{"id":191892,"date":"2026-09-29T16:15:27","date_gmt":"2026-09-29T16:15:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/?p=191892"},"modified":"2026-09-29T17:10:16","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T17:10:16","slug":"yehoshuas-late-header-gives-israel-u21-dramatic-3-2-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/yehoshuas-late-header-gives-israel-u21-dramatic-3-2-win\/","title":{"rendered":"Yehoshua’s Late Header Gives Israel U21 Dramatic 3-2 Win"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Israel Under-21 National Team secured a dramatic 3-2 victory over Slovenia on Tuesday in Ptuj, keeping their hopes of qualifying for the 2027 UEFA European Under-21 Championship alive.<\/p>\n

The match, part of Group G of the qualifiers, got off to a difficult start for Guy Luzon’s side. Slovenia took the lead in the seventh minute when Dino Kojic tapped the ball in from close range following a shot by Luka Topalovi\u0107, despite a possible offside in the build-up.
\n

\"\"

Photo credit: Israel Football Association<\/p><\/div>
\nIsrael responded well, with Tai Abed threatening before equalizing in the 27th minute as he finished from inside the box after a brilliant assist from Noam Ben Harush. In the 48th minute, Ran Binyamin scored from close range following an excellent pass from Daniel Dappa, with Ben Harush once again involved in the build-up.<\/p>\n

Slovenia drew even in the 75th minute when Mitja Ilenic\u2019s long-range effort slipped through goalkeeper Ofek Melika’s legs, making it 2-2.<\/p>\n

However, Israel had the final say when deep into stoppage time, Niv Yehoshua headed home a poor clearance by the Slovenian keeper off a corner to seal the crucial 3-2 victory.
\n

\"\"

Photo credit: Israel Football Association<\/p><\/div>
\nThe result leaves Israel in second place with 10 points in Group G, with Norway leading the standings with 13 points Bosnia and Herzegovina with 8 points also in contention. Israel will face Norway away in their next qualifier, hoping to secure another important result and move closer to a spot at European Championships.<\/p>\n

“This team had two true do-or-die games \u2014 either we kept our journey alive or we went home. We came from behind to beat the Netherlands and then we came from behind again to beat Slovenia,\u201d Guy Luzon said Tuesday night after Israel\u2019s dramatic 3-2 victory over Slovenia, a result that kept the U21 team\u2019s hopes of reaching Euro 2027 alive.<\/p>\n

\u201cWill I be satisfied? Only if we make the playoffs,\u201d Luzon added. \u201cWhat we\u2019ve accomplished is great, fantastic, excellent and everyone deserves credit. But we still have one more step to take, and we have to get it done. We deserve that opportunity, but there\u2019s no such thing as deserving anything in football. We\u2019ll have to fight for it every step of the way.
\n

\"\"

Photo credit: Israel Football Association<\/p><\/div>
\n\u201cThose final few minutes were agonizing. I felt we deserved the win. We worked extremely hard throughout the week, both mentally and tactically. We wanted to give people back home in Israel something to lift their spirits, but we\u2019re keeping our feet firmly on the ground and staying humble. We have another very demanding week ahead of us to finish the job.\u201d<\/p>\n

The game winning goal scorer Niv Yehoshua spoke about the victory, \u201cI\u2019m so emotional right now it\u2019s hard to really sum up the game but it was a tough match that both wanted to win and we were playing in Slovenia. We had some good minutes throughout the game but not for long stretches, but we were able to give the fight of our lives and we were able to win. Now we have to prepare for Norway and hopefully the Israeli flag will be waving at the European Championships.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Israel Under-21 National Team secured a dramatic 3-2 victory over Slovenia on Tuesday in Ptuj, keeping their hopes of qualifying for the 2027 UEFA European Under-21 Championship alive. The match, part of Group G of the qualifiers, got off to a difficult start for Guy Luzon’s side. Slovenia took the lead in the seventh […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":191893,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[29],"class_list":["post-191892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football-israel-2","tag-israel","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\nYehoshua's Late Header Gives Israel U21 Dramatic 3-2 Win - Sports Rabbi<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/yehoshuas-late-header-gives-israel-u21-dramatic-3-2-win\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Yehoshua's Late Header Gives Israel U21 Dramatic 3-2 Win - Sports Rabbi\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Israel Under-21 National Team secured a dramatic 3-2 victory over Slovenia on Tuesday in Ptuj, keeping their hopes of qualifying for the 2027 UEFA European Under-21 Championship alive. The match, part of Group G of the qualifiers, got off to a difficult start for Guy Luzon’s side. Slovenia took the lead in the seventh […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/yehoshuas-late-header-gives-israel-u21-dramatic-3-2-win\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sports Rabbi\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-09-29T16:15:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-09-29T17:10:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-09-29-at-17.20.20-2.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2048\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"871\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Joshua Halickman\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Joshua Halickman\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sportsrabbi.com\\\/en\\\/yehoshuas-late-header-gives-israel-u21-dramatic-3-2-win\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sportsrabbi.com\\\/en\\\/yehoshuas-late-header-gives-israel-u21-dramatic-3-2-win\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Joshua Halickman\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sportsrabbi.com\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/10150053309b5bf124d40c3812a32bf0\"},\"headline\":\"Yehoshua’s Late Header Gives Israel U21 Dramatic 3-2 Win\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-09-29T16:15:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-09-29T17:10:16+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sportsrabbi.com\\\/en\\\/yehoshuas-late-header-gives-israel-u21-dramatic-3-2-win\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":567,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sportsrabbi.com\\\/en\\\/yehoshuas-late-header-gives-israel-u21-dramatic-3-2-win\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sportsrabbi.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-09-29-at-17.20.20-2.jpeg\",\"keywords\":[\"israel\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Football\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/sportsrabbi.com\\\/en\\\/yehoshuas-late-header-gives-israel-u21-dramatic-3-2-win\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sportsrabbi.com\\\/en\\\/yehoshuas-late-header-gives-israel-u21-dramatic-3-2-win\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sportsrabbi.com\\\/en\\\/yehoshuas-late-header-gives-israel-u21-dramatic-3-2-win\\\/\",\"name\":\"Yehoshua's Late Header Gives Israel U21 Dramatic 3-2 Win - Sports Rabbi\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sportsrabbi.com\\\/en\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sportsrabbi.com\\\/en\\\/yehoshuas-late-header-gives-israel-u21-dramatic-3-2-win\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sportsrabbi.com\\\/en\\\/yehoshuas-late-header-gives-israel-u21-dramatic-3-2-win\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sportsrabbi.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-09-29-at-17.20.20-2.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-09-29T16:15:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-09-29T17:10:16+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sportsrabbi.com\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/10150053309b5bf124d40c3812a32bf0\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/sportsrabbi.com\\\/en\\\/yehoshuas-late-header-gives-israel-u21-dramatic-3-2-win\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sportsrabbi.com\\\/en\\\/yehoshuas-late-header-gives-israel-u21-dramatic-3-2-win\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sportsrabbi.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-09-29-at-17.20.20-2.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sportsrabbi.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-09-29-at-17.20.20-2.jpeg\",\"width\":2048,\"height\":871,\"caption\":\"Photo credit: Israel Football Association\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sportsrabbi.com\\\/en\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sportsrabbi.com\\\/en\\\/\",\"name\":\"Sports Rabbi\",\"description\":\"The Home of Israeli Sports\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sportsrabbi.com\\\/en\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sportsrabbi.com\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/10150053309b5bf124d40c3812a32bf0\",\"name\":\"Joshua Halickman\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sportsrabbi.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/12\\\/WhatsApp-Image-2020-12-08-at-10.13.06-150x150.jpeg\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sportsrabbi.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/12\\\/WhatsApp-Image-2020-12-08-at-10.13.06-150x150.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sportsrabbi.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/12\\\/WhatsApp-Image-2020-12-08-at-10.13.06-150x150.jpeg\",\"caption\":\"Joshua Halickman\"},\"description\":\"Joshua Halickman, The Sports Rabbi is the founder of the website and has been covering Israeli sports since 2004. The Sports Rabbi has gone to over 4,000 live sporting events in 25+ countries looking for the most exciting and intriguing stories. Josh has lectured to tens of thousands across the globe about the Zionism through Israeli Sports. You can follow Josh on Twitter @thesportsrabbi\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sportsrabbi.com\\\/en\\\/author\\\/thesportsrabbiisrael\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Yehoshua's Late Header Gives Israel U21 Dramatic 3-2 Win - Sports Rabbi","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/yehoshuas-late-header-gives-israel-u21-dramatic-3-2-win\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Yehoshua's Late Header Gives Israel U21 Dramatic 3-2 Win - Sports Rabbi","og_description":"The Israel Under-21 National Team secured a dramatic 3-2 victory over Slovenia on Tuesday in Ptuj, keeping their hopes of qualifying for the 2027 UEFA European Under-21 Championship alive. The match, part of Group G of the qualifiers, got off to a difficult start for Guy Luzon’s side. Slovenia took the lead in the seventh […]","og_url":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/yehoshuas-late-header-gives-israel-u21-dramatic-3-2-win\/","og_site_name":"Sports Rabbi","article_published_time":"2026-09-29T16:15:27+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-09-29T17:10:16+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2048,"height":871,"url":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-09-29-at-17.20.20-2.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Joshua Halickman","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Joshua Halickman","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/yehoshuas-late-header-gives-israel-u21-dramatic-3-2-win\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/yehoshuas-late-header-gives-israel-u21-dramatic-3-2-win\/"},"author":{"name":"Joshua Halickman","@id":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/10150053309b5bf124d40c3812a32bf0"},"headline":"Yehoshua’s Late Header Gives Israel U21 Dramatic 3-2 Win","datePublished":"2026-09-29T16:15:27+00:00","dateModified":"2026-09-29T17:10:16+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/yehoshuas-late-header-gives-israel-u21-dramatic-3-2-win\/"},"wordCount":567,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/yehoshuas-late-header-gives-israel-u21-dramatic-3-2-win\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-09-29-at-17.20.20-2.jpeg","keywords":["israel"],"articleSection":["Football"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/yehoshuas-late-header-gives-israel-u21-dramatic-3-2-win\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/yehoshuas-late-header-gives-israel-u21-dramatic-3-2-win\/","url":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/yehoshuas-late-header-gives-israel-u21-dramatic-3-2-win\/","name":"Yehoshua's Late Header Gives Israel U21 Dramatic 3-2 Win - Sports Rabbi","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/yehoshuas-late-header-gives-israel-u21-dramatic-3-2-win\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/yehoshuas-late-header-gives-israel-u21-dramatic-3-2-win\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-09-29-at-17.20.20-2.jpeg","datePublished":"2026-09-29T16:15:27+00:00","dateModified":"2026-09-29T17:10:16+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/10150053309b5bf124d40c3812a32bf0"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/yehoshuas-late-header-gives-israel-u21-dramatic-3-2-win\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/yehoshuas-late-header-gives-israel-u21-dramatic-3-2-win\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-09-29-at-17.20.20-2.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-09-29-at-17.20.20-2.jpeg","width":2048,"height":871,"caption":"Photo credit: Israel Football Association"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/","name":"Sports Rabbi","description":"The Home of Israeli Sports","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/10150053309b5bf124d40c3812a32bf0","name":"Joshua Halickman","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/WhatsApp-Image-2020-12-08-at-10.13.06-150x150.jpeg","url":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/WhatsApp-Image-2020-12-08-at-10.13.06-150x150.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/WhatsApp-Image-2020-12-08-at-10.13.06-150x150.jpeg","caption":"Joshua Halickman"},"description":"Joshua Halickman, The Sports Rabbi is the founder of the website and has been covering Israeli sports since 2004. The Sports Rabbi has gone to over 4,000 live sporting events in 25+ countries looking for the most exciting and intriguing stories. Josh has lectured to tens of thousands across the globe about the Zionism through Israeli Sports. You can follow Josh on Twitter @thesportsrabbi","url":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/author\/thesportsrabbiisrael\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=191892"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191892\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":191942,"href":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191892\/revisions\/191942"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/191893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}