Just 15 goals, 3 red cards, and 3 penalties, all missed (!) - this was the story of the last weekend in the Israeli National League. Disappointing, you say? No, not at all, because of the wonderful story of "The Game Of The Season". It had been proved once more that the old wine would often be the best one - I'm talking about the 41.5-years-old Nissim Cohen and especially about the 33-years-old Eli Ohana, who made miracles on the pitch and scored the two goals that would compete for "The Goal Of The Season" award. Consider also the two incredible preparation moves of Istvan Salloi and the magnificent goal of Cobi Refua, and you will enjoy this week as much as I did.
Despite the positional advantage and the longer ball possession of Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa, Beitar Jerusalem managed to defeat it 3:0 at home, and so the positions of the leader and the runner-up were swapped. Hapoel Beer-Sheva went on winning, leaving Hapoel Tel-Aviv deep in trouble; and Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa defeated Hapoel Rishon le-Zion at home, the first loss of Eyal Lakhman as Rishon's coach. Bnei-Yehuda defeated Hapoel Taibe at home, and Maccabee Herzliya with its new coach, Shiya Feigenbaum, registered its first victory this season, 1:0 over Hapoel Kefar-Saba. The game between the outsiders, Hapoel Beit-Shean and Tsafririm Holon, was played accordingly to the teams' level and ended with a nil draw, when Tibor Shallai failed to score even from the penalty spot. And the game between the traditional Empires of the Israeli soccer, Maccabee Tel-Aviv and Maccabee Haifa, ended with a draw of 1:1, disappointing very much because of the level; however, Reuven Attar had a nice debut in Maccabee Haifa, the team of his youth (he was loaned from Hapoel Haifa until the end of the season), and Alexander Uvarov seemed to be himself once again, being "The Man Of The Game" and "The Keeper Of The Week". And now let us go to the full details.
"The Game Of The Season" between Beitar Jerusalem and Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa was unfolding in a strange way - Petakh-Tikwa was better and attacked most of the time, also possessing the ball more than the hosts, but still, the dangerous attacks and the goals came from the hosts, with the Hungarian planners and the Israeli executive officers. So it was after 6 minutes of play - a wonderful penetration of Istvan Pisont was stopped by the foul of Beni Kozoshvili at the box edge, Kozo was booked for that, and Itzhak Zohar sent a wonderful curved ball above the wall under the left crossbar of Shai Hess. 1:0. The 1st half went on, and the best opportunity was again of Beitar - Shmuel Levi penetrated on the right wing and sent the ball to Istvan Salloi who continued it without stopping (28), seeing a great save of Shai Hess.
After the break, the balls of Abrabanel (48) and Christophick (50) missed the frame, and so did the free kick of Abrabanel (53). And then came the second blow of Beitar. Istvan Salloi saw Shai Hess far away from his goal line and sent a wonderful ball from the right wing, 40 meters from the net. The ball passed above the keeper and hit the bar, and Eli Ohana rushed into the box, reaching the ball before Hess and his defender to push it in.
But the most wonderful goal was still to come, and a word should be said about the referee Itzhak Ben-Itzhak, with "The Referee's Decision Of The Season". The attack of Petakh-Tikwa was stopped, and Beitar started its own counterattack, with Ohana heading the ball to Salloi. Salloi passed the midline and was knocked down from behind by Walid Badir, a foul justifying the yellow and probably the red card; however, Salloi made a full circle in the air to land and to get up immediately, with the ball still in his legs! And Ben-Itzhak, having delayed his call for a second or so, marked to go on playing! Salloi passed the ball to Ohana, and Eli threw the ball over one defender, ran away from another one, rushed into the box and rolled the ball to his left corner near the stunned Hess. What a wonderful effort! 3:0!
The final line was that Beitar deserved the victory, but Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa registered quite a decent performance, the result not fully mirroring the events on the pitch as I have already described, and this team will talk a lot in the upper part of the table all this season.
The game between Hapoel Beer-Sheva and Hapoel Tel-Aviv was quite similar to the previously described one - the guests attacked, but the hosts got all the points. 9 minutes from time, Shai Holtzman got the ball from Dudu Heffer, stopped it on the chest and shot it from 10 meters diagonally to the left high corner of Shavit Elimelekh, a wonderful winner. Hapoel Beer-Sheva continued to be near the very top, and Hapoel Tel-Aviv is in a real problem, deep-deep at the bottom.
Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa of Dov Remler hosted Hapoel Rishon le-Zion and defeated this team for the first time in the era of Eyal Lakhman. Guy Itzhak and Idan Tal scored in the 1st half, and a bad decision of Eitan Tabrizi sent Avi Pitusi off with the 2nd yellow card. This was, actually, the end of the story, even when Offer Shitrit hit the bar from the penalty spot seconds before the break. In the 2nd half, Shitrit managed to score 11 minutes from time, heading the ball home after a terrible mistake of Yaniv Mizrahi who slipped the ball off his hands, and the reducer of Nissan Capeta didn't change a thing. Seconds before the end, Rishon could score from the penalty spot too, but the ball of Meir Azran was collected by Golan Malul in a good dive to his left. 3:1 to the better team.
The game between Maccabee Tel-Aviv and Maccabee Haifa was once the greatest sportive event in Israel. And indeed, yesterday 13,000 spectators visited the Ramat-Gan stadium, but were disappointed once again with the quality of the game between the two once great Empires. Despite Haifa's positional advantage in the 1st half, the hosts opened the score, after Nir Klinger didn't fail to beat Bonnie Ginzburg in one-to-one situation (49). But Haifa managed to equalize - Kandaurov shot the ball that hit the post (77), and Hezi Shirazi, the fresh substitute, was on the rebound, hitting the ball with his chest and sending it in with a certain help of Amir Shelakh. It was very nice to see Alexander Uvarov in his best again - Shura prevented several goals and was "The Man Of The Game" and "The Keeper Of The Round". And also, it was a debut of Reuven Attar in the team of his youth, Maccabee Haifa, to which he was loaned by Hapoel Haifa until the end of the season; a nice one. Amir Turgeman was also playing in Maccabee Haifa, also passing there from Hapoel Haifa, but didn't manage to score and to threaten the net of Uvarov.
The team to make the biggest benefit from this draw was Bnei-Yehuda, jumping 2 places above. The team surely deserved it, making everything depending on itself and defeating Hapoel Taibe at home, 2:0. The cool keeping of Mickey Dahan and the lack of planning of Bnei-Yehuda left the situation scoreless in the 1st half, but after the break, the substitute Nissim Cohen showed the age wasn't important when you had the skill. A wonderful pass of "The Old Man" after kidnapping the ball inside the box left Avi Tikwa in one-to-one with Mickey Dahan, and the latter didn't fail to score, 1:0. And several minutes later, Tikwa made a pass to Cobi Refua who advanced a little bit and shot a magnificent ball under the bar of Mickey Dahan, between the flying keeper's stretched hands and the left post. 2:0, and what a goal! And Bnei-Yehuda is already the 5th. For Taibe, it was the 3rd consecutive loss, but the team does not make any changes in its line-up and doesn't fire its coach.
In Haifa, Hapoel Haifa managed to beat Hapoel Jerusalem, 2:0, with 2 goals of Moshe Eisenberg after the 2 great goal passes of Tal Banin. Those two, making miracles on the pitch 6 seasons ago in the double season of Maccabee Haifa, seem to be glued together now in the Greens' town sister, Hapoel. And the most interesting point is that since the leaving of Attar, Turgeman and Vucatic, the Reds seem to succeed. Hapoel Jerusalem, on the other hand, seems to become its grey self after several unexpected victories.
The same is the story of Hapoel Kefar-Saba, giving Maccabee Herzliya a victory of 1:0 in Herzliya. The scorer was Roman Filipchuk, with a header after 10 minutes of play, from the preparation of Igor Shkvyrin. In the game that wasn't impressing, Oren Hageage (Hapoel Kefar-Saba) and Guy Gat (Maccabee Herzliya) were sent off, and both teams tried to score more goals, but in vain. This was the 1st victory of Herzliya this season, and also the first one of Shiya Feigenbaum as its coach. So far, so good.
And the son of Shiya, Ronen Feigenbaum, made the defence of Holon stable in Beit-Shean and caused a nil draw between the 2 bottom teams. Beit-Shean still had an opportunity to score, after Alexander Zhidkov fouled Sergen Culakovic inside the box, but Tibor Shallai nearly crashed the bar from the penalty spot, and nothing more. Both teams are in trouble, and things should be fixed there as quickly as possible.
NEXT ROUND (in a week): the two games should not be missed, Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa (2) vs Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv (5), and most of all, Maccabee Haifa (7) vs Beitar Jerusalem (1). There are also two important bottom games, Hapoel Tsafririm Holon (15) vs Hapoel Taibe (12) and Hapoel Tel-Aviv (13) vs Maccabee Herzliya (16). To be watched: Hapoel Jerusalem (9) vs Hapoel Beer-Sheva (3).
BEITAR JERUSALEM - Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa 3:0 (1:0).
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Hosts: Itzhak Zohar (6), Eli Ohana (58, 78).
Guests: -.
THE BEST: Eli Ohana, forward, Beitar Jerusalem.
HAPOEL BEER-SHEVA - Hapoel Tel-Aviv 1:0 (0:0).
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Hosts: Shai Holtzman (81).
Guests: -.
THE BEST: Alexander Solov, defender, Hapoel Beer-Sheva.
MACCABEE PETAKH-TIKWA - Hapoel Rishon le-Zion 3:1 (2:0).
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Hosts: Guy Itzhak (20), Idan Tal (37), Offer Shitrit (79).
Guests: Nissan Capeta (84).
RED: Avi Pitusi, defender, Hapoel Rishon le-Zion, 44.
THE BEST: Idan Tal, midfielder, Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa.
On the 45th minute Offer Shitrit (Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa) missed a penalty
kick - the ball hit the bar.
On the 90th minute Meir Azran (Hapoel Rishon le-Zion) missed a penalty
kick - Golan Malul saved.
BNEI-YEHUDA TEL-AVIV - Hapoel Taibe 2:0 (0:0).
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Hosts: Avi Tikwa (55), Cobi Refua (61).
Guests: -.
THE BEST: Nissim Cohen, midfielder, Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv.
Maccabee Tel-Aviv - Maccabee Haifa 1:1 (0:0).
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Hosts: Nir Klinger (49).
Guests: Hezi Shirazi (77).
THE BEST: Alexander Uvarov, keeper, Maccabee Tel-Aviv.
MACCABEE HERZLIYA - Hapoel Kefar-Saba 1:0 (1:0).
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Hosts: Roman Filipchuk (10).
Guests: -.
RED: Oren Hageage, midfielder, Hapoel Kefar-Saba, 23.
Guy Gat, midfielder, Maccabee Herzliya, 73.
THE BEST: Vassili Ivanov, defender, Maccabee Herzliya.
HAPOEL HAIFA - Hapoel Jerusalem 2:0 (1:0).
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Hosts: Moshe Eisenberg (16, 48).
Guests: -.
THE BEST: Tal Banin, midfielder, Hapoel Haifa.
Hapoel Beit-Shean - Hapoel Tsafririm Holon 0:0.
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Hosts: -.
Guests: -.
THE BEST: Ronen Feigenbaum, defender, Hapoel Tsafririm Holon.
On the 67th minute Tibor Shallai (Hapoel Beit-Shean) missed a penalty kick -
the ball hit the bar.
THE WEEK'S TEAM:
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Alexander Uvarov
(Maccabee Tel-Aviv)
Asi Domb Alexander Solov Vassili Ivanov Offer Levi
(Beitar Jerusalem) (Hapoel Beer-Sheva) (Maccabee Herzliya) (Bnei-Yehuda)
Nissim Cohen Avi Tikwa Idan Tal Tal Banin
(Bnei-Yehuda T.-A.) (Bnei-Yehuda T.-A.) (Mcb. Petakh-Tikwa) (Hapoel Haifa)
Moshe Eisenberg Eli Ohana
(Hapoel Haifa) (Beitar Jerusalem)
Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv - 3.
Beitar Jerusalem, Hapoel Haifa - 2.
Hapoel Beer-Sheva, Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa,
Maccabee Tel-Aviv, Maccabee Herzliya - 1.
PLACE TEAM G W T L Goals Points
1 (2) Beitar Jerusalem 09 7 2 0 20- 5 23
2 (1) Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa 09 7 1 1 18- 8 22
3 (3) Hapoel Beer-Sheva 09 6 0 3 13- 7 18
4 (4) Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa 09 6 0 3 12- 8 18
5 (7) Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv 09 5 2 2 11- 9 17
6 (5) Maccabee Tel-Aviv 09 4 3 2 15-13 15
7 (6) Maccabee Haifa 09 4 3 2 12-10 15
8 (8) Hapoel Kefar-Saba 09 4 1 4 7- 7 13
9 (9) Hapoel Jerusalem 09 4 1 4 10-12 13
10 (13) Hapoel Haifa 09 3 1 5 13-15 10
11 (10) Hapoel Rishon le-Zion 09 3 1 5 12-17 10
12 (11) Hapoel Taibe 09 3 0 6 7-15 9
13 (12) Hapoel Tel-Aviv 09 2 2 5 6-10 8
14 (14) Hapoel Beit-Shean 09 1 2 6 5- 9 5
15 (15) Hapoel Tsafririm Holon 09 1 2 6 5-12 5
16 (16) Maccabee Herzliya 09 1 1 7 2-11 4
IN BRACKETS - the places of the teams before this week.
BEST PLAYER: Eli Ohana, forward, Beitar Jerusalem.
TOP SCORERS: Eli Ohana (Beitar Jerusalem) 8(0) 2
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Yaniv Offri (Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa) 6(0)
Offer Shitrit (Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa) 6(2) 1
Avi Nimni (Maccabee Tel-Aviv) 6(2)
Moti Kakun (Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa) 6(2)
*********************************************************
Istvan Salloi (Beitar Jerusalem) 5(0)
*********************************************************
Hezi Shirazi (Maccabee Haifa) 4(0) 1
Moti Menakhem (Hapoel Jerusalem) 4(0)
Itzhak Zohar (Beitar Jerusalem) 4(1) 1
Alon Mizrahi (Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv) 4(3)
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 Haifa (7) | Beitar Jerusalem (1) |
| Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa (2) | Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv (5) |
| Hapoel Jerusalem (9) | Hapoel Beer-Sheva (3) |
| Hapoel Beit-Shean (14) | Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa (4) |
| Hapoel Kefar-Saba (9) | Maccabee Tel-Aviv (6) |
| Hapoel Rishon le-Zion (11) | Hapoel Haifa (10) |
| Hapoel Tsafririm Holon (15) | Hapoel Taibe (12) |
| Hapoel Tel-Aviv (13) | Maccabee Herzliya (16) |
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