Israel Goalkeeper Blames Over-Eagerness, Ignorance for Loss

The Israeli national football team suffered a humiliating 3-0 defeat to Ireland in the UEFA Nations League, marking their worst-ever start in an official match. The team conceded three goals within the first 25 minutes in Debrecen, Hungary, and failed to recover.

Goalkeeper Daniel Peretz apologized for the team's first-half performance, expressing shame and attributing the loss to an excessive desire to win. "It's not that we don't want to, we wanted to win too much," Peretz stated. He suggested that the team's high emotions and focus on external factors, rather than the game itself, may have been detrimental.

Peretz took responsibility on behalf of the team, emphasizing that they were not hiding from the result. He highlighted the team's effort in the second half, which they treated as a separate game, and expressed pride in their improved performance despite the overall loss. He promised that the team would not perform like that again.

Addressing the opposing Irish team's celebrations, Peretz described them as stemming from ignorance. He differentiated between players who sought to understand the situation and those who did not, stating that the latter were simply "ignorant people." Peretz urged his team to focus on football, which he felt was lacking in their performance.

Looking ahead, Peretz acknowledged the team's disappointment but remained optimistic about their remaining Nations League matches, noting the fluidity of the group standings and the possibility of improvement.