Maccabi Tel Aviv's young international striker Munas Dabbur put on his best performance to date for Israel's Under-21s with four masterful strikes against Norway
Four goals by Maccabi Tel Aviv's young international striker Munas Dabbur led the Young Israel side to an important 4-1 triumph over Norway in their fourth round group 8 match of the 2015 European Under-21 championship qualifiers at the "Moshava" Stadium in Petach Tikva.
In addition to Dabbur, Maccabi's goalkeeper Barak Levi and midfielder Omri Altman also opened for head coach Michael Nis' Young Israel team, that waited till eight minutes from half time to take the lead. Under-21 captain and Beitar Jerusalem defender Eli Dassa crossed to Dabbur in the area who took the ball on the turn and struck left-footed into the opposition net. Four minutes after the restart Dabbur collected a long ball on the right of the area and coolly fired past the keeper to double his goal tally and his side's advantage over their Norwegian rivals. Seven minutes from time the Norwegians pulled one back from a corner that was ruefully turned in for an own goal by Ashdod FC defender Amir Ben-Shimon, but even this brief moment of opposition revival could not slow Munas Dabbur's momentum. Two minutes later he scored his best goal of the match, charging effortlessly on his own from 30 metres past the entire Norwegian defence to score from close range. His fourth came a minute from time, this time with help from good build-up play by midfielders Dia Saba (Maccabi Petach Tikva) and Gadi Kinde (Ashdod FC) who got the ball in front of the goal mouth for Dabbur to poke into the net to seal an impressive 4-1 final result.
Both Munas Dabbur and Maccabi keeper Barak Levi played the full 90 minutes, while Omri Altman was substituted just over ten minutes from time by Bnei Yehuda midfielder Amir Agavev. Dabbur has now scored seven goals in the four matches of Young Israel 's current campaign. It was his 18th cap for the Under-21s, with Omri Altman registering his 9th call-up and Barak Levi his 6th.
The next challenge for Israel's young internationals will arrive already this coming Tuesday at 7.30pm when group 8 leaders Portugal arrive at the "Moshava" Stadium for round five of the European Under-21 championship qualifiers.
Photographs courtesy of the Israel Football Association
