Israel’s Olympic soccer team, which has sustained some injuries and whose performance has not been quite up to par, is nevertheless considered by experts here to be a possible finalist by virtue of its 3-0 victory over El Salvador yesterday. The victory qualified the team for the quarter final stages of the tournament. Israel need only play to a draw with the powerful Hungarian team in tomorrow’s game to qualify to meet the runners-up in Group Four. Should Hungary beat Israel, the latter would be matched against the Group Three runner-up, which will probably be Bulgaria, against whom Israel has not done well in the past. But the fact that the Ghanaian team, which lost to Israel by a 5-3 score Sunday, held Hungary to a 2-2 draw yesterday, appears to give the Israelis a better chance against the latter. Some 10,000 spectators watched Israel’s game with El Salvador and there was loud support for Israel from a large contingent of Mexican Jews who cheered them with the traditional war cry, “El El Israel.” Two Ghanaian players who attacked a referee and Israeli team members after losing Sunday’s game were suspended for a full year by the Olympic disciplinary committee. Two other Ghanaians who were ordered off the field for rough play received two-game suspensions.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
