Israel stuns Austria 5-2 in World Cup qualifier
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E-mail Xinhua, September 5, 2021
JERUSALEM, Sept. 4 (Xinhua) -- Israel's national football team beat Austria 5-2 on Saturday night in Group F of the 2022 FIFA World Cup European qualifiers.
The fifth-round match was played at Sammy Ofer Stadium in the northern city of Haifa in front of 12,800 fans.
Israel, head coached by Austrian Willie Rothensteiner, got on the scoreboard after only 5 minutes, with a fantastic shot by Shakhtar Donetsk striker Manor Solomon.
Three minutes later, RB Leipzig midfielder Konrad Laimer seemed to equalize for the Austrians, but the goal was disallowed in a VAR decision.
Austria continued to attack, but Israel surprisingly made it 2-0 with a 20th-minute score through Hoffenheim striker Munas Dabbur following an accurate pass by defender Sun Menachem.
PSV Eindhoven striker Eran Zahavi, who had previously played in the Chinese Super League for four years, scored the third goal on 33 minutes after an error by the Austrian defense.
The Austrians came back into the game in the 42nd minute, with a goal by Hoffenheim midfielder Christof Bamgartner, and a minute later they narrowly missed another goal as Marko Arnautovic's shot hit the post.
Arnautovic still scored the second for Austria, with an accurate shot from 17 meters in the 55th minute.
Valladolid striker Shon Weissman found the net in the 59th minute to enlarge Israel's lead to 4-2, just two minutes after entering the game as a substitute.
Zahavi made it 5-2 in the 90th minute, after a pass from another substitute Dolev Haziza.
With the victory, Israel sits on the second place in Group F with 10 points, following group leader Denmark, who beat the Faroe Islands 1-0 and currently holds a perfect record of 15 points.
Scotland, who beat Moldova 1-0, is in third place with 8 points, followed by Austria (7), Faroe Islands (1) and Moldova (1).
Israel will play its next match against Denmark in Copenhagen, while Austria will host Scotland in Vienna, with both matches to be played on Tuesday.
The group winner after 10 rounds will qualify for the World Cup tournament to be held in November-December 2022 in Qatar, while the group runner-up will qualify for the playoffs. Enditem
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