Israel kicks off Olympics with a draw against Mali

While the 2024 Paris Olympic Games will only officially open on Friday, the Israel Under-23 soccer team was already in action on Wednesday night as it played Mali to a 1-1 draw in Group D.

The blue-and-white will play its second game on Saturday night when it faces Paraguay in what will be a crucial contest, after Japan, Israel’s final group play opponent which it faces on Tuesday, thumped the aforementioned Paraguay 5-0.

Many Israelis and French Jews with Israeli flags marched proudly into the facility and made sure to make their presence felt inside the stadium when Hatikva, Israel’s national anthem, was played despite some in the crowd trying to drown it out with boos.

There were numerous Israeli dignitaries in attendance, including President Isaac Herzog and Minister of Culture and Sports Miki Zohar, along with judo coach Oren Smadja and flag bearer Peter Paltchik.

After a goalless first half, Israel broke through with a tremendous play from starlet Oscar Gloukh, who glided into the box and sent the ball towards Omri Gandelman. However, Hamidou Diallo knocked it into his own-goal giving the blue-and-white a 1-0 lead.

But just five minutes later Cheickna Doumbia headed home the equalizer and beat ’keeper Omer Niron to even up the score as the two sides took a point a piece for their efforts.

“Mixed feelings,” Luzon said after the match. “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.”

The bench boss continued and looked ahead to the Paraguay match.

“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. Paraguay is also a very physical team with good wing play. I have no complaints about my players, we collected a point in a subpar game that I think we could have lost. We will continue on and improve, we can do much more.”

Gloukh also reflected on the draw.

“Obviously we are happy to leave with a point and not lose. We will come into the next game better prepared and come to win. This game didn’t go exactly the way we wanted, Mali controlled the tempo and we waited for a chance to counter attack. Yes we had some opportunities, but what’s done is done and we will move on. The most positive part I believe is that we stayed together.”

Gandelman, the blue-and-white captain, assessed the contest from his point of view.

Tough game

“Tough game, I think it could have gone either way. We led 1-0 and we couldn’t hold on to it. In the end, we played more defensively and took the draw. We tried to win from the get-go, but this point can take us forward and we will come into the next game with the goal of winning it.”

The Gent midfielder continued: “We played against a good team. The game plan worked quite well in the beginning, but on the defensive side we were a bit off and lethargic although we made corrections in the second half. I believe we will come into the Paraguay game and do a good job. The fact that they lost? Every game will be difficult in one way or another. It’s a different game and in any match anything can happen. We will concentrate on ourselves.”

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. We had some good situations and it’s disappointing to draw. We knew that Mali was a typical African team, strong and fast. We knew that if we came in  organized and didn’t give them the space to use their advantages then we wouldn’t lose.”

“It’s a tough feeling because unfortunately we conceded seven minutes after we had taken the lead,” Maccabi Tel Aviv’s Ido Shahar explained. “We needed to have a little more concentration, because the minutes after the goal are the most important. If we hadn’t given up a goal, they would start sending players forward. But everything at this point is in hindsight.”

“I think we have proven that we belong here,” Shachar confided. “I had no idea what the commentators were saying. In the end we come from a small country and I don’t think we are favorites in any game and we shouldn’t think so either. But ultimately I think we were on equal footing with them. We can beat any team and we will come to beat every team.”