20 goals, 6 red cards and 2 penalties in favour of Haifa's teams, just 1 of them scored - this was the story of this weekend, a Sukkot holiday spoiled with all the political violence in Jerusalem. This is the place to cite Eli Ohana after the game: "The difference of levels between the teams could be clearly seen, but we couldn't be the calm ourselves, as listening to the news and hearing about killed and wounded has a real bad impact on your playing mood".
In spite of that, Ohana conquered "The Top Scorer" position, scoring the only goal against Maccabee Herzliya and preserving Beitar Jerusalem at the very top, still with no points lost. Yaniv Offri also enjoyed a victory of his team, Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa, scoring a winner too, also losing no points by now and also climbing higher in "The Top Scorers List". Tsafririm Holon was defeated at home by Maccabee Tel-Aviv that overcame the trauma of Tenerife and took the 3rd place; and Maccabee Haifa dropped from the 3rd position, still unbeaten but failing to defeat Hapoel Beit-Shean at home, as usual during the last 3 seasons. Hapoel Kefar-Saba beat surprisingly Hapoel Rishon le-Zion at home, 3:0, and Hapoel Tel-Aviv failed to do anything at home against Hapoel Jerusalem; quite a good performance of Jaroslav Baku in Jerusalem's net, playing against his former teammates. A game of Hapoel Beer-Sheva brought us 2 goals, 2 posts of Alon Mizrahi, 10 yellow and 3 red (!) cards; Beer-Sheva won away, leaving Bnei-Yehuda deep in trouble. And the sensation of the week was in Netanya where Hapoel Taibe defeated the rich team of Hapoel Haifa through the strike of Meni Bason in the injury time. And now - to the details of this quite interesting week.
The game at Teddy was undoubtedly the game of the top against the bottom, and it was clearly seen; Herzliya also played without its brightest stars, the injured Vassili Ivanov, Oleg Naduda and Meir Melika. Still in the 1st half, Itzhak Zohar hit the bar of Gilardi twice with his tremendous free kicks; and just after the break, it was Istvan Salloi who hit the bar too, after a mighty shot from inside the box. But Beitar couldn't score; and on the other side, Roman Filipchuk once failed to beat Itzhak Korenfein and once headed the ball mightily into the bar. The game seemed to remain scoreless, but Beitar had its irreplaceable winning joker, Eli Ohana. After 82 minutes of play, the shot of Pisont deflected from Herzliya's defender and changed its direction, Gilardi still managed to stretch mightily and to parry the ball, but Ohana was there to put the rebound in from an angle of virtually zero. Beitar stayed the 1st, Herzliya fell to the very bottom.
Actually, it was the day of several remarkable keepers' saves, and "The Save Of The Week" was registered in Petakh-Tikwa, where a header of Moti Kakun from 5 meters found Golan Malul in a perfect flight, throwing his left hand backwards to reach the ball with his fingertips and to parry it to a corner. Kakun left the derby scoreless, but not assistless - even before the header, he supplied his teammate Yaniv Offri with a great pass into the box, and the new top scorer of Hapoel misled Morad Magamedov, rushed into the box and shot it flat past Golan Malul, scoring a winner. Offri was unstoppable and caused the rivals to stay in 10 players, after Sharon Tsofin had kicked him on the legs brutally enough to be sent off immediately. And Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa stays the 2nd, falling one conceded goal behind Beitar Jerusalem but still not losing even a single point. What a surprise!
Maccabee Tel-Aviv, coming so close to passing Tenerife but failing to finally score a winning goal, started attacking Hapoel Tsafririm Holon from the first minutes, and after 7 minutes of play, Alexander Zhidkov saved the shot of Eli Driks at one-to-one just as Marcelo Ojeda had done 3 days before. Nevertheless, Alon Brumer opened the score soon, and Zhidkov registered another supersave several minutes later on. Oren Zeituni missed a certain goal, 17 minutes before the break, failing to send the ball into a frame from 5 meters, and 12 minutes later, Eli Driks knelt to meet a wide shot of Yaacov Hillel with a bowing head, 2:0. A great attack of Haim Irmiyahu resulted in a shot parried by Uvarov, and Oren Zeituni scored from a rebound to pay his debt to the team, 1:2 just before the break; however, Avi Nimni's goal cut all the hopes of Holon to equalize. In between, 2 incredible misses of the scorers in Tenerife, Avi Nimni and Offer Mizrahi, left the result intact until the very end of the game. It seems the double holders started to regain their good form.
Meir Cohen registered several superb saves, amongst them from the shot of Haim Silbas and the header of Ronnie Levi, to register a pretty surprising result in Haifa, 1:1 to Beit-Shean vs Maccabee. But, according to a "bad" tradition of the last 3 years, it can be considered as no surprise at all. Tibor Shallai opened the score when he passed Bonnie Ginzburg and managed to beat the defenders standing on the line; but in the first attack of angry hosts after the conceded goal, Hezi Shirazi was fouled inside the box, and Sergei Kandaurov easily equalized from the white spot. To tell the bitter truth, Haifa was dreadful, and even playing with an extra man for the last minutes after a 2nd yellow card of Yehuda Amar, it couldn't win. BTW, it was the last game in Maccabee of Eyal Berkovich who leaves for Southampton; unfortunately, Eyal had the event spoiled by the result. Beit-Shean had even an opportunity to win the game, but a shot of Nimrod Elbaz was blocked superbly by Bonnie Ginzburg.
In Shkhunat-ha'Tikwa, Bnei-Yehuda was better than the guests from Beer-Sheva, and a miss of Alon Mizrahi near the empty net after Shaul Smadja's mistake was just incredible. Immediately afterwards, Bnei-Yehuda was punished by a neatly performed flat free kick of Gadi Hazut from 20 meters; "no scoring means conceding". Bnei-Yehuda continued to attack, but Shuki Nagar made a mistake 40 meters from his net, Alon Riff kidnapped the ball and passed it greatly to Liron Basis who rolled the ball coolly from 15 meters between the legs of Guy Nakhshon. Bnei-Yehuda started to get nervous, having 2 of its players sent off; and Alon Mizrahi had 3 chances, once finding Shaul Smadja in his best and twice seeing his balls hitting the posts. Ido Admon was also sent off, and in addition, 10 (!) yellow cards were shown in this really tough game. Beer-Sheva finally won, climbing 6 places up, while Bnei-Yehuda fell nearly to the very bottom.
The most surprising and thrilling game was undoubtedly held in Netanya, where Hapoel Taibe hosted Hapoel Haifa. The guests opened the score during their first attack - a superb pass of Tal Banin found the leg of Reuven Attar who passed the ball shortly to Offer Talker, and the latter had no problems in front of Mickey Dahan. However, Taibe started to play quite well - shortly after the goal, Rafi Cohen parried superbly the surprising shot of Shadi Abu-Dib, and after another several minutes, even the National Keeper could do nothing against a great header of Rami Daher. Later on, both of the teams attacked, and both of the keepers, altogether with the posts of their goals, were busy.
After 69 minutes of play, the referee Suhil Daud awarded a penalty kick in Haifa's favour after a foul on Reuven Attar, and sent off Taibe's defender Hassan Faddous for using the dirty language and arguing with the decision. That caused a total mess on the tribunes, and the police force was called to help the Taibe's fans calm down. They failed to do that even when the penalty of Attar had been saved superbly by Mickey Dahan; but in several minutes, the rage was to become joy, after the goal of Agbariya. However, Haifa managed to equalize through a great header of Amir Turgeman, almost immediately.
And still, at the very end it was Taibe that took all the points. Meni Bason, entering as a substitute several minutes from time, screwed himself into Haifa's box and scored a decisive goal. A real surprise, and the joy of Taibe did not know any frontiers. As for Hapoel Haifa, it should start becoming itself.
Another good keeping was registered by Jaroslav Baku, playing with Hapoel Jerusalem against his former teammates from Hapoel Tel-Aviv, away in Bloomfield. The advantage of Hapoel Tel-Aviv was clear - a post of Felix Halfon, several cool saves of Baku and a magnificent flying header of Sagiv Eliyahu under the left crossbar of the keeper from 12 meters, a wonderful trajectory to be awarded as "The Goal Of The Week". But still, Jerusalem could equalize, as Shavit Elimelekh slipped badly a shot of Yair Asayag, and Dudu Dahan was there to put it in. A somewhat sensational draw.
And on Friday, a defence of Rishon was full of terrible holes just for 5 minutes, but it was enough for the hosts from Kefar-Saba to score 3 times. The first victory of Kefar-Saba and also the first goals scored. Rishon could've reduced the score through a wonderful back scissors kick of Tal Bnaya, but it just hit the right post of Eran Scheinsinger.
NEXT WEEK, there will be no games since the National team players should have their rest before an important home game of Israel against Russia, Group 5, WC'98 preliminary cycle. And in a fortnight, a great week is expected. Maccabee Tel-Aviv will host Beitar Jerusalem; can we aspire for a better game? The double duel of Haifa and Petakh-Tikwa will also take place, the Maccabees playing in Petakh-Tikwa and the Hapoels struggling in Haifa; this may become very interesting and tough. Hapoel Beer-Sheva will have no easy time at home against Hapoel Taibe. And at the bottom, Maccabee Herzliya, seeking its first goal this season, will host Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv.
BEITAR JERUSALEM - Maccabee Herzliya 1:0 (0:0).
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Hosts: Eli Ohana (82).
Guests: -.
THE BEST: Itzhak Zohar, midfielder, Beitar Jerusalem.
HAPOEL PETAKH-TIKWA - Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa 1:0 (1:0).
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Hosts: Yaniv Offri (37).
Guests: -.
RED: Sharon Tsofin, defender, Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa, 75.
THE BEST: Manor Hassan, midfielder, Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa.
Hapoel Tsafririm Holon - MACCABEE TEL-AVIV 1:3 (1:2).
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Hosts: Oren Zeituni (45).
Guests: Alon Brumer (15), Eli Driks (40), Avi Nimni (61).
THE BEST: Alon Brumer, midfielder, Maccabee Tel-Aviv.
Maccabee Haifa - Hapoel Beit-Shean 1:1 (1:1).
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Hosts: Sergei Kandaurov (26 pen).
Guests: Tibor Shallai (25).
RED: Yehuda Amar, midfielder, Hapoel Beit-Shean, 85.
THE BEST: Meir Cohen, keeper, Hapoel Beit-Shean.
Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv - HAPOEL BEER-SHEVA 0:2 (0:2).
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Hosts: -.
Guests: Gadi Hazut (19), Liron Basis (43).
RED: Ronen Adlen, defender, Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv, 45.
Cobi Refua, forward, Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv, 51.
Ido Admon, defender, Hapoel Beer-Sheva, 80.
THE BEST: Shaul Smadja, keeper, Hapoel Beer-Sheva.
HAPOEL TAIBE - Hapoel Haifa 3:2 (1:1).
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Hosts: Rami Daher (16), Nassim Agbariya (71), Meni Bason (90).
Guests: Offer Talker (2), Amir Turgeman (75).
RED: Hassan Faddous, defender, Hapoel Taibe, 69.
THE BEST: Tsaffat Taha, defender, Hapoel Taibe.
On the 69th minute Reuven Attar (Hapoel Haifa) missed a penalty kick -
Mickey Dahan saved.
Hapoel Tel-Aviv - Hapoel Jerusalem 1:1 (1:0).
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Hosts: Sagiv Eliyahu (44).
Guests: Dudu Dahan (56).
THE BEST: Jaroslav Baku, keeper, Hapoel Jerusalem.
HAPOEL KEFAR-SABA - Hapoel Rishon le-Zion 3:0 (3:0).
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Hosts: Sami Yaish (19), Offer Cohen (21), Yaniv Avvargeal (24).
Guests: -.
THE BEST: Offer Cohen, midfielder, Hapoel Kefar-Saba.
THE WEEK'S TEAM:
----------------
Shaul Smadja
(Hapoel Beer-Sheva)
Bajiat Uda Joseph Tchabi Ehud Kahila Tsaffat Taha
(Hapoel Taibe) (Hapoel Kefar-Saba) (Beitar Jerusalem) (Hapoel Taibe)
Alon Brumer Itzhak Zohar Manor Hassan Avi Nimni
(Maccabee Tel-Aviv) (Beitar Jerusalem) (Hapoel P.-T.) (Maccabee Tel-Aviv)
Offer Cohen Yaniv Avvargeal
(Hapoel Kefar-Saba) (Hapoel Kefar-Saba)
Hapoel Kefar-Saba - 3.
Maccabee Tel-Aviv, Hapoel Taibe, Beitar Jerusalem - 2.
Hapoel Beer-Sheva, Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa - 1.
PLACE TEAM G W T L Goals Points
1 (1) Beitar Jerusalem 04 4 0 0 10- 2 12
2 (2) Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa 04 4 0 0 10- 3 12
3 (5) Maccabee Tel-Aviv 04 3 0 1 7- 5 9
4 (3) Maccabee Haifa 04 2 2 0 7- 4 8
5 (11) Hapoel Beer-Sheva 04 2 0 2 6- 5 6
6 (4) Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa 04 2 0 2 5- 5 6
7 (12-13) Hapoel Taibe 04 2 0 2 5- 6 6
8 (9) Hapoel Tel-Aviv 04 1 2 1 4- 5 5
9 (8) Hapoel Haifa 04 1 1 2 8- 9 4
10 (6) Hapoel Tsafririm Holon 04 1 1 2 4- 5 4
11 (15) Hapoel Kefar-Saba 04 1 1 2 3- 4 4
12 (12-13) Hapoel Jerusalem 04 1 1 2 3- 5 4
13 (7) Hapoel Rishon le-Zion 04 1 1 2 7-10 4
14 (10) Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv 04 1 1 2 4- 8 4
15 (16) Hapoel Beit-Shean 04 0 1 3 2- 5 1
16 (14) Maccabee Herzliya 04 0 1 3 0- 4 1
IN BRACKETS - the places of the teams before this week.
BEST PLAYER: Shaul Smadja, keeper, Hapoel Beer-Sheva.
TOP SCORERS: Eli Ohana (Beitar Jerusalem) 5(0) 1
*********************************************************
Moti Kakun (Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa) 4(1)
Yaniv Offri (Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa) 4(0) 1
*********************************************************
Offer Shitrit (Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa) 3(1)
Ronen Harazi (Beitar Jerusalem) 3(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 |
| Maccabee Tel-Aviv (3) | Beitar Jerusalem (1) |
| Hapoel Haifa (9) | Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa (2) |
| Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa (6) | Maccabee Haifa (4) |
| Hapoel Beer-Sheva (5) | Hapoel Taibe (7) |
| Hapoel Rishon le-Zion (13) | Hapoel Tel-Aviv (8) |
| Hapoel Jerusalem (12) | Hapoel Tsafririm Holon (10) |
| Hapoel Beit-Shean (15) | Hapoel Kefar-Saba (11) |
| Maccabee Herzliya (16) | Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv (14) |
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