34 goals, just one red card and 2 scored penalties - this was the harvest of the last week. Beitar Jerusalem won a very important and hard game against Hapoel Tel-Aviv; Maccabee Tel-Aviv and Hapoel Haifa defeated with no special efforts the two newcomers, Maccabee Yaffa and Hapoel Kefar-Saba, respectively. As for Maccabee Haifa, it finished the game again in 10 players, and although Haim Revivo scored a fantastic goal to give them a 3:1 lead, it was not enough against Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa; the 4th consecutive draw of the latter, though not 0:0 this time. Maccabee Herzliya and Hapoel Rishon le-Zion registered the very important away victories, and so did Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa, with a wonderful goal of Eyal Beglyabter. But the best performance was registered, no doubt of that, by Hapoel Beer-Sheva, for whose scorers 2 lines hardly sufficed.
Playing without its best player Istvan Salloi, Beitar started amazingly nevertheless - in the very first attack Jaroslav Baku managed to parry the scissors kick of Ronen Harazi, Yossi Abuksis performed a corner, and Laszlo Czeh shot a bomb from 22 meters; Baku slipped the ball, Harazi tried the rebound, Baku parried it, but just to the legs of Eli Ohana, 1:0. That was just the 1st minute, however, and Hapoel started attacking, but succeeded to equalize just one minute before the break through Sharon Mimer, after Czeh's mistake. However, the 2nd half came, and Sharon Mimer scored another goal, to his own net this time! Eli Ohana, in his best game this year, headed it home once again, and the goal by Tomer Eliyahu could change nothing. 3:2 to Beitar, which regained the lead.
Maccabee Tel-Aviv could do nothing during the 1st half, as Yaffa was guarding personally and destroying the Champions' game. After the header of Eli Driks, Yaffa started playing openly, and here Maccabee Tel-Aviv flourished. They scored twice more, and Yaacov Hillel shot a bomb to the bar; and certainly, we should not forget the shot of Nir Klinger from 30 meters, giving Boris Beloshapka "The Save Of The Week". Again, if not Yaffa's keeper, the result could've been astronomic. So, Maccabee Tel-Aviv is the 2nd, and Maccabee "Beloshapka" Yaffa is far-far down.
Nothing promised Maccabee Haifa to lose the lead, after Sergei Kandaurov shot a real bomb to the bar of Shai Hess, and Eyal Berkovich shot a rebound in from 20 meters; even less were the chances of Petakh-Tikwa after the goal of Sergei Kandaurov. But then, in the 2nd half, Ronnie Levi was sent off with his 2nd yellow card, and Moti Kakun reduced the score. Haim Revivo, with his problems seemingly after him, got a ball from Alon Hazan and, without stopping, shot it greatly with his left foot to the high corner of Shai Hess, making the score 3:1. But Petakh-Tikwa was still in the game. First, Rafi Cohen didn't succeed to grasp the high ball, and Eli Abrabanel shot it from 20 meters, 3:2. The second blow came when Edgardo Adinolfi, in his first game in an opening squad, knocked Alon Maya down in the box. Adinolfi wasn't shown the 2nd yellow card, though he deserved it, but Moti Kakun equalized from the penalty spot; Rafi Cohen reached the ball which went under his left crossbar, but managed just to touch it.
Hapoel Haifa wasn't that convincing this time against the outsiders, Hapoel Kefar-Saba, but they achieved the expected result. Reuven Attar didn't score for the 2nd consecutive week, but if not Attar, they have Amir Turgeman who definitely knows how to score. Zoltan Veg in Haifa's net prevented the guests from scoring with a series of great saves, mostly from Stolper (49) and Lazovskiy (50). The two teams seemed yesterday close by their skills; still, there are winners and there are losers.
Maccabee Herzliya won a very important game in Beit-Shean, equalizing and then scoring the last minute winner. Hapoel Rishon le-Zion was satisfied too, with the same score away vs Tsafririm Holon; the coach, Vitaliy Shevchenko, was very pleased with his team and made the after-game comments to the reporters in a fluent Hebrew. As for Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa, the start of its new coach, Avraham Marchinsky, wasn't bad at all: being down from the own goal by Sharon Tsofin, they managed to score 4 times, with Roman Filipchuk running to "The Top Scorers" list; the best goal was by the veteran Eyal Beglyabter, who saw Bonnie Ginzburg out of his net and, getting a meter out of the midcircle, bounced the ball precisely above the keeper, from a distance of 44 meters!
But, as I told you before, the best game was shown by Hapoel Beer-Sheva, with 6 goals scored, and what the goals! If you remember the 2:2 lovely equalizer of Man. United vs Barcelona in the last year Champions' League, performed by Lee Sharpe, you'll love the same goal by Armand Zeiberlinsh, who finished the pass with a heel Sagi Strauss wasn't able to react to. The 2nd goal was even better - Gadi Hazut, scoring the unforgettable 38-meters free kick the last year against Hapoel Haifa, shot this time a bomb from 25 meters without stopping, a fantastic effort. The goals of Beer-Sheva were continued with a volley kick by Sergei Gusev, a great shot from 18 meters by Stav Elimelekh and a personal skill by Sharon Avitan. A great victory, and Beer-Sheva starts finally to threaten the top.
NEXT WEEK: the best game is, no doubt, in Haifa, between Maccabee Haifa and Beitar Jerusalem (I said several times the game would be held in Jerusalem, so I beg your pardon for the disinformation). Another wonderful game is promised to be in Beer-Sheva, between Hapoel Beer-Sheva and Maccabee Tel-Aviv.
BEITAR JERUSALEM - Hapoel Tel-Aviv 3:2 (1:1).
-----------------------------------------------
Hosts: Eli Ohana (1, 75), OG (Sharon Mimer, 54).
Guests: Sharon Mimer (45), Tomer Eliyahu (88).
THE BEST: Eli Ohana, forward, Beitar Jerusalem.
MACCABEE TEL-AVIV - Maccabee Yaffa 3:0 (0:0).
-----------------------------------------------
Hosts: Eli Driks (51), Nir Klinger (74), Avi Nimni (90).
Guests: -.
THE BEST: Noam Shoham, midfielder, Maccabee Tel-Aviv.
Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa - Maccabee Haifa 3:3 (0:2).
-------------------------------------------------
Hosts: Moti Kakun (56, 77 pen), Eli Abrabanel (75).
Guests: Eyal Berkovich (18), Sergei Kandaurov (40), Haim Revivo (60).
RED: Ronnie Levi, midfielder, Maccabee Haifa, 54.
THE BEST: Moti Kakun, forward, Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa.
HAPOEL HAIFA - Hapoel Kefar-Saba 2:0 (1:0).
--------------------------------------------
Hosts: Amir Turgeman (44, 80).
Guests: -.
THE BEST: Amir Turgeman, forward, Hapoel Haifa.
Beitar Tel-Aviv - HAPOEL BEER-SHEVA 1:6 (0:2).
------------------------------------------------
Hosts: Shlomi Amar (62).
Guests: Armand Zeiberlinsh (18), Gadi Hazut (25), OG (Doron Amar, 54),
Sergei Gusev (78), Stav Elimelekh (80), Sharon Avitan (85).
THE BEST: Gadi Hazut, midfielder, Hapoel Beer-Sheva.
Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv - MACCABEE PETAKH-TIKWA 1:4 (1:2).
---------------------------------------------------------
Hosts: OG (Sharon Tsofin, 20).
Guests: Najouan Grayib (25 pen), Roman Filipchuk (43, 72),
Eyal Beglyabter (65).
THE BEST: Eyal Beglyabter, midfielder, Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa.
Hapoel Beit-Shean - MACCABEE HERZLIYA 1:2 (1:1).
--------------------------------------------------
Hosts: Shimon Danan (20).
Guests: Yaniv Cohen (36), Israel Cohen (90).
THE BEST: Yaniv Cohen, midfielder, Maccabee Herzliya.
Hapoel Tsafririm Holon - HAPOEL RISHON LE-ZION 1:2 (0:1).
-----------------------------------------------------------
Hosts: Avi Pass (59).
Guests: Yossi Gordana (37), Nir Shikwa (83).
THE BEST: Moshe Sebeg, forward, Hapoel Rishon le-Zion.
THE ROUND'S TEAM:
-----------------
Itzhak Korenfein
(Beitar Jerusalem)
Shmuel Levi Arik Benado Amir Shelakh Yaron Ben-Dov
(Beitar Jerusalem) (Beitar Jerusalem) (Maccabee Tel-Aviv) (Rishon le-Zion)
Gadi Hazut Eyal Beglyabter Noam Shoham Armand Zeiberlinsh
(Hp. Beer-Sheva) (Mcb. Petakh-Tikwa) (Mcb. Tel-Aviv) (Hapoel Beer-Sheva)
Eli Ohana Moti Kakun
(Beitar Jerusalem) (Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa)
Beitar Jerusalem - 4.
Maccabee Tel-Aviv, Hapoel Beer-Sheva - 2.
Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa, Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa, Hapoel Rishon le-Zion - 1.
PLACE TEAM G W T L Goals Points
1 (2) Beitar Jerusalem 07 6 1 0 17- 8 19
2 (3) Maccabee Tel-Aviv 07 6 0 1 18- 6 18
3 (1) Maccabee Haifa 07 5 2 0 16- 7 17
4 (4) Hapoel Haifa 07 5 1 1 17- 6 16
5 (5) Hapoel Tel-Aviv 07 4 1 2 11- 9 13
6 (6) Hapoel Beer-Sheva 07 3 3 1 15- 8 12
7 (7) Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa 07 2 4 1 10- 8 10
8 (10) Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa 07 3 1 3 14-17 10
9 (9) Hapoel Beit-Shean 07 2 1 4 9-12 7
10 (14) Maccabee Herzliya 07 2 1 4 5- 9 7
11 (8) Beitar Tel-Aviv 07 2 1 4 11-16 7
12 (15) Hapoel Rishon le-Zion 07 2 0 5 6-10 6
13 (11) Maccabee Yaffa 07 2 0 5 7-16 6
14 (12) Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv 07 1 2 4 9-17 5
15 (13) Hapoel Tsafririm Holon 07 1 1 5 10-15 4
16 (16) Hapoel Kefar-Saba 07 0 1 6 5-16 1
BEST PLAYER: Gadi Hazut, midfielder, Hapoel Beer-Sheva.
TOP SCORERS: Reuven Attar (Hapoel Haifa) 8(2)
*********************************************************
Amir Turgeman (Hapoel Haifa) 6(0) 2
*********************************************************
Roman Filipchuk (Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa) 5(0) 2
Sergei Gusev (Hapoel Beer-Sheva) 5(0) 1
Nir Klinger (Maccabee Tel-Aviv) 5(0) 1
Istvan Salloi (Beitar Jerusalem) 5(0)
Nissim Avitan (Hapoel Tel-Aviv) 5(0)
Moti Kakun (Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa) 5(2) 2(1)
*********************************************************
Yaniv Avvargeal (Beitar Tel-Aviv) 4(0)
Offer Shitrit (Maccabee Haifa) 4(0)
Sergei Kandaurov (Maccabee Haifa) 4(1) 1
Sahar Mizrahi (Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv) 4(1)
Ronen Harazi (Beitar Jerusalem) 4(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 Haifa (3) | Beitar Jerusalem (1) |
| Hapoel Beer-Sheva (6) | Maccabee Tel-Aviv (2) |
| Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa (8) | Hapoel Haifa (4) |
| Hapoel Tel-Aviv (5) | Hapoel Beit-Shean (9) |
| Hapoel Tsafririm Holon (15) | Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa (7) |
| Maccabee Herzliya (10) | Beitar Tel-Aviv (11) |
| Hapoel Rishon le-Zion (12) | Hapoel Kefar-Saba (16) |
| Maccabee Yaffa (13) | Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv (14) |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Previous, Week 06 | Main Page | Soccer Page | 1995-96, History | Next, Week 08 |