The Israel National Team fell to Austria 3-1 as Sayed Abu Farchi’s red card for his goal celebration early on in the second half left the blue-and-white with ten-men that caught up with them as the match hit the 90th minute as the hosts scored a pair of quick goals to take the win. After roughly forty minutes of even play, Austria finally broke the deadlock from the penalty spot as Idan Nachmias tripped up Saša Kalajdžić in the box allowing Romano Schmid to slot home the spot kick as the half ended with the hosts holding a 1-0 lead.

Sayed Abu Farhi evened up the contest early on in the second half but was issued a second yellow and a red card for his goal celebration leaving Ran Ben Shimon’s side with ten men in the 55th minute. Israel made wholesale changes to solidify its defense but that didn’t stop Phillipp Mwene’s beautiful volley off a perfect Paul Wanner cross in the 90th minute while Saša Kalajdžić added another marker during injury time to close out the win.

Head Coach Ran Ben Shimon spoke about the defeat, “It’s very disappointing and we were worth more than a loss. We gave five more games and we need to bring energy to the each and every one of them. We really tried our best to stay in the game and we really prepared well for the match and the guys really wanted it. We wanted to get to the decisive minutes in a position to win and we were there with ten men. Now I have to really lift up the guys.”

Daniel Peretz talked about the loss, “It’s painful and we are so proud of the team. We played for 40minutes with ten men, but we had a lack of focus in the second half that cost us. Now played toe to toe with the best team in the group. We will learn from this loss.”