MTA's U19s reached the finals of an international tournament during their training camp in Holland
Maccabi Tel Aviv "Shachar", the club's Under-19s, are holding their annual training camp in Heemskerk, some 16 miles outside of the Dutch capital Amsterdam. The highpoint of the training camp began yesterday, a prestigious pre-season tournament involving eight youth teams from all over the world, including Holland's own AFC Ajax and AZ Alkmaar as well as teams from Brazil, Bulgaria and Turkey. The matches held were shorter than usual, just 50 minutes, with each team playing a number of matches each day.
Maccabi's road to the final began yesterday (Saturday) with a 2-0 victory over last year's winner, Sparta Rotterdam, where Dor Jan was responsible for both of "Shachar"'s goals. This was followed by two 1-1 draws, the first against Hungarian top-flight side Budapest Honved FC, with Sharon Zisso netting the Maccabi goal. Asaf Madar's strike in the second draw against AZ Alkmaar sent "Shachar" through to the semi-finals, where the Under-19's toppled German side Eintracht Braunschweig after a penalty shoot-out in which "Shachar" keeper Gal Tovali saved Braunschweig's final kick. The final set Maccabi up once again against AZ Alkmaar, where they hoped to improve on the result of the group stage encounter. Unfortunately, the reverse proved to be true and the Dutch Eredivisie side put on an exceptionally strong performance to walk away with a 4-0 win and the tournament trophy.
Nonetheless, head coach Amir Turjeman's lads can look back upon an exceptionally successful pre-season tournament showing. "Shachar" will continue their training in Holland until the weekend, when they'll return to Israel to prepare for the opening of the national Under-19 Premier League season in just over two weeks' time.
