20 goals (24 in 9 games, considering the postponed game of Rishon le-Zion and Hapoel Taibe from the middle of the previous week), 3 red cards and 3 converted penalties (4 scored penalties, considering again the above-mentioned game) - this was the story of the last week, so wonderful after the Israeli National team's victory over Bulgaria. However, sad but true - the point of Shlomo Sherf has been proved once more, a club level in Israel is 2 levels lower than the National team's level.
Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa starts to be a striking force in this year's National League, and its young forward Yaniv Offri is simply striking, this time scoring a hat-trick and becoming our "Player Of The Week"; the similar in quality game was shown by Offer Shitrit, known and loved by all the fans of Maccabee Haifa - this time in Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa, Shitrit simply devastated Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv away, with 3 goals and 2 bars. Beitar Jerusalem, beating another very serious rival named Hapoel Haifa, showed everybody its intentions, and its attacking line, Harazi - Ohana - Zohar - Salloi, is something to be watched. The teams from Haifa, however, weren't convincing - Hapoel lost in Jerusalem, as I've already mentioned, and Maccabee was suffering at home from the wonderful skill of Ishai Ben-Harush, our "Keeper Of The Week"; however, it had Ronnie Levi to score a decisive goal. Maccabee Tel-Aviv is also not half a team it used to be, stealing the points from 10-manned Hapoel Beer-Sheva at home during the very last minutes of play. And Hapoel Taibe, losing its first game, registered the first ever victory of an Arab team in the Israeli National League, beating Hapoel Beit-Shean through a decisive goal by George Czusila two minutes from time. Good luck, Taibe!
Another interesting story about Taibe before we proceed. By now these are only the rumors, but it seems that if the deal is really closed in the nearest days, no penalty taker in Israel will feel secure against Taibe, seeing before him a legend and the most highly titled player ever to appear in the Israeli National League. Six years ago, this man stayed unbeaten by the Soviets, showed his skill mixed with luck to create a sensation and to beat Brazil, clenched his teeth to take the two crucial Yugoslavian penalties even after the great Diego Armando Maradona failed to deliver, saved superbly 2 penalties to leave Roberto Donadoni and Aldo Serena seizing their heads in disbelief, and finally lacked just several centimeters of flight, beaten by a penalty kick perfectly performed by Andreas Brehme. Sergio Goicoechea, the discovery of WC'90 and the World Vice-Champion then with Argentina, is likely to catch the place in Taibe's net. That would be also interesting to see the two superb keepers, Goicoechea and Uvarov, playing against each other 6.5 years after their previous encounter, Argentina vs USSR at WC'90.
But let's return to our League, where Beitar Jerusalem was the hot story yesterday. A penalty kick perfectly taken by Ronen Harazi after a stupid hand of Alon Halfon in his own box, gave Beitar a lead; however, Haifa performed a wonderful attack of Sokher - Ben-Shimon - Turgeman, cutting the Beitarian defence as cheese, and Turgeman beat Korenfein with a fine shot from 13 meters without stopping. Haifa was better throughout the game, and Korenfein surely has a nightmare recalling a tremendous kick of Zlatko Zupatic from 25 meters that hit the bar; however, it was Beitar to score goals, after Istvan Salloi entered as a substitute to make things better. Eli Ohana's goal was rightly disallowed because of an offside (68), but after just 8 more minutes of play Itzhak Zohar performed a corner kick from the right wing of Beitar, and Ohana bounced a perfect header from 12 meters, the ball entering under the left crossbar of the helpless Rafi Cohen. And then, a perfect one-touch attack of Ohana - Salloi - Ohana - Harazi left the International forward no choice but to score against the National keeper. 3:1 to Beitar, and a serious intention of this team to conquer the top as soon as possible. Banin could've reduced the score (92) with a tremendous free kick from 20 meters, but Korenfein flew acrobatically to parry the ball.
Beitar made everything it could, but still couldn't conquer the very top, as its rival Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa had Yaniv Offri scoring a hat-trick, and finally catching the top for his team due to more goals scored. Offri started his performance with a great penetration to beat Sagi Strauss with a sharp left-footer (14), but then Walid Badir knocked Sharon Martsiano down in his box, and Meir Azran equalized with a precise penalty shot centimeters from the hands of flying Shai Hess, 1:1. However, Offri scored twice more, once with a right-footer to the near corner of Sagi Strauss (very bad), and once with a header to beat the keeper; and a terrible mistake of Strauss during the 2nd half gave Eli Abrabanel an opportunity before an empty net, something nobody misses, 4:1. Rishon pulled itself together and scored a reducer through a great personal effort of Nir Shikwa, but that was all they could manage.
Talking about Petakh-Tikwa, we couldn't help mentioning the performance of the other team from this city, Maccabee "Shitrit" Petakh-Tikwa. The game vs Bnei-Yehuda started badly for the Light-Blues - a mistake by Raz Rabinovich caused a goal, as Alon Mizrahi found Amir Avigdor inside the box, and the latter shot a perfect sharp diagonal ball to the left low corner of Golan Malul; however, a short preparation of Offer Shitrit from the free kick enabled Rabinovich to pay his debt with a breathtaking bomb from 27 meters just under the left crossbar of Liran Strauber. Eilon Schwegger was sent off with a 2nd yellow card shortly before the break, and then it was the show of Offer Shitrit - a sharp shot from 18 meters to the right post of Strauber and in, a shot to an empty net from a hard angle after passing the keeper due to the preparation of Florian Albert, and finally, a penalty kick to beat Strauber after Ronen Adlen had knocked Morad Abu-Kishak down inside the box. Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa seems to go into the right direction after a big home loss to Beitar Jerusalem, and Bnei-Yehuda, on the other hand, has still a lot to improve. Shkhunat-ha'Tikwa is talking now about buying Jaroslav Baku from Hapoel Jerusalem to be in the net instead of Strauber; Baku still can't play in his team because of the latter's financial problems.
But yesterday, in Baku's absence, the 2nd keeper of Hapoel Jerusalem, 34-years-old Ishai Ben-Harush, stopped singlehandedly all the attacks of Maccabee Haifa for 82 minutes. I rarely use the harsh words, but Hapoel Jerusalem is nothing but a poor excuse for the soccer team; however, Maccabee Haifa, led by a weak Kandaurov and by Berkovich still disappointed from staying in Israel and not going to play in Europe, was helpless near Ben-Harush's net. Fortunately, the team had Ronnie Levi who scored after several bad attempts: 82 minutes in the game, the midfielder managed to shoot under the fence of legs and to beat Ben-Harush who couldn't possibly see the ball. Haifa still has to get a glue, but by now it has collected all the points, a good beginning.
The last year, I hated the talks about the creative Maccabee Tel-Aviv and the dull somewhat Maccabee Haifa, but I had to admit it was close to the truth. Now, as I said, Haifa has to improve things, but Maccabee Tel-Aviv seems to embarrass the status of an Israeli top team with the way it played yesterday against Hapoel Beer-Sheva (Tenerife's second coach: "If this is the real level Maccabee plays, our team will have just a slight picnic on the pitch against them this Tuesday"). Staying 11 against 10 for the last 70 minutes (!), Maccabee indeed scored through the header of Alon Brumer, but Shai Holtzman equalized from a penalty spot after Uvarov had knocked Giovanni Rosso down and had been booked for that. Beer-Sheva was close to a draw and actually deserved it; however, Eli Driks made the difference, coming as a substitute and scoring a decisive goal, with 3 minutes to go.
Another decisive goal of the last minutes was scored in Netanya, where Hapoel Taibe hosted Hapoel Beit-Shean. Both teams were weak, and Beit-Shean was a bit better than the hosts; however, Mickey Dahan in Taibe's net managed to deny several goals. And then, a mistake in Beit-Shean's defence gave George Czusila an opportunity to score, and the forward didn't disappoint, shooting precisely from 5 meters. Czusila, being on the edge of leaving the team, became the hero of Taibe, with the first ever winner of an Arab team in the Israeli National League. Czusila: "Somehow I had a feeling before the game I'd score, and I did. I hope to stay in Taibe, to play more minutes (he entered as a substitute after 74 minutes of play. - M.M.) and to score more goals".
The 2 remaining games of the week ended without goals. In Holon, it was a game of 2 keepers. Alexander Zhidkov, continuing his wonderful performance from the last Saturday (in the net of Azerbaijan, Zhidkov was mostly responsible for the biggest sensation of the last year in the world soccer, Azerbaijan defeating Switzerland 1:0), prevented several goals of Herzliya and remained the only keeper in the National League still unbeaten this season; however, the central figure of the game was Shuli Gilardi, the keeper of Herzliya. And in Kefar-Saba, Hapoel Tel-Aviv achieved just 1 disappointing point with no goals; after the game, tens of fans demanded Moshe Sinai to resign, and the windows of the team's bus were broken. Too bad for a behaviour.
THE NEXT ROUND (in a fortnight): Hapoel Beer-Sheva vs Beitar Jerusalem, Maccabee Herzliya vs Maccabee Tel-Aviv, Hapoel Rishon le-Zion vs Maccabee Haifa, Hapoel Haifa vs Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv. But, to tell you the truth, I don't expect much from this round.
Happy Rosh ha-Shana for you, my dear subscribers, and let Maccabee Tel-Aviv show a decent performance in Tenerife this Tuesday!
HAPOEL RISHON LE-ZION - Hapoel Taibe 3:1 (1:1). (From Week 01)
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Hosts: Tal Bnaya (7), Meir Azran (54 pen), Moshe Sebeg (80).
Guests: Rami Daher (34).
THE BEST: Tal Bnaya, forward, Hapoel Rishon le-Zion.
HAPOEL PETAKH-TIKWA - Hapoel Rishon le-Zion 4:2 (3:1).
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Hosts: Yaniv Offri (14, 34, 38), Eli Abrabanel (80).
Guests: Meir Azran (18 pen), Nir Shikwa (83).
THE BEST: Yaniv Offri, forward, Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa.
BEITAR JERUSALEM - Hapoel Haifa 3:1 (1:1).
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Hosts: Ronen Harazi (16 pen, 86), Eli Ohana (78).
Guests: Amir Turgeman (28).
THE BEST: Ronen Harazi, forward, Beitar Jerusalem.
MACCABEE HAIFA - Hapoel Jerusalem 1:0 (0:0).
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Hosts: Ronnie Levi (82).
Guests: -.
RED: Salman Amar, defender, Hapoel Jerusalem, 56.
THE BEST: Ishai Ben-Harush, keeper, Hapoel Jerusalem.
Hapoel Tsafririm Holon - Maccabee Herzliya 0:0.
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Hosts: -.
Guests: -.
THE BEST: Shuli Gilardi, keeper, Maccabee Herzliya.
MACCABEE TEL-AVIV - Hapoel Beer-Sheva 2:1 (1:0).
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Hosts: Alon Brumer (29), Eli Driks (87).
Guests: Shai Holtzman (59 pen).
RED: Shimon Biton, defender, Hapoel Beer-Sheva, 22.
THE BEST: Boris Matveyev, midfielder, Maccabee Tel-Aviv.
Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv - MACCABEE PETAKH-TIKWA 1:4 (1:1).
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Hosts: Amir Avigdor (16).
Guests: Raz Rabinovich (22), Offer Shitrit (62, 66, 87 pen).
RED: Eilon Schwegger, midfielder, Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv, 41.
THE BEST: Offer Shitrit, forward, Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa.
HAPOEL TAIBE - Hapoel Beit-Shean 1:0 (0:0).
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Hosts: George Czusila (89).
Guests: -.
THE BEST: Bajiat Uda, defender, Hapoel Taibe.
Hapoel Kefar-Saba - Hapoel Tel-Aviv 0:0.
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Hosts: -.
Guests: -.
THE BEST: Idan Shum, midfielder, Hapoel Kefar-Saba.
THE WEEK'S TEAM:
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Ishai Ben-Harush
(Hapoel Jerusalem)
Beni Kozoshvili Bajiat Uda Raz Rabinovich Ilan Boaron
(Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa) (Hapoel Taibe) (Maccabee P.-T.) (Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa)
Boris Matveyev Ronnie Levi Idan Shum Eli Ohana
(Maccabee Tel-Aviv) (Maccabee Haifa) (Hapoel Kefar-Saba) (Beitar Jerusalem)
Offer Shitrit Yaniv Offri
(Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa) (Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa)
Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa - 3.
Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa - 2.
Hapoel Jerusalem, Hapoel Taibe, Maccabee Tel-Aviv,
Maccabee Haifa, Beitar Jerusalem, Hapoel Kefar-Saba - 1.
PLACE TEAM G W T L Goals Points
1 (1-2) Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa 02 2 0 0 7- 2 6
2 (1-2) Beitar Jerusalem 02 2 0 0 6- 1 6
3 (3) Maccabee Haifa 02 2 0 0 4- 1 6
4 (6) Hapoel Tsafririm Holon 02 1 1 0 2- 0 4
5 (7) Hapoel Beer-Sheva 02 1 0 1 3- 2 3
6 (4-5) Hapoel Rishon le-Zion 02 1 0 1 5- 5 3
7 (4-5) Hapoel Haifa 02 1 0 1 4- 4 3
- (15) Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa 02 1 0 1 4- 4 3
9 (10-11) Maccabee Tel-Aviv 02 1 0 1 3- 4 3
10 (9) Hapoel Taibe 02 1 0 1 2- 3 3
11 (8) Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv 02 1 0 1 2- 4 3
12 (12) Hapoel Tel-Aviv 02 0 1 1 1- 3 1
13 (13) Maccabee Herzliya 02 0 1 1 0- 2 1
-- (14) Hapoel Kefar-Saba 02 0 1 1 0- 2 1
15 (9) Hapoel Beit-Shean 02 0 0 2 0- 2 0
16 (16) Hapoel Jerusalem 02 0 0 2 0- 4 0
IN BRACKETS - the places of the teams before this week.
BEST PLAYER: Yaniv Offri, forward, Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa.
TOP SCORERS: Yaniv Offri (Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa) 3(0) 3
Offer Shitrit (Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa) 3(1) 3(1)
Ronen Harazi (Beitar Jerusalem) 3(1) 2(1)
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Ronnie Levi (Maccabee Haifa) 2(0) 1
Eli Ohana (Beitar Jerusalem) 2(0) 1
Hezi Shirazi (Maccabee Haifa) 2(0)
Moti Kakun (Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa) 2(0)
Meir Azran (Hapoel Rishon le-Zion) 2(2) 1(1)
NOTE - the penalties scored are put in brackets. The last
column means the number of goals scored this week.
THE NEXT ROUND (in a fortnight):
| Hosts | Guests |
| Hapoel Beit-Shean (15) | Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa (1) |
| Hapoel Beer-Sheva (5) | Beitar Jerusalem (2) |
| Hapoel Rishon le-Zion (6) | Maccabee Haifa (3) |
| Hapoel Tel-Aviv (12) | Hapoel Tsafririm Holon (4) |
| Hapoel Haifa (7-8) | Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv (11) |
| Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa (7-8) | Hapoel Taibe (10) |
| Maccabee Herzliya (13-14) | Maccabee Tel-Aviv (9) |
| Hapoel Jerusalem (16) | Hapoel Kefar-Saba (13-14) |
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