us try harder.”

Several days later against Paraguay – a match that was also marred by further displays of antisemitic crowd behavior — Israel continued to sorely miss their starting netminder Peretz as they fell 4-2 to remain winless thus far in Paris. After Paraguay jumped out to a 1-0 first-half advantage, Israel soon answered early in the second half as midfielder Omri Gandelman tied things up 1-1 at the 53-minute mark. With Paraguay clinging to a 2-1 lead in the waning minutes of regulation, Israel once again responded when midfielder Oscar Gloukh converted a penalty kick to force the 2-2 tie. The match didn’t stay tied for long. Three minutes into stoppage time, Paraguay’s Fabian Balbuena netted the go-ahead goal before his teammate Marcelo Fernandez tallied an insurance goal, his second of the evening.
When the 14 minutes of stoppage time whittled down to all zeroes, Israel was left with an 0-1-1 record going into its final Group D match against heavily favored Japan, currently ranked No. 18 by FIFA, in search of its third all-time Olympic win.