The referee blew the whistle but the two teams... stood still: The reason behind the "strange attitude"

In the qualifying match of the European U21 Championship, the two teams U21 Poland and U21 Israel surprised everyone. Although the referee blew the whistle to start the match, the players from both sides refused to play. They only entered the match after the 2nd minute.

The Polish U21 and Israeli U21 teams observed a minute of silence for the victims of the escalating conflict in the Gaza Strip that has left thousands dead.

The reason the two teams have such a "strange attitude" is because they want to protest UEFA. According to the plan, the two U21 teams of Poland and U21 Israel planned to observe a minute of silence for the victims of the escalating conflict in the Gaza Strip that has killed thousands of people. However, UEFA did not agree.

In that situation, both teams organized a minute of silence for the victims. They stood still for the first minute of the match. Not only the 22 players on the field, the coaching staff and the audience also remained silent during this "minute of silence".

The match was then very exciting. Poland U21 won 2-1 against Israel U21. This result helped Poland U21 top Group D with wins in all 4 matches, above Germany, Bulgaria, Kosovo, Estonia and Israel. Israel U21 ranked bottom of the group after only playing 2 matches and losing all of them.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-thao/trong-tai-thoi-coi-nhung-hai-doi-dung-im-ly-do-dang-sau-thai-do-la-20231118202016389.htm