After uniting members of the club's two squads, Maccabi's U15s took off for the Italian town of Pordenone to participate in an annual football competition
About a fortnight ago, Maccabi Tel Aviv's two Under-15 teams, "Eldad" and Team 2, both reached the finals of national U15 State Cup competition, to be held at the end of the month. Days later a team was formed from members of both the Under-15 squads, which then headed out to the small northeastern Italian town of Pordenone, where they participated in the annual U15 football tournament known as the "Memorial Franco Gallini International Football Tournament". This is the first time an Israeli youth team has participated in the tournament, which was first held in 1998.
Joining 31 other U15 teams from all over the world, Maccabi's youngsters were assigned to one of the eight groups of four teams that competed in the tournament, with the top two teams of each group advancing to the final stages of the competition. In the event Maccabi's Under-15s finished second in their group after facing challenges from counterparts from clubs Atalanta, Fiume Bannia and Don Bosco Ve. In the last sixteen head coach Erez Belfer's squad lost a penalty shoot-out 4-3 to Bulgarian team Ludogrets after playing out a goalless draw. But the Maccabi youngsters were able to console themselves with victories in their final two encounters against other last-16 losers to finish a highly respectable ninth in the final standings of the competition. The ultimate winners of the tournament were none other than domestic heavyweights Milan.
The professional staff that accompanied Maccabi's Under-15s to Pordenone reported that the pitch conditions there were far from ideal. Nonetheless the qualities of physicality and speed the Maccabi youngsters encountered in their tournament opponents provided a healthy challenge for the young players, who coped more than admirably and forged new bonds of friendship between members of the two Maccabi Under-15 teams, who starting next season will be officially merged.
