Thanks for joining me.
Here is Jamie Jackson’s report:
England’s squad is impressive at this level with Archer, Madueke, Skipp, Elliott and Doyle all able to come off the bench. They will not be worried by who they face in the final.
England have still not conceded and never looked like doing so. The final is on Saturday.
Full time: Israel 0-3 England
It was pretty obvious early on that England were going to win this match. Israel had nothing to offer in response to England’s attacking threat. Now it is a question of who they will face in the final, Spain or Ukraine?
90+2 mins: Keep ball for England. Nothing to see.
90 mins: Four minutes for Israel to get through.
GOAL! Israel 0-3 England (Archer, 90)
All over. Archer pings the ball into the roof of the net form inside the area after some great interplay with Palmer. All done.
89 mins: Revivo drives into the box but his shot is blocked.
More subs … Israel: Abu Rum and Ferede on, Turgeman and Gandelman off.
England: Doyle on, Jones off.
87 mins: Israel are getting a little annoyed now but they have little reason to be because they have barely been in this match.
85 mins: England cause themselves some problems and Israel almost make the most of it through a Gloukh clip to the back post where Khalaili is waiting; he heads the ball at Trafford who blocks the effort. Israel desperately claim the ball has crossed the line but it is not even close.
83 mins: Israel have a free-kick around 25 yards from goal. Revivo lines it up but it flies wide at speed.
Lemkin is booked for an indiscretion after holding back Archer.
81 mins: England have had more than two third of possession, according to the official stats.
Meanwhile, Gorno is pulled back by Colwill, who is booked for his troubles.
79 mins: Speaking of which … Jones decides to shoot from 45 yards and it goes nowhere near the net.
More England changes: Gomes and Gibbs-White off, Skipp and Madueke on.
77 mins: Israel do not have much to offer here. There is the slight feeling of a testimonial winding down. I hope someone does some kick-ups soon.
75 mins: Subs for England: Archer and Elliott on, Gordon and Smith Rowe off.
For Israel: Azoulay off, Bilevi on.
73 mins: Israel are attacking out of necessity, which should leave them open at the back and it could England truly kill this match off.
Gordon is slipped through on goal, takes a first time shot but Tzarfati makes the save, before seeing the flag raised.
71 mins: Revivo does well down the right and gets in a good position to cross but Colwill clears the ball into the box.
69 mins: Turgeman is on the deck. I assume he has realised the futility of playing on. Looks like a muscle problem.
67 mins: What a dreadfully long time it took to sort that out, especially considering I could see he was onside with the naked eye.
Updated
GOAL! Israel 0-2 England (Palmer, 63)
England work the ball into the box, resulting in Smith Rowe crossing the ball to the back post for Palmer to slide home. The flag goes up for offside. It looks tight and VAR has a long look. It takes a solid three or four minutes until the goal is given. Game over.
Updated
61 mins: Israel made it over the halfway line but were immediately dispossessed. Will their spirit be broken?
59 mins: I assume Israel will just get too tired to put up much of a fight soon. They have put in a couple of niggly fouls in the past two minutes purely because they are late to the scene.
57 mins: Khalaili and Gorno on, Hagag and Layous off for Israel. This could be the start of something a little more attacking.
55 mins: Gordon pulls the a cross back into the box, there is a little bit of pinball but Tzarfati is able to collect.
53 mins: Gomes is up and running around. England are very much in possession. Israeli a plotting a sub …
51 mins: Eleven Israelis behind the ball at all times. This is going to be the situation for a while, as they hope to keep the score the same and maybe get an equaliser late on.
Gomes is down in pain after Gandelman goes through the back of him. The medics are on.
49 mins: Gomes lifts a ball over the top, which Gibbs-White allows to drop over his shoulder before attempting a volley. Unfortunately, he makes next to no contact.
England come again, with Gordon getting into the box, only to see his effort deflected wide.
Updated
47 mins: Needless to say, it is all England still. Can Israeli up their game? I can’t see it.
Second half
Here we go again!
Half-time reading.
Half time: Israel 0-1 England
Gibbs-White made up for his dreadful penalty miss with a fine header. It has to be said that England are good value for the lead because they are the only team trying to attack, which is understandable because of the gulf in class.
45 mins: I think Colwill has spent about 30 seconds with his foot on the ball in the centre circle without anyone trying to get it off him.
Three minutes added on.
44 mins: Will Israel come out of their shell? Almost certainly not.
GOAL! Israel 0-1 England (Gibbs-White, 42)
England decide to go a bit more direct and Gibbs-White is there to meet Palmer’s cross with a fine header from the penalty spot.
Updated
39 mins: Gandelman ploughs forward, taking a touch just outside the box and whacks a shot across goal but it flies wide. A sign England need to up it a bit.
37 mins: Tzarfati hits another poor clearance but a poor touch from Jones allows Israel to win the ball back and regroup.
35 mins: I saw James Garner play for the first time in his career at right wing-back on the final day of the season at Everton. He is now England under-21s first-choice right-back. What a turn of events.
England are passing it side to side, trying to find a gap, which I will copy and paste every two minutes for the foreseeable.
33 mins: Supposedly, England have enjoyed 64% possession, thus far. I would have thought it was more.
31 mins: Whenever England cross the halfway line, Israel’s 11 shirts retreat into their defensive third. It’s very effective, even if it is not the most exciting tactic.
29 mins: The corner is cleared behind by Gibbs-White and the second reaches Lemkin but he directs his header wide from eight yards.
27 mins: Israel counter on England after gaining possession in their own defensive third. They move up the pitch quickly but due to a lack of options, Turgeman is forced to shot form the edge of the box, earning a corner for his troubles.
25 mins: “Come on,” says Kieran McHugh. “You can say it. That was never a penalty in a million years. Gordon should have been booked for it.”
As I said originally, I thought it was soft but, despite buying it, contact was made and once it was given on the pitch, it is going to stay as a pen.
23 mins: Palmer cuts in from the right and curls in a dangerous cross with his left foot but it has too much on it for Jones, who cannot control the ball.
21 mins: Turgeman dives in and catches Gomes on the top of his boot to earn himself the first yellow card of the game. The Lille man is in pain on the deck and requires treatment.
19 mins: What a ludicrous few minutes that all was. Mainly things will slightly calm down now. England need to regroup and carry on what they were doing, while Israel need to cut out the mistakes.
PENALTY MISS: Gibbs-White
17 mins: The Nottingham Forest man sends the ball well wide to the goalkeeper’s left. That is an awful penalty.
16 mins: After the save from Tzarfati, Gordon went to retrieve the ball but was caught by Jaber. Gordon bought the foul but it was, just about, a pen. Gibbs-White will take …
15 mins: Before the referee pointed to the spot … goalkeeper Tzarfati dawdled on the ball and gave it straight to England inside the box, who failed to convert a chance, before Smith Rowe had a second opportunity, which Tzarfati saved onto the post.
VAR still checking ..
14 mins: PENALTY! It is all happening. The bottom line is Gordon has been fouled in the box and England have a chance to open the scoring from the spot. It looks a little soft to me …
Updated
12 mins: Israel are coached by Guy Luzon, who could forget his spell as Charlton manager in 2015? He has certainly organised this team well, although I can’t currently see it being enough to get them through this match.
10 mins: It is very much all England in terms of possession and they are varying up their passing between long and short to move Israel around. Israel are doing well to keep them at bay, however, forcing Gomes to ping a shot from 25 yards, which is always rising.
8 mins: Gibbs-White whips in a free-kick from the left wing, it finds Colwill at the back post but he gets under the ball and can only head it up and over.
6 mins: Israel have a corner! Gloukh lands it on the penalty spot but Jaber whacks his half volley a mile over the bar.
4 mins: Gordon tries to slide the ball into Smith Rowe inside the area but Tzarfati is out quickly to beat Arsenal man to the ball. Israel try to counter as we can expect of a team who have scored twice in this tournament thus far.
“Roy Revivo is the son of Israel and Celta Vigo legend Haim,” emails Peter Oh, to ruin my one good fact.
“The match is taking place on Georgian soil but the Blue and Whites have got Haim team advantage!”
2 mins: Israel have set their stall out immediately by sticking everyone behind the shirt whenever England have possession. Now it is up to England to break them down. I am not sure Israel have touched the ball yet.
Kick off
Peep! Peep! Peep! Here we go!
England are bedecked in all red, while Israel have an all-white number. England’s players sing in national in a manner that would make Gary Neville proud.
We have some live pictures. It looks like a lovely day in Batumi but the stadium barely looks a quarter full. On the upside, those inside the stadium have a lot of flags to wave.
I have my peppermint tea with me, so we are almost ready for action. No one in the UK has TV rights for this competition, so it is being streamed on Uefa’s own website. God knows how far behind this will all be but we can be patient together. You can watch it here, if you sign up.
“Hi Will,” emails Ezra Finkelstein. “Israel is celebrating a historical summer of football, with the under-20’s outstanding third placement in the World Cup during their first ever appearance in the tournament and the under-21s recently booking their spot in the Olympics for what will be only the third time Israel’s men side will participate in the Olympics.”
What an occasion it would be to defeat England and reach the final.
Israel’s main man?
It looks like James Trafford is set to join Burnley from Manchester City for £19m or thereabouts. He has been excellent for England during this tournament. The equally great Ben Fisher has been speaking to those who know him.
Starting lineups
Israel: Tzarfati; Lemkin, Gandelman, G. Cohen; Jaber, Azoulay, Gloukh, Hagag, Revivo; Turgeman, Layous
Subs: Keuof, Morgan, Blorian, Arad, Khalaili, Bilevi, Hofmeister, Ferede, Abu Rumi, Gorno
England: Trafford; Garner, Harwood-Bellis, Colwill, Thomas; Gomes, Jones, Smith Rowe, Gordon, Gibbs-White, Palmer
Subs: Griffiths, Rushworth, Skipp, Johnson, Madueke, Archer, Branthwaite, Cresswell, Doyle, Elliott
Updated
Preamble
We are down to the last four of the competition and because it is has been poorly publicised in the UK, I should probably begin by explaining who is still in it. We start with this semi-final which sees Lee Carsley’s England take on Israel, a team they have already beaten in the group stages. Three hours later, Spain will play Ukraine in the other match to decide who will contest the final.
Our focus is on England v Israel. It has been a faultless progression to the semis for the young Three Lions. They have not conceded a goal in four games and have been pretty efficient in front of goal. Carsley has some exciting players at his disposal, with Morgan Gibbs-White, Noni Madueke and Anthony Gordon impressing at the tournament.
Israel have become a bit of a surprise package but they have earned their spot in the semis. They made it through a tough group, seeing off Czech Republic and Germany to progress to the quarters, where they defeated co-hosts Georgia on penalties. One leading star is Oscar Gloukh, whose performances have helped put him in the gaze of the continent’s leading clubs.
In the group match, England triumphed 2-0 but they know how difficult an opponent Israel are. It should be an intriguing semi.
Here’s to a cracker!
Kick-off: 5pm BST
