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Israel national football team
European Under-21s Championship | Group Stage
Jun 11, 2013 at 5pm UK
 
England national football team

1-0

Match Analysis: Israel 1-0 England

Match Analysis: Israel 1-0 England
© AP Photos
Sports Mole takes a closer look at England's defeat to Israel in the Under-21 European Championship Group A.

Israel hosted England in the last matchday of Group A in the Under-21 European Championships and managed to upset the odds to claim a 1-0 win.

It took England half-an-hour to really get into the game, but when they did they managed to get on top with Thomas Ince forcing a fine save from Boris Kleyman.

In the second half Israel worked themselves into the match and started to control matters, with their efforts being rewarded when Ofir Krieff found the bottom corner from outside the box.

The result left England rock-bottom and Sports Mole delves deeper to see whether the result was justified.

Match statistics:

Israel:
Shots 6
On target 3
Possession 49%
Corners 4
Fouls 11

England:
Shots 11
On target 3
Possession 51%
Corners 4
Fouls 6

Was the result fair?

In truth, neither side did enough to win. Israel did well to turn their second-half spell of pressure into a goal, which England failed to do, but the best chance of the game fell to Thomas Ince. Overall, there was a lack of real chances and a draw would have been a fair result.

Israel's performance

For a big underdog, they played very well. In the first half they were set up to play on the break, and threatened on a number of occasions. In the second half they improved hugely in terms of keeping the ball and managed to grab the winner with 10 minutes left to play.

England's performance

It was much better than the previous matches, particularly Norway, but still not good enough for the players that were on the pitch. For the latter part of the first half they dominated play but only really mustered one real chance, which was well saved by Kleyman. Other than that, they just did not do enough to win.

Sports Mole's man of the match

Danny Rose: Rose was one of the few players from either side to have a real impact on the game. He was always forward and able to get back in position to defend and really deserved better than to end on the losing side. Most of England's play came down the left, which was largely due to Rose's performance there.

Biggest gaffe

As he recovered unhurt, this has to go to Omri Altman for clattering into the post not long after coming on as a substitute. After great work down the left to cut into the box he simply did not look where he was going and tripped over the base of the post.

Referee performance

Sergiy Boyko had an excellent game. There was nothing dirty whatsoever about the contest and the referee did not try to make it so. Most of the fouls he gave were correct and there were no unnecessary bookings. Some referees could learn from Boyko's performance.

What next?

Israel: Despite the win, Israel are eliminated from the tournament following Norway's 1-1 draw with Italy. However, they gave a good account of themselves.

England: England go home after three defeats from three and finish rock bottom of Group A. Stuart Pearce could well have managed his last U21 game, so the future is very much unclear for this set of players.

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Israel's Ofir Kriaf is mobbed by team mates after scoring the opener against England during the European U21 Championships on June 11, 2013
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Krieff wins it for Israel late on
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