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 minute when Dino Kojic tapped the ball in from close range following a shot by Luka Topalović, despite a possible offside in the build-up.

Israel 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.

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

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.

The 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.

“This team had two true do-or-die games — 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,” Guy Luzon said Tuesday night after Israel’s dramatic 3-2 victory over Slovenia, a result that kept the U21 team’s hopes of reaching Euro 2027 alive.

“Will I be satisfied? Only if we make the playoffs,” Luzon added. “What we’ve 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’s no such thing as deserving anything in football. We’ll have to fight for it every step of the way.

“Those 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’re keeping our feet firmly on the ground and staying humble. We have another very demanding week ahead of us to finish the job.”

The game winning goal scorer Niv Yehoshua spoke about the victory, “I’m so emotional right now it’s 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.”