Israel clinches 3rd place in soccer’s U-20 World Cup, capping thrilling run

Israel’s national Under-20 soccer team clinched third place in the youth World Cup tournament on Sunday, ending its unprecedented run in the global competition with a 3-1 consolation match win against South Korea.

Later Sunday, Uruguay, which defeated Israel on Friday, downed Italy 1-0 at La Plata’s Diego Maradona stadium in Argentina to snag its first-ever World Cup Under-20 crown. Uruguay’s championship, its first in three tries, breaks a streak of four consecutive titles for European squads since Brazil took the trophy in 2011.

The Israelis stunned powerhouse Brazil in the quarterfinals, but their charmed progress was stopped with a 1-0  defeat  by Uruguay in the last four on Friday.

They responded to that semifinal defeat quickly by opening the scoring in Sunday’s third-placed playoff after 20 minutes, as midfielder Ran Binyamin hit home.

Four minutes later, South Korea equalized, as Seung-Won Lee converted a penalty.