Women’s soccer enters world arena

JERUSALEM, Nov. 4 (JTA) – Israel’s all-star women’s soccer team has made an athletically unspectacular entrance into international competition. During a World Cup preliminary match this week in Bat Yam, the visiting Romanian trounced Israel by a score of 7-0. However, the 500 spectators who watched the proceedings tried to remain upbeat. “True, we lost, but on this field, it was women who lost to women and that’s what’s important,” said Labor Knesset member Yael Dayan, who warmed the bleachers along with Knesset members Anat Maor of Meretz and Naomi Blumenthal of Likud. “The fact that the Romanians played so well is proof that if we invest in our women, we can make the same achievements,” Dayan said. The all-star soccer team was assembled two months ago.