A tightly contested encounter saw Israel come back from behind twice before grabbing the shock victory through Dor Turgeman’s brilliant solo strike.The Israelis will face either Uruguay or the United States in the semi-finals.
After a scoreless first half at the Bicentenario stadium, Brazil, five-times winners of the tournament, broke through in the 56th minute on Marcos Leonardo’s superbly-taken, first-time left-foot shot.
Anan Khalaili brought Israel level, rising at the back post to angle home a header from a pinpoint El Yam Kancepolski cross in the 60th minute, delighting a largely pro-Israel crowd in the stands.
But Israel’s hopes dimmed just 20 seconds into extra time, when Andrey Santos set up Matheus Nascimento to restore Brazil’s lead.
Just two minutes later, however, Hamza Shibli equalized, tapping in a low ball from Ilay Feingold at the back post to make it 2-2.
The decisive goal came, near the end of the first period of extra-time, when Turgeman collected the ball on the edge of the box, jinked cleverly past two defenders and then fired past Kaique Pereira.
Ilay Madmon and Ahmad Ibrahim would both miss penalties for Israel in the second period of extra-time, but Ofir Haim’s side were able to hold on.
Israel are the first debutants to reach the semi-finals of a FIFA Under-20 World Cup since Senegal in 2015.
The senior Israeli national team has only once qualified for the World Cup finals, going out in the group stage in the 1970 World Cup in Mexico.
Later today, the Flying Eagles of Nigeria will have a faceoff with South Korea in the last day of the semi final playoff while Uruaguay will take on USA.