Israel’s final week was earned in two contrasting victories
Five goals against Equatorial Guinea and one against Holland carried Israel into the last four before Italy and Spain closed the road.
Israel’s fourth-place finish was built on two very different knockout victories.
Equatorial Guinea were beaten 5–0 in the third round. Guy Vahaba scored after five minutes, Yahav Avitan struck twice, Jecki Yehoshua added another before the interval and Maor Vaknin completed the scoring in the 74th minute. It was a performance of breadth and acceleration, with the contest effectively controlled before half-time.
Holland presented the opposite problem in the quarter-final. One goal was enough. Hezi Ashkenazi scored in the 44th minute and Israel protected the advantage to reach the last four.
Italy then stopped them in the semi-final through Giulio Roventini’s 40th-minute goal. Spain won the third-place play-off 2–0, Joel scoring twice. Those defeats define the final placement, but they should not flatten the achievement that preceded them.
Israel reached the semi-finals by proving they could win expansively and narrowly. The scorers changed, the demands changed and the result remained the same until Italy intervened. Fourth place carries the sting of two closing defeats, yet it also records a team who survived deep into the tournament on more than one register.
The lasting significance lies there. A run of this kind is not made credible by one spectacular afternoon alone. Israel followed five goals with a clean-sheet quarter-final and forced their way into the tournament’s final week. The ending was difficult. The journey was substantial.