The Under-19 Israel National Team fell to England 3-1 in overtime of the European Championship Final to finish the tournament in second place. Blue-and-white starlet Oscar Gloukh opened the scoring to give Ofir Haim’s squad a 1-0 first half lead, but Callum Doyle drew the 3 Lions even early on in the second half. However, a pair of England goals in the extra session by Carney Chukwuemeka and Aaron Ramsey handed Ian Foster’s side the title.

The two squads opened the game up aggressively as Israel’s Tay Abed Kassis had two chances to put Israel ahead early on but it was Oscar Gloukh who polished off a 3 on 3 counterattack as the Maccabi Tel Aviv man took an Ariel Lugassy ball and out it by Matthew Foster for a 1-0 lead in the 40th minute.

But Ofir Haim’s team and supporters in the stands weren’t able to celebrate too long as Manchester City’s Callum Doyle put home a corner kick to level the score at 1-1 in the 51st minute. Both sides looked to find the winner in the remaining 40 minutes but came up short as the match headed into two 15 minute overtime periods.

Nehorai Iftrach and Dor Turgeman each had solid opportunities in the extra session but Carney Chukwuemeka latched onto a Harry Vale cross as the Aston Villa product beat Israel keeper Tomer Tzarfati to take a 2-1 lead in the 108th minute. Ten minutes later Aaron Ramsey pounced on a rebound to add an insurance marker as England hoisted the U19 European Championship trophy aloft.

“We played against an excellent national team,” Israel coach Ofir Haim said. “This was a game that saw two high level national teams and I am very proud of my players. The future of Israeli soccer is very bright and we really gave a heroic performance, especially in the first half. There were moments that if we were a bit more focused we could have been up 2-0. These players had a great start to their careers and they will hit many more highs along the way.”

Israel’s goal scorer Oscar Gloukh commented on his goal and future, “I always look at where I am on the pitch related to others and when I saw a player coming towards me I moved aside and I was able to out the ball into the open corner. I will be heading to the Maccabi Tel Aviv training camp and from there I will see as I really don’t know what my future holds.”

Captain Ilay Madmon also reflected on the game, “No words can describe what we did here and I want to thank everyone who watched us in Israel. There is a tremendous amount of pride. We came into the tournament thanks to our belief and we were full of confidence.”