Blue-and-white bows out of World Cup race race

Mistakes proved costly in the qualifier in Italy, with a 3-0 defeat officially eliminating the Israelis from contention.

Israel came up short 3-0 at Italy in World Cup qualifying on Tuesday night as Mateo Retegui scored a brace to help the hosts take the win.

Ran Ben Shimon’s team will have one more matchup in Group I action when it plays Moldova in November to close out the campaign, as the Israelis were eliminated from contention to advance to the 2026 World Cup.

Norway leads the group with 18 points, Italy is in second with 15 points, and Israel is in third place with nine points ahead of Estonia and Moldova. Only the top-placed team and the runner-up will be moving on.

The blue-and-white matched Gli Azzurri throughout the first half until right before the break, when Matan Baltaxa’s foul inside the box on Retegui allowed the striker to score a penalty to give Gennaro Gattuso’s squad a 1-0 lead as the sides headed to the dressing room.

Retegui then added his second of the game when he stripped the ball from an advancing Stav Turiel on the left side, turned and sent the ball into the top right of Omri Glazer’s goal for a 2-0 lead in the 74th minute.

Gianluca Mancini then added the final goal of the game when he headed home a perfect cross from Federico Dimarco in second-half injury time to send Israel to another clean sheet defeat.

Thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters marched through Udine, Italy, ahead of the World Cup qualifier between Italy and Israel, calling on FIFA to ban Israel from international competition.

Demonstrations largely peaceful

While the demonstration was largely peaceful, it ended in clashes with police involving firecrackers, barriers, and tear gas, leaving journalists and officers injured and prompting strong condemnation from the city’s mayor.

“I saw a national team that I wanted to see, and they can play anywhere,” an upbeat Ben Shimon said despite the defeat. “They played well defensively, but we still paid a huge price for any mistake that was made.

The guys had a rough three days since the loss to Norway, and we had a good game plan, but we still couldn’t get over the hump. I need to take the mistakes and correct them, but you saw a team that came back after a tough game, and I am proud of them.”

Israel forward Manor Solomon also spoke about the defeat.

“I played with back pains in these two games and needed to take injections, but the 3-0 loss was very disappointing and didn’t reflect the way we played. But we paid a price after making a couple small mistakes. We really battled and played well but unfortunately we conceded on little errors, but all in all I am very proud of the team.

“The goal we have now is to advance to the 2028 European Championship with a great group of guys and staff around us.”