Levy stays positive after opening defeat to Italy
WORLD CUP QUALIFYING GROUP G ISRAEL ITALY
FOOTBALL ELISHA Levy took heart from Israel’s 3-1 defeat against Italy in the opening match of the World Cup 2018 qualifying campaign.
Although the defeat in Haifa came as little surprise, Israel looked capable of snatching a point as 10-man Italy battened down the hatches before substitute Ciro Immobile put the game beyond the home side with an 83rd minute counter-attack.
It took the visitors only 13 minutes to forge ahead with former Southampton striker Graziano Pelle firing home from close range.
Antonio Candreva doubled the Azzurri’s advantage on 30 minutes, sending Dudu Goresh the wrong way from the penalty spot after a clumsy challenge by Ben Bitton.
Israel rallied and hauled themselves back into the contest after a superb chip into the top corner from Tal Ben Chaim in the 35th which left Gianluigi Buffon stranded.
Suddenly a result looked possible as Italy were reduced to 10 men after Giorgio Chiellini received a second yellow card for a foul on Tomer Hemed.
Israel pressed but lacked quality in the final third. The best chance came in the 67th minute when Buffon produced a stunning double-save to deny substitute Roi Kahat’s and Eran Zahavi.
The 30,000 fans at the Sammy Ofer Stadium roared Israel on until Immobile’s lethal strike brought the game to an end.
Reflecting on his first competitive match in charge, Israeli manager Levy said: “I’m very disappointed but we also saw a good and enterprising team performance. I’m satisfied about everything except the result.
“There wasn’t a gap in the level of the teams. I’ve never seen Italy have to defend like that and given the number of chances we created it’s a shame we didn’t score. We will improve from match to match.”
Captain Zahavi said: “We showed a lot of character against one of the best teams in the world.”
Israel are next in action on October 6 when they travel to Macedonia followed by Lichtenstein three days later.