Maccabi Tel Aviv's young international striker Munas Dabbur scored his fifth goal in two matches for Israel's Under-21s in their 3-4 loss to Portugal
After scoring an amazing four goals last Friday in Israel's Under-21 European Championship qualifier against Norway, Maccabi's young international striker Munas Dabbur continued his good run of form today with yet another goal that gave his side an early 1-0 advantage in Young Israel's ultimate 3-4 loss to a strong Portuguese side at the "Moshava" Stadium in Petah Tikva. Joining Dabbur in the starting eleven were young Maccabi goalkeeper Barak Levi, making his seventh international appearance, and midfielder Omri Altman with his tenth start for Israel's Under-21s.
The advantage provided by Maccabi's talented young striker after just nine minutes of play lasted only five minutes, as striker Ivan Cavaleiro found an equaliser for Portugal just before the quarter hour mark to keep the sides level until half time. The second half also opened brightly for the Israeli side and two Maccabi players were involved in recapturing the lead. Dabbur sent a cross into the area for Altman, who back-heeled for Maccabi Petach Tikva midfielder Dia Saba to put Israel back out front 2-1. After Portugal reversed the one-goal advantage in the next ten minutes of play, Maccabi Haifa's young defender Taleb Tawatha managed to equalise for Israel with just over quarter of an hour to play. But in the end Portugal had the last word as five minutes from time midfielder Andre Gomez put his side ahead 3-4 to finalise their victory.
Munas Dabbur's goal was his fifth in the last two Young Israel matches and his eighth in the total of five matches in their current qualifying campaign for the 2015 Under-21 European Championships. All told Dabbur has appeared twenty times for Israel's Under-21s and scored a very respectable twelve goals in the process. All three Maccabi Tel Aviv players – Dabbur, Altman and Levi – played the full 90 minutes in this latest Young Israel encounter.
