With his second assist, this time to Maccabi Haifa midfielder Eyal Golasa, Maccabi Tel Aviv and Israel's under 21 striker Moannes Dabbur continued his excellent form in a friendly defeat to Germany
On Sunday night close to 10,000 spectators came to Bloomfield Stadium in Tel Aviv where Israel's under 21 squad continued their preparations for the European U21 championships, to be held this June in Israel, with a friendly match against their German counterparts who will also be participating in the tournament. And as was the case in last Thursday's preparatory friendly against the Dutch junior team, our lads in blue and white suffered yet another 2-1 defeat. Three of Maccabi Tel Aviv's young talents appeared in the match. Striker Moannes Dabbur opened for the national U21 side, was credited with an assist on team's only goal and was substituted ten minutes from time by another rising Maccabi Tel Aviv star, Dor Micha. In the 72nd minute of the match Maccabi and under 21 midfielder Moshe Lugassi replaced Maccabi Petah Tikva winger Marwan Kabha. A fourth member of the Maccabi Tel Aviv squad, talented young goalkeeper Barak Levi, sat in reserve on the bench.
With just under 20 minutes gone Moannes Dabbur played an excellent ball into Or Baruch in front of goal but the Bnei Yehuda striker was unable to convert. Five minutes later, Dabbur was once again in the forefront, heading a Marwan Kabha pass beyond the German keeper but the goal was ruled offside. Ten minutes before half time Beitar Jerusalem's young defender Eli Dasan handled a ball in the area and Belgian referee Sébastien Delferiere pointed to the spot. Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Lewis Holtby's initial shot was blocked by Hapoel Tel Aviv keeper Boris Klaiman, but Germany's young captain managed to latch on to the deflection to give his side a 1-0 lead. Just before the half-time whistle in a superb co-operative effort, Maccabi Haifa midfielder Eyal Golasa took possession at midfield, passed on to Moannes Dabbur who returned the ball to Golasa who struck past the German keeper to even the score at 1-1.
Israel's first chance of the second half fell once again to the pairing Golasa-Dabbur, and this time it was the former's pass to the latter that put the Maccabi Tel Aviv striker in position to finish but his shot went wide. And so it was Germany who were to have the final word in the match, as Borussia Mönchengladbach's winger Patrick Herrmann found Hoffenheim forward Kevin Volland in space, who struck into the Israel net to seal a 2-1 victory. But despite this being Israeli U21 coach Guy Luzon's side's second friendly defeat in three days, there is still room for optimism. In the championships in June, these two rivals will be in a group with Spain and Russia, while Israel will be joined in the parallel group by Norway, England and Italy.
<h3 span="" style="" line-height:"="">
