Israel vs England U21 EURO semi-final preview: Where to watch, kick-off time, possible line-ups

Israel play England in the first UEFA European Under-21 Championship semi-final at Batumi Arena in Georgia on Wednesday.

What do you need to know?

When Israel made the U19 EURO final last year (losing to England after extra time), it was only the second time any team from their nation had reached the last four of a UEFA final tournament. Now, just a few weeks after some of them also claimed FIFA U-20 World Cup bronze in Argentina, several of those U19 players have made it to the U21 last four, following a shoot-out win against co-hosts Georgia in Tbilisi.

England beat Israel 2-0 in Kutaisi last Sunday to seal Group C first place with a game to spare (indeed, they won all of their games in the section by that scoreline). It was tougher on Sunday as they edged Portugal 1-0 with the same combination of Anthony Gordon finishing from Morgan Gibbs-White that undid Israel for the first goal in the group stage.

Road to the semi-finals

Israel
Qualifying Group B runners-up: P10 W6 D1 L3 F19 A10
Play-offs: W1-1agg, 3-1pens vs Republic of Ireland (D1-1a, D0-0h)
Finals Group C runners-up: D1-1 vs Germany (Kutaisi), L0-2 vs England (Kutaisi), W1-0 vs Czechia (Kutaisi)
Quarter-final: W0-0aet, 4-3pens vs Georgia (Tbilisi)
Finals scorers: Omri Gandelman 1, Dor Turgeman 1

England
Qualifying Group G winners: P10 W8 D1 L1 F26 A7
Finals Group C winners: W2-0 vs Czechia (Batumi), W2-0 vs Israel (Kutaisi), W2-0 vs Germany (Batumi)
Quarter-final: W1-0 vs Portugal (Kutaisi)
Finals scorers: Anthony Gordon 2, Emile Smith Rowe 2, Cameron Archer 1, Harvey Elliott 1, Jacob Ramsey 1

Starting line-ups

Israel: Tzarfati; Jaber, Lemkin, Cohen, Revvio; Gandelman, Hajaj; Layous, Gloukh, Azoulay; Turgeman
Suspended: Karzev, Peretz

England: Trafford; Garner, Harwood-Bellis, Colwill, Thomas; Gomes, Jones; Palmer, Gibbs-White, Smith Rowe; Gordon
Suspended: Aarons, Johnson

View from the camps

Guy Luzon, Israel coach: "I told the players that they are the children of the revolution of Israeli sports, of Israeli football. We are in the big four of Europe, in the EURO. I am so proud."

Morgan Gibbs-White, England midfieder: "It's a completely new game. [Israel] are even more hungry now they are in the semi-final of EURO. They are going to want revenge. We beat them in the group stage and now they are going to want to beat us, so we have got to make sure we are fully prepared, well rested, fully recovered and hopefully we can go again and get to the final."