Benayoun faces off against Luxemburg
צילום: AFP
Israel defeats Luxemburg 3-1
Israel crushes Luxemburg's World Cup fairytale in Group Two qualifier; despite mediocre performance by Kashtan's players, team clings to 2nd place in ranking
Luxembourg came tumbling back to earth when they were defeated 3-1 at home to Israel in a World Cup Group Two qualifier on Saturday evening.
Israel quickly took the lead in the first minute with a penalty shot scored by Captain Yossi Benayoun. But in lieu of taking advantage of their host's initial fumblings, the Israeli team appeared to give Luxemburg a wide berth to get back in the game – suffering a 14th-minute free kick from Captain Rene Peter, tying the game 1-1.
Benayoun, Golan and Strauber (Photo: Reuters)
But a goal from Omer Golan in the 63rd and another from Salim Toama in the 82nd swung the match back to Israel's favor.
Israel is currently ranked second in its World Cup grouping, with seven points. Luxemburg trails with 3 points.
Lineups:
Luxemburg: Jonathan Joubert, Kim Kintziger, Ben Payal, Claude Reiter, Jean Wagner, Rene Peters, Paul Bossi (Daniel Alves da Mota, 66), Gilles Bettmer, Fons Leweck, Stefano Bensi (Aurelien Joachim, 46), Mario Mutsch
Israel : Dudu Aouate, Klemi Saban, Tal Ben Haim, Gal Alberman, Salim Toama (Ben Sahar, 83), Baram Kayal, David Ben Dayan, Elyaniv Barda, Omer Golan, Dekel Keinan, Yossi Benayoun
Reuters contributed to this report
