Second-half strikes spur Israel

Cyprus 0-3 Israel
Israel began their preparations for this summer's UEFA European Under-21 Championship with a 3-0 victory against the Cyprus U20 national side in Larnaca.

Deadlock broken
In their first game since booking their place in the finals with a 1-0 win in France on 11 October, Guy Levy's side took the lead shortly after the hour when Maccabi Haifa FC striker Shlomi Arbeitman broke the deadlock. The Maccabi Tel-Aviv FC forward Roy Dayan made the game safe inside the final ten minutes and Amit Ben Shushan, who plays his club football with Beitar Jerusalem FC, added gloss to the scoreline with a third goal two minutes from time.

'Going to plan'
"I am glad we started our preparations with a victory," said Levy, who used the match as opportunity to look at a number of squad players. "I tested a few players in several formations and I am delighted that everything went according to our plans." Israel are in Group A in the Netherlands and open their finals campaign against the hosts on 10 June before facing Belgium and Portugal.