This round was also wonderful, very impredictable sometimes, with some unexpected results and several wonderful goals - of Yossi Madar, Vyacheslav Melnikov, Reuven Attar and the brothers Zohar, Itzhak and Avivi. 28 goals were scored, 5 players were sent off, 3 of them from one team (!). Maccabee Tel-Aviv, Beitar Jerusalem and Hapoel Tel-Aviv have the 100% success, but Maccabee Haifa is also scratching the top, after tying Hapoel Beer-Sheva in what had been the general repetition of these 2 teams before Sporting Lisbon and Barcelona, respectively.
The game wasn't that bright, and we could've expected more from the International teams of ours. Haifa, tired and bad-mooded somewhat after the Israel-Slovakia game, also lacked Moshe Glam, who finished the very bad week of his by being sent off after 23 minutes (undeservedly, in my opinion) after a foul on Amir Avigdor. Haifa still managed to dominate the game, we saw the great double save of Shaul Smadja from the legs of Revivo and Kandaurov, respectively, and on another opportunity Kandaurov scored. But then the mistake of Rafi Cohen (who really finds his regular skill lastly neither in Haifa nor in the National team), who slipped the ball after a corner kick, enabled Sergei Gusev to equalize, 2 minutes from time. Now the teams head to the real exams.
Maccabee Tel-Aviv, playing away vs Hapoel Rishon le-Zion of Vitaliy Shevchenko, made a very good start, after Meir Melika was kicked down, and Itzhak Zohar shot a wonderful free kick from 22 meters. 1:0 after just 3 minutes. But Rishon equalized with a truly fantastic goal - Sharon Martsiano found Vyacheslav Melnikov at the box edge, and the latter, on 5 square meters, managed to enter the box, to pass Gadi Brumer, to mislead Nir Klinger to his right, Amir Shelakh to his left, and to shoot unstoppably to the high right corner of Uvarov. Rishon was the best squad afterwards, and Dudu Heffer headed the ball to the post after a great pass of the same Melnikov; the only awakening of Shavit Elimelekh came just before the whistle, as he flew greatly to parry the ball of Victor Moroz from the high right corner. And the beginning of the 2nd half also belonged to Rishon, but Maccabee managed to score after a counterattack, and then was better up to the end.
The most unexpected happened, undoubtedly, in Yaffa, where the hosts crashed Hapoel Tsafririm Holon, just devastated it. Nothing was to indicate that, as Holon took the early lead of 2:0 after just 19 minutes. Even when Avivi Zohar scored from the penalty spot, and Guy Mishal was sent off, nothing was clear. But then Avivi Zohar equalized before the half-time whistle with a fantastic free kick from 25 meters under the crossbar. That was it. Yaffa scored once again, by Offer Reuven; Shimon Israel, the keeper of Holon, was sent off for a handplay outside the box, and then Hezi Shirazi was also sent off, a dubious decision by the referee Arik Haimovich. 11 against 8 and an unexperienced keeper, Yaffa scored once again. The best player was, no doubt, Offer Reuven, who scored, made a goal pass and was the man to be knocked down twice, followed by 2 goals of Avivi Zohar. And as for Holon, its coach, Mordechai Spiegler, said: "We didn't play against the European Cup Winners, and still, we let 8 goals in 2 games. We have to stop it quickly". Sylvain Sancent (sp?), the keeper of Strasbourg, is on his way to Holon now.
Hapoel Haifa, traditionally, manages to put its troubles away while playing against Hapoel Beit-Shean. This time Beit-Shean managed to score, but they still lost. Reuven Attar, Felix Halfon and Amir Turgeman were the dominant persons throughout the game; it seems the National defender and the best scorer of the last season have found their place in Haifa. And Reuven Attar was the best in the field, also scoring twice. His 2nd goal was wonderful, as he got the ball from Tal Banin, screwed himself between the two defenders and shot a clever curved ball above Meir Cohen.
Maccabee Herzliya was better in its game than the opponents, and the referee Meir Levi made the rudest mistake, not sending off Demian Lukashik of Hapoel Tel-Aviv after his brutal foul on Offer Mizrahi. But 2 defensive mistakes cost Herzliya all the points, and sent Hapoel Tel-Aviv home with 100% of success. First, Yossi Madar kidnapped the ball and passed it to Nissim Avitan, who wasn't confused against Gilardi and scored to become "The Best Scorer" by now. And the 2nd one was the best - Gilardi parried the ball, Yossi Madar tried the shot, the ball came back to him deflecting from the back of Nissim Avitan, and Madar tried once more with a great scissors kick, this time successfully.
Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa made it in the derby, for the first time after 9 years, with a great game of Roman Filipchuk. Bnei-Yehuda drew Beitar Tel-Aviv at home, an unexpected result for the Oranges. And Beitar Jerusalem, playing in Kefar-Saba, won again, after being down; they win the second consecutive game in such a way.
Next week - Maccabee Tel-Aviv vs Bnei-Yehuda, Maccabee Haifa vs Herzliya, Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa vs Maccabee Yaffa.
Hapoel Rishon le-Zion - MACCABEE TEL-AVIV 1:2 (1:1).
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Hosts: Vyacheslav Melnikov (9).
Guests: Itzhak Zohar (3), Avi Nimni (58).
THE BEST: Gadi Brumer, defender, Maccabee Tel-Aviv.
Maccabee Herzliya - HAPOEL TEL-AVIV 0:2 (0:0).
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Hosts: -.
Guests: Nissim Avitan (70), Yossi Madar (82).
THE BEST: Yossi Madar, midfielder, Hapoel Tel-Aviv.
Hapoel Kefar-Saba - BEITAR JERUSALEM 1:2 (1:2).
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Hosts: Andrei Lazovskiy (4).
Guests: Eli Ohana (28), Istvan Salloi (38).
RED: Raanan Deri, midfielder, Beitar Jerusalem, 54.
THE BEST: Istvan Salloi, midfielder, Beitar Jerusalem.
MACCABEE PETAKH-TIKWA - Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa 3:1 (1:1).
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Hosts: Guy Itzhak (19), Roman Filipchuk (58, 84).
Guests: Tomacz Czibola (42).
THE BEST: Yossi Shoshani, midfielder, Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa.
Hapoel Beer-Sheva - Maccabee Haifa 1:1 (0:0).
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Hosts: Sergei Gusev (88).
Guests: Sergei Kandaurov (72).
RED: Moshe Glam, defender, Maccabee Haifa, 23.
THE BEST: Shaul Smadja, keeper, Hapoel Beer-Sheva.
HAPOEL HAIFA - Hapoel Beit-Shean 3:1 (2:0).
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Hosts: Reuven Attar (11, 67), Amir Turgeman (37).
Guests: Hannah Farhoud (46).
THE BEST: Reuven Attar, midfielder, Hapoel Haifa.
MACCABEE YAFFA - Hapoel Tsafririm Holon 4:2 (2:2).
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Hosts: Avivi Zohar (27 pen, 45), Offer Reuven (53), Itzhak Swissa (79).
Guests: Shai Holtzman (16), Hezi Shirazi (19).
RED: Guy Mishal, defender, Hapoel Tsafririm Holon, 44.
Shimon Israel, keeper, Hapoel Tsafririm Holon, 68.
Hezi Shirazi, forward, Hapoel Tsafririm Holon, 73.
THE BEST: Offer Reuven, midfielder, Maccabee Yaffa.
Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv - Beitar Tel-Aviv 2:2 (0:1).
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Hosts: Nir Sevilla (61), Offer Levi (87).
Guests: Shlomi Amar (26), Ronen Schweig (53).
THE BEST: Nir Sevilla, forward, Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv.
THE ROUND'S TEAM:
-----------------
Shaul Smadja
(Hapoel Beer-Sheva)
Felix Halfon Gadi Brumer Amir Shelakh Offer Levi
(Hapoel Haifa) (Maccabee Tel-Aviv) (Maccabee Tel-Aviv) (Bnei-Yehuda)
Offer Reuven Istvan Salloi Reuven Attar Yossi Shoshani
(Maccabee Yaffa) (Beitar Jerusalem) (Hapoel Haifa) (Mcb. Petakh-Tikwa)
Roman Filipchuk Eli Ohana
(Mcb. Petakh-Tikwa) (Beitar Jerusalem)
Maccabee Tel-Aviv, Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa,
Beitar Jerusalem, Hapoel Haifa - 2.
Hapoel Beer-Sheva, Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv, Maccabee Yaffa - 1.
PLACE TEAM G W T L Goals Points
1 (1) Maccabee Tel-Aviv 02 2 0 0 5- 1 6
2 (4) Hapoel Tel-Aviv 02 2 0 0 5- 2 6
3 (5-6) Beitar Jerusalem 02 2 0 0 4- 2 6
4 (8-9) Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa 02 1 1 0 7- 5 4
5 (2-3) Maccabee Haifa 02 1 1 0 4- 2 4
6 (11-12) Hapoel Haifa 02 1 0 1 4- 3 3
7 (14-15) Maccabee Yaffa 02 1 0 1 5- 5 3
8 (2-3) Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa 02 1 0 1 4- 4 3
9 (5-6) Hapoel Beit-Shean 02 1 0 1 3- 4 3
10 (7) Maccabee Herzliya 02 1 0 1 1- 2 3
11 (10) Hapoel Beer-Sheva 02 0 1 1 3- 4 1
-- (11-12) Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv 02 0 1 1 3- 4 1
13 (8-9) Hapoel Tsafririm Holon 02 0 1 1 6- 8 1
14 (16) Beitar Tel-Aviv 02 0 1 1 2- 5 1
15 (13) Hapoel Rishon le-Zion 02 0 0 2 1- 3 0
16 (14-15) Hapoel Kefar-Saba 02 0 0 2 2- 5 0
BEST PLAYER: Offer Reuven, midfielder, Maccabee Yaffa.
TOP SCORERS: Nissim Avitan (Hapoel Tel-Aviv) 3(0) 1
******************************************************
Nassim Agbariya (Hapoel Beit-Shean) 2(0)
Guy Itzhak (Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa) 2(0) 1
Roman Filipchuk (Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa) 2(0) 2
Alexander Gaiduk (Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa) 2(0)
Manor Hassan (Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa) 2(0)
Reuven Attar (Hapoel Haifa) 2(0) 2
Amir Turgeman (Hapoel Haifa) 2(0) 1
Avivi Zohar (Maccabee Yaffa) 2(1) 2
Avi Nimni (Maccabee Tel-Aviv) 2(1) 1
Yossi Madar (Hapoel Tel-Aviv) 2(1) 1
NOTE - the penalties scored are put in brackets. The last
column means the number of goals scored this week.
NEXT ROUND (in a week):
| Hosts | Guests |
| Maccabee Tel-Aviv (1) | Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv (11-12) |
| Hapoel Tel-Aviv (2) | Hapoel Rishon le-Zion (15) |
| Beitar Jerusalem (3) | Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa (4) |
| Maccabee Haifa (5) | Maccabee Herzliya (10) |
| Beitar Tel-Aviv (14) | Hapoel Haifa (6) |
| Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa (8) | Maccabee Yaffa (7) |
| Hapoel Beit-Shean (9) | Hapoel Kefar-Saba (16) |
| Hapoel Tsafririm Holon (13) | Hapoel Beer-Sheva (11-12) |
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