Last-gasp goal gives Israel 1-0 win over Belgium in Nations League soccer
Debutant Yarden Shua scores in 86th minute; national team still relegated from top tier, but victory celebrated as major achievement
BUDAPEST — Israel debutant Yarden Shua scored an 86th-minute winner as his team upset the favored Belgium 1-0 in a Budapest soccer match on Sunday, but it was not enough for them to avoid relegation from the Nations League’s top tier.
Shua, who had come on as a second-half substitute, took advantage of a defensive mistake from Matte Smets to earn Israel its first win in Group A2, moving it level on four points with third-placed Belgium in the final standings.
Belgium, however, avoided finishing bottom due to a better head-to-head record after beating Israel 3-1 in September.
The result will heap more pressure onto beleaguered Belgian coach Domenico Tedesco while Israel will be delighted with four points from its last two matches after holding France to a goalless draw in Paris on Thursday.
Shua’s goal came after Smets, who was also on as a substitute for his first cap, fluffed a pass across the face of his own penalty area that was pounced upon by Dia Saba. While his effort was blocked, the 25-year-old Shua snapped up the loose ball to fire home.
Israel struck the woodwork twice in the first half and will feel it merited the win for its dogged showing, even if Belgium dominated possession at a fog-filled Bozsik Arena in the Hungarian capital, where Israel has hosted all its Nations League matches because of the security situation at home where it is fighting a multi-front war against Palestinian terror group Hamas in Gaza and Iranian terror proxies elsewhere in the region.
Israel ???????? beat Belgium ???????? (#6) 1-0 in the final minutes of the match.
The winning goal was a collaboration between a Muslim player providing the assist and a Jewish player scoring the goal.
— David Saranga (@DavidSaranga) November 18, 2024
Coach Ran Ben Shimon, speaking of the “very great pride” in the achievement, said in a statement after the game he feels Israel has “an exceptional team.”
Chair of the Israel Football Association Moshe Shino Zuares said in a statement that the evening “was near perfect” and was missing only “the crowd and our home.”
“Above all we are waiting to return to play in our one and only home — Israel,” he said.
Belgium finished the group with a single victory and has won twice in its last 10 outings. It is a sequence of results that has seen Tedesco’s future as Belgium coach come under scrutiny.
It fielded a team on Sunday stripped of many of its top players, with injury ruling out top scorer Romelu Lukaku and Premier League midfielders Amadou Onana and Youri Tielemans while Kevin De Bruyne was given time off from the team.
The injury woes continued when Leandro Trossard hobbled out of Sunday’s match in the first half.
Belgium dominated the early exchanges but was afforded little room to maneuver by a strong Israeli defense.
Israel did not get its first chance until midway through the first half but when it did arrive, the team was unlucky not to take the lead.
Captain Eli Dasa hit Manor Solomon’s pass on the half-volley and saw his rasping effort rebound back into play off the post.
A minute before the break Din David hit the crossbar from a tight angle with a powerful shot as Israel served notice of its potential to grab the win.
Israel’s games in the Nations League have been dogged by the war at home that began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas killed 1,200 people and took 251 hostages in a massive cross-border attack.
The team has been forced to play its home games in other countries and Israeli soccer fans traveling abroad have been harassed by anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian protesters, and were violently attacked by local Arab and Muslim gangs in Amsterdam earlier this month.
