Just 13 goals (the negative record of this season so far), no penalties at all and 3 red cards, one totally undeserved - this was the story of the last weekend in the National League, after the Ramat-Gan events in the Country League on Friday. And the thing to be emphasized above all, besides the fantastic goal of Vyacheslav Melnikov, is the most obvious red card this season, altogether with a penalty kick, not to be awarded - a mistake of Eitan Tavrizi, which can with no exaggeration spoil the season...
This was the Saturday in which the 2 leaders lost points - Maccabee Tel-Aviv equalizing 2 minutes from time in Herzliya, and Maccabee Haifa letting Hapoel Beit-Shean equalize at Kiryat-Eliezer, through a fantastic effort of Vyacheslav Melnikov; these were the games that brought most of the events. Hapoel Haifa and Beitar Jerusalem defeated their rivals away, and Hapoel Tel-Aviv did it at home, swapping places with Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa which lost at home to Hapoel Kefar-Saba from the very bottom. Bnei-Yehuda managed to equalize, also 2 minutes from time, in Beer-Sheva, through a good strike by Offer Levi. And now - to the very details.
Maccabee Herzliya surprised everybody yesterday, making a draw with Maccabee Tel-Aviv and being a better and more effective squad throughout the game (and no football fan in Israel doubts that Herzliya has been severely robbed by a referee, but that's a later story). The Belorussian defender Alexander Taikov volleyed a wonderful left-foot kick to a left post of Uvarov and in, after a great free kick preparation by Nissim Cohen, after 29 minutes; and from that moment on, these were Taikov and the keeper Shuli Gilardi (our "Player Of The Week") all over, denying the forwards of Maccabee Tel-Aviv time after time. Gilardi parried coolly the ball of Avi Nimni (52), the free kick of Itzhak Zohar (57), and the ball to his high right corner, sent by Haim Hageage (75). But the last word was that of Eli Driks, who headed a powerful ball to the net of Gilardi, 2 minutes from time. As usual, Eli Driks laughed the last, once again in his wonderful season.
Herzliya was defending, but the wonderful couple, Nissim Cohen and Offer Mizrahi, created the counterattacks that can be learnt at football schools. One of those brought us the most controversial moment of this season, the moment that robbed Maccabee Herzliya and the whole League. 64: Yaniv Cohen found Nissim Cohen, and the latter sent a fantastic ball to Offer Mizrahi, staying all alone against Uvarov. The keeper reached the edge of the box in front of the net, Mizrahi passed him, and Uvarov sent the leg which missed the ball, but not the leg of Mizrahi; seeing that the forward could still reach the ball and put it into the empty net, Uvarov, being already on the ground, sent a hand back to the leg of Mizrahi and finally sent the forward down. The easiest penalty to be awarded this season, the easiest red card to be shown. Or is it? Eitan Tavrizi marked to continue the game.
"The mistake to spoil the whole season" - an exaggeration? Actually, the truth. Herzliya was denied 2 well-deserved points, and even if it does nothing of importance to this attractive mid-table team, it could've reduced the gap at the top to 4 points instead of 5. Moreover, nobody for the last 4 years ever doubted the skill of Uvarov in the net, and therefore, the absence of the best Israeli keeper in a week, after a red card, could've given the better chances to Beitar Jerusalem in the Cup 1/4 final (and we remember that Uvarov was the most responsible for Maccabee's last Cup victory, over Hapoel Haifa). The suspension could've been even more severe, 2 or 3 games instead of one, and it would've affected another 2 hard games of Maccabee Tel-Aviv to come next, the derby at home and "The Game Of The Season" against Maccabee Haifa in Kiryat-Eliezer... But it all went otherwise. Too bad...
Shuli Gilardi was "The Best Keeper Of The Week", but Sagi Strauss could've been a serious contender, had the game lasted 81 minute instead of 90. He started his performance, parrying in a wonderful way the ball of Shalom Tikwa (11), and continued with the great saves in the 2nd half. He took in a wonderful flight the ball of Tomer Eliyahu that flew under his left crossbar (59), and after 10 minutes, won the battle again - Nissim Avitan headed the ball to the bar, and Sergei Pogodin shot a great volley kick from 14 meters, parried by Strauss again in a great flight, to a corner. 80: Yossi Ballas bounced it into the box, Nissim Avitan sent a flying header to the high right corner, and Strauss parried it to a corner, arguably "The Save Of The Season" and definitely the one neither Bernard Lama nor Angelo Peruzzi would've been ashamed of. But then again, you play the game for 90 minutes: Sergei Pogodin shot the simple far-ranger (82), Strauss slipped it, and Nissim Avitan was on the rebound to pass the keeper and to roll the winner in.
Maccabee Haifa had a wonderful opportunity to reduce the top gap, but it seems like it can't do anything against Beit-Shean at home. Offer Shitrit hit the bar, and both Haim Revivo and Eyal Berkovich were denied by Meir Cohen. Moshe Glam scored in the 2nd half, with a certain help of the rebound from Armand Zeiberlinsh, but Beit-Shean equalized quickly - Zeiberlinsh made a long-range pass to Vyacheslav Melnikov into the box (61), and the latter, being with his back to the net, leant aside and, supported by his right, shot with his left from the air, still without seeing the net; a wonderful "stretching exercise" goal, one of the real contenders for "The Goal Of The Season". Beit-Shean managed to preserve the point, even when it stayed immediately in 10 players.
This was another story of the game. The first yellow card to Vyacheslav Melnikov was shown when he continued playing after an offside whistle of the referee, and after several minutes he scored a goal Fabrizio Ravanelli himself could be proud of. But the young referee, Eyal Tsur, quickly reminded us the National League is by no means the Serie A - Melnikov lifted his shirt to his head celebrating, as Ravanelli often does, and that was the reason for the 2nd yellow card shown to him. A decision lacking any logical background.
Hapoel Haifa defeated Maccabee Yaffa away on Friday, with the debut goal this season of Alon Halfon; Yaffa is now the last, and Hapoel Haifa still the 3rd. Beitar Jerusalem didn't let Haifa run away, and therefore, sent Hapoel Tsafririm Holon down to Maccabee Yaffa; Istvan Salloi joined our "Scorers List", and he seems to regain his form. That's interesting that all the "Best Foreign Scorers" (Istvan Salloi, Roman Filipchuk and Sergei Kandaurov) scored 11 goals...
Hapoel Rishon le-Zion made a nil home draw against Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa, in a game really too dull to talk about. Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa was left in 9 players and suffered a home loss from Hapoel Kefar-Saba, 0:2; Golan Malul, the new International keeper of ours, made a serious mistake that led to the 1st goal. And Bnei-Yehuda managed to equalize in Beer-Sheva 2 minutes from time, through the wonderful personal effort of Offer Levi and a mistake of Beer-Sheva defence; and beforehand, these were several sparkling saves of Bonnie Ginzburg.
NEXT WEEK: The most interesting game is the Tel-Aviv derby - Maccabee (1) hosts Hapoel (5). At the bottom - Hapoel Beit-Shean (11) vs Hapoel Tsafririm Holon (15), Hapoel Kefar-Saba (12) vs Maccabee Yaffa (16).
Maccabee Herzliya - Maccabee Tel-Aviv 1:1 (1:0).
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Hosts: Alexander Taikov (29).
Guests: Eli Driks (89).
THE BEST: Shuli Gilardi, keeper, Maccabee Herzliya.
Maccabee Haifa - Hapoel Beit-Shean 1:1 (0:0).
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Hosts: Moshe Glam (59).
Guests: Vyacheslav Melnikov (61).
RED: Vyacheslav Melnikov, forward, Hapoel Beit-Shean, 61.
THE BEST: Meir Cohen, keeper, Hapoel Beit-Shean.
Maccabee Yaffa - HAPOEL HAIFA 0:1 (0:1).
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Hosts: -.
Guests: Alon Halfon (12).
THE BEST: Tal Banin, midfielder, Hapoel Haifa.
Hapoel Tsafririm Holon - BEITAR JERUSALEM 0:3 (0:0).
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Hosts: -.
Guests: Istvan Salloi (47, 78), Yossi Abuksis (59).
THE BEST: Istvan Salloi, midfielder, Beitar Jerusalem.
HAPOEL TEL-AVIV - Beitar Tel-Aviv 1:0 (0:0).
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Hosts: Nissim Avitan (82).
Guests: -.
THE BEST: Sergei Pogodin, midfielder, Hapoel Tel-Aviv.
Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa - HAPOEL KEFAR-SABA 0:2 (0:0).
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Hosts: -.
Guests: Oren Flash (59), Eran Prizant (67).
RED: Morad Magamedov, defender, Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa, 26.
Raz Rabinovich, defender, Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa, 29.
THE BEST: Gabor Marton, midfielder, Hapoel Kefar-Saba.
Hapoel Rishon le-Zion - Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa 0:0.
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Hosts: -.
Guests: -.
THE BEST: Oleg Molokov, defender, Hapoel Rishon le-Zion.
Hapoel Beer-Sheva - Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv 1:1 (0:0).
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Hosts: Amir Avigdor (54).
Guests: Offer Levi (89).
THE BEST: Zlatko Leikovic, midfielder, Hapoel Beer-Sheva.
THE WEEK'S TEAM:
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Shuli Gilardi
(Maccabee Herzliya)
Felix Halfon Alexander Taikov Jamil Hader Offer Levi
(Hapoel Haifa) (Maccabee Herzliya) (Hapoel Beit-Shean) (Bnei-Yehuda)
Gabor Marton Nissim Cohen Istvan Salloi Tal Banin
(Hapoel Kefar-Saba) (Maccabee Herzliya) (Beitar Jerusalem) (Hapoel Haifa)
Eli Ohana Eran Prizant
(Beitar Jerusalem) (Hapoel Kefar-Saba)
Maccabee Herzliya - 3.
Hapoel Haifa, Beitar Jerusalem, Hapoel Kefar-Saba - 2.
Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv, Hapoel Beit-Shean - 1.
PLACE TEAM G W T L Goals Points
1 (1) Maccabee Tel-Aviv 24 18 4 2 51-15 58
2 (2) Maccabee Haifa 24 15 8 1 64-27 53
3 (3) Hapoel Haifa 24 15 6 3 51-23 51
4 (4) Beitar Jerusalem 24 15 6 3 49-25 51
5 (6) Hapoel Tel-Aviv 24 12 5 7 30-24 41
6 (5) Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa 24 11 7 6 35-29 40
7 (7) Maccabee Herzliya 24 10 4 10 27-25 34
8 (8) Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa 24 7 12 5 26-25 33
9 (9) Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv 24 6 6 12 38-48 24
10 (10) Hapoel Rishon le-Zion 24 6 5 13 19-32 23
11 (11) Hapoel Beit-Shean 24 5 7 12 21-40 22
12 (16) Hapoel Kefar-Saba 24 6 3 15 24-42 21
13 (13) Hapoel Beer-Sheva 24 4 8 12 22-32 20
14 (12) Beitar Tel-Aviv 24 5 5 14 25-51 20
15 (14) Hapoel Tsafririm Holon 24 5 4 15 23-44 19
16 (15) Maccabee Yaffa 24 5 4 15 18-41 19
BEST PLAYER: Shuli Gilardi, keeper, Maccabee Herzliya.
TOP SCORERS: Haim Revivo (Maccabee Haifa) 23(0)
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Reuven Attar (Hapoel Haifa) 17(5)
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(3 in M. Haifa) Alon Mizrahi (Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv) 15(1)
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Eli Driks (Maccabee Tel-Aviv) 14(1) 1
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Offer Shitrit (Maccabee Haifa) 12(0)
Amir Turgeman (Hapoel Haifa) 12(0)
Ronen Harazi (Beitar Jerusalem) 12(3)
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Istvan Salloi (Beitar Jerusalem) 11(1) 2
Roman Filipchuk (Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa) 11(1)
Sergei Kandaurov (Maccabee Haifa) 11(4)
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Eli Ohana (Beitar Jerusalem) 10(0)
Najouan Grayib (Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa) 10(1)
Moti Kakun (Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa) 10(1)
NOTE - the penalties scored are put in brackets. The last
column means the number of goals scored this week.
NEXT ROUND (in a fortnight):
| Hosts | Guests |
| Maccabee Tel-Aviv (1) | Hapoel Tel-Aviv (5) |
| Beitar Tel-Aviv (14) | Maccabee Haifa (2) |
| Hapoel Haifa (3) | Hapoel Beer-Sheva (13) |
| Beitar Jerusalem (4) | Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa (8) |
| Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa (6) | Hapoel Rishon le-Zion (10) |
| Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv (9) | Maccabee Herzliya (7) |
| Hapoel Beit-Shean (11) | Hapoel Tsafririm Holon (15) |
| Hapoel Kefar-Saba (12) | Maccabee Yaffa (16) |
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