Only for the second time, Israel qualified for the UEFA European Under-19 Championships. Four of MTA's young stars made an appearance
The group stage of this year's UEFA European Under-19 Championships in Hungary ended last weekend, with Israel one of only eight national Under-19 teams to make an appearance in this prestigious tournament. Unfortunately they finished last in their group, excluding them from both the semi-finals of the competition and from participation in the FIFA World Youth Championship. But four of Maccabi Tel Aviv's brightest young Under-19 stars – Dor Peretz and Sean Goldberg (class of '95) and Dan Glazer and Guy Aviv (class of '96) – all played an active role in the Israel squad, that participated for only the second time in this important European youth team competition.
Midfielder Dor Peretz, the Israeli team captain, was suspended from the first group match against Portugal due to an accumulation of yellow cards, but fellow midfielder Dan Glazer and defender Sean Goldberg were both in the starting eleven. Defender Guy Aviv came off the bench to make his sixth appearance for the national U19s in a match the Israelis lost 0-3. Peretz, Goldberg and Glazer all played the full 90 minutes in the second match against Austria, Glazer too making his sixth ever appearance for the national squad. This match too ended in a 0-3 losing scoreline, which eliminated the side from the semi-finals of the tournament with still one group-stage match left to play.
Israel entered their third group-stage match against hosts Hungary with a chance of ending third in the group, a finish that would have guaranteed them a place in the FIFA World Youth Championship to be held next year in New Zealand. Dor Peretz, in his eighth appearance for the national side, once again played the full 90 minutes. Sean Goldberg was in the first eleven (his twelfth national appearance) but was substituted on the hour mark. The match finished with the Hungarians on top 2-1, leaving Israel bottom of their group and outside next year's World Championship.
