Maccabi Tel Aviv's young international striker Moannes Dabbur was in the starting lineup of the nation's Under 21 side that drew 2-2 with Norway in the opening match of the Euro U21 Championships
Over 10,000 spectators, a majority dressed in the blue-and-white national colours, were witness to a tiny bit of history in the making last night as the Euro U21 Championships opened last night here in Israel with a match between the hosts and Norway at Netanya's brand new municipal stadium. They were also witness to an entertaining match with four goals, a penalty kick, a red card and a stoppage time drama. For most of the match it was guests Norway who dominated the proceedings, despite being reduced to ten men after defender Vegar Eggen Hedenstad was sent off just before the half time whistle. But despite Norway's superiority on the pitch it was the blue and white of Israel who showed a one goal advantage on the scoreboard after 90 minutes of play. But in the four minutes of time added on, Norwegian midfielder Harmeet Singh found the net with an equaliser that led to the two sides sharing the points.
Maccabi Tel Aviv were represented in last night's match by two of their young talents, goalkeeper Barak Levi, who remained on the bench, and striker Moannes Dabbur who played the full 90 minutes. The match opened with sustained pressure from the Scandinavians, but just past the quarter hour mark the Polish referee Pawel Gil pointed to the spot after an Israel corner into the area led to Maccabi Netanya defender Omri Ben Harush's being felled in the Norwegian defence's failed attempts at a clearance. Israel captain, Ashdod FC midfielder Nir Biton, stepped up and coolly scored Israel's first historic goal in this championship competition. The advantage was short lived though as less than ten minutes later Norway's striker Marcus Pedersen drove home past Israel and Hapoel Tel Aviv keeper Boris Kleyman to balance the score sheet. A minute before half time Norway defender Vegar Hedenstad was shown a straight red card when he grabbed Bnei Sakhnin striker Mohammad Kalibat from behind on his way towards the goal, reducing his side to ten men.
Despite their numerical advantage, the national side struggled to carve out any chances after the restart, and just short of the hour mark coach Guy Luzon replaced Bnei Yehuda striker Or Baruch with Maccabi Haifa's Alon Turgeman. Shortly afterwards Maccabi's Moannes Dabbur got control of a ball inside the area, turned on his defender but his shot missed its target. Ten minutes later Luzon's substitution paid dividends as the 21 year old Turgeman found the net with a strong volley of a deflection from the edge of the area. But just as Israel looked headed for an historic victory, a long ball in stoppage time found striker Håvard Nielsen who chested it down for substitute Singh to fire past a helpless Kleyman to bring the sides level as time ran out. In the second fixture in Group A Italy beat England 1-0 to propel the young Azures to the head of the group after the first round of matches.
