A brilliant solo effort from Alex Moss earned Team Maccabi GB a hard-earned draw against old adversaries France.
July 29, 2015 21:42EUROPEAN MACCABI GAMES - OPEN FOOTBALL MATCH ONE
GB 2 FRANCE 2
A brilliant solo effort from Alex Moss earned Team Maccabi GB a hard-earned draw against old adversaries France.
Louie Basso was given the captain's armband in the absence of Mark Bell, who started the game on the bench, with Hendon United star Yoav Kestenbaum named as the lone striker.
Played at Hertha Berlin's training ground, GB made the perfect start when Jordan Nathan lost his marker to power a bullet header into the top corner from a well-delivered corner kick.
Goalkeeper Ross Weinrabe kept GB's lead intact with a brilliant reflex save moments later but he was left isolated from France's next attack as a low shot nestled into the bottom corner to haul Les Bleus level after 18 minutes.
Basso came close to restoring GB's lead midway through the half but his goal-bound effort was deflected inches over.
However, it was the French who scored the game's third goal via an excellent curling free-kick with flew past the out-stretched hand of Weinrabe.
France hit the bar at the start of the second half and this served as the wake-up call GB needed as Moss beat several challenges to find space to drill home a low shot into the bottom corner.
The final chance of the game saw Basso sent another shot towards goal that was tipped over in a match that he, Loofe and Engleman were my outstanding performers for GB.
GB boss Jonny Rose told JC Sport: "I was delighted with the performance. We experienced the highs of being ahead and the lows of falling behind. To come from 2-1 down is a testament for the boys. Had the game continued for another five minutes I felt we'd have won it.
"At half time I reminded them to try and play our game. You've seen that we're a team and we'll get better."
GB defender Ashley Loofe told JC Sport: "France were dominant in the first half but we pressed them more in the second and got into our stride.
"Overall we can have no complaints with the result as we lacked momentum to win the game. We let them back in after a couple of errors.
"France went down very easily and our young players must learn to adapt to European football."
GB: Ross Weinrabe, Jake Rinsler, Alex Davis, Ashley Loofe, Jordan Nathan, Adam Gilman, Ricky Engleman, Louie Basso, Rocky Spitzer, Yoav Kestenbaum, Alex Moss. Subs: Joe Cohen, Joe Sharpe, Mark Bell, Rob Cohen, Dovi Fehler, Josh Goldstein, Max Rose