Israel and England's route to UEFA U21 Euro 2023 semi-finals

Both sides now meet on 5th June in the last 4 of the tournament

Israel make history as they reach the UEFA U21 Euro 2023 semi-final, where they will play England. Israel's Under-21 football team beat Georgia on Saturday night in a thrilling penalty shootout to make history by going all the way to the semifinals of the European Championship.

After neither team scored a goal during regulation time or extra time, the shootout was held. Goalkeeper Daniel Peretz was named player of the match for holding the Georgian team at bay as the Israeli team prevailed 4-3 on penalties.

The event is being hosted by Georgia and Romania, and the historic victory was seen by a large crowd in Tbilisi, the nation's capital of Georgia.

Israel make history

Israel's under-21 team lacks a stable home. They train in stadiums spread throughout Israel in an effort to rally supporters from across the nation to support Israel. Smaller stadiums are typically used (like HaMoshava Stadium in Petah Tikva, Israel) due to the junior national team's less popular status compared to the senior national team.

The team defeated the French Under-21 team 2-1 on aggregate to advance to the final round of the 2007 European Championships, which were held in the Netherlands.

Israel were drawn in Group C alongside England, Germany and the Czech Republic and finished second behind England. They drew with Germany 1-1 and lost to England 2-0 but a win over the Czech Republic guaranteed their spot in the quarter-final.

There they faced Georgia in the quarter-final of the tournament and won the game on penalties 4-3, the team will now face the same team from Group C England in the semi-final and will be hoping to reach the final of the U21 European Championship.

England's route to semi-final of U21 Euro 2023

Even though their accomplishments in Georgia continue to be hidden from the public's view, the England Under-21s once again demonstrated how they are getting more and more impossible to ignore.

Although Lee Carsley's team had to work a great deal to defeat Portugal in the quarterfinals of the European Under-21 Championship this year, their hopes of what many believe is a long-awaited success at this level are still nonetheless intact.

They were in the same group as Israel and finished at the top of the group and will now face the same opponent from the same group in the semi-final of the tournament.

England U21 won all their group games and finished the table with nine points, their first game came against Czech Republic which they won 2-0, then they saw off Israel 2-0 and followed up the mirror image scoreline and won their last match 2-0 against Germany.