{"id":3695,"date":"2013-03-27T14:36:35","date_gmt":"2013-03-27T14:36:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/footballisrael.com\/?p=2312"},"modified":"2013-03-27T14:36:35","modified_gmt":"2013-03-27T14:36:35","slug":"the-lowdown-northern-ireland-0-2-israel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/the-lowdown-northern-ireland-0-2-israel\/","title":{"rendered":"The Lowdown-Northern Ireland 0-2 Israel March 26, 2013 World Cup Qualifier"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Israel's<\/a>

Israel’s Victory!-Michal Grundland<\/p><\/div>\n

Israel looked a bit sluggish hitting the Northern Island pitch after 4 cups of wine and a Passover Seder with tons of food Tuesday night in Belfast, but a couple of savvy substitutions in the last quarter of the match gave Israel a 2-0 win and three poins in the bank to retain 2nd place in their World Cup Qualfying group.<\/p>\n

Coming off an exhilarating but disappointing home draw against Portual Friday afternoon Israel looked a bit off versus Northern Ireland in sub zero temperatures with an offense that did not click until Club Brugge’s Lior Rafaelov<\/strong> and Eran Zehavi<\/strong> came off the bench to take over from Mahran Radi<\/strong> and Maor Melikson<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"Israel<\/a>

Israel at the Passover Seder-Michal Grundland<\/p><\/div>\n

Goalkeeper Dudu Aoute<\/strong> of Mallorca came up with a number of big saves to keep the score deadlocked at zero when Israel’s hangover was still intact throughout a lackluster first half. Itay Schecter<\/strong> playing for Swansea on the pitch for a yellow card accumulated Tomer Hemed<\/strong> was not in sync with the offense and Toulouse’s Eden ben Basat<\/strong> was not receiving service from the midfielders as Israel looked to try and break out of an offensive funk as the match wore on.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

With the second half substitutions of Zehavi & Rafaelov, Israel began to take charge of the match knowing a draw or a loss would put them behind Portugal in their WCQ group. Eli Gutman’s changes helped open up the offense and Itay Schecter made a number of nice runs especially on the second goal in the 85th minute with a magnificent solo effort and a superb assist to Ben Basat.<\/p>\n

The first goal which was scored in the 77th minute by Refaleov confirmed the brilliance of the substitution by Gutman especially after Rafealov’s lackluster performance against Portugal.<\/p>\n