Just 15 goals, 2 missed penalties and 4 red cards - these were the events of the last weekend. Beitar Jerusalem continued winning, Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa and Hapoel Beer-Sheva continued walking lame. And there appeared a new star, an Olympic team keeper who doesn't usually get any opportunities in his own team - of course, I mean Nir Davidovich.
In the derby of Jerusalem, Hapoel was better than expected, but the game still ended with Beitar's victory; and Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa disappointed again, failing to beat 8 (!) players of Maccabee Haifa because of the numerous misses and the magnificent game of Nir Davidovich, our "Player Of The Week", between the posts. Hapoel Beer-Sheva was quite upset as well, struggling mightily against Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa at home and achieving just a draw after equalizing twice; and Maccabee Tel-Aviv managed to defeat Hapoel Rishon le-Zion minimally, both teams missing from the penalty spots later on. Hapoel Taibe was devastated at home by Hapoel Kefar-Saba, and Maccabee Herzliya managed to beat Hapoel Beit-Shean quite easily at home. A disappointing nil draw was registered in Shkhunat-ha'Tikwa, despite the fact that both teams, Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv and Hapoel Tel-Aviv, had some goal opportunities. And Hapoel Tsafririm Holon surprised, defeating Hapoel Haifa away. It's time to talk about the details.
Despite all the declarations, Beitar and Hapoel Jerusalem looked pretty equal during the first 35 minutes of play, but then Beitar used once again its secret weapon - another perfectly performed kick of Itzhak Zohar went in! Later on, Eli Ohana scored seconds before the break, and Beitar relaxed, 45 minutes too early. Michel Dayan scored a magnificent goal, also a free kick, and 2 minutes from time, Yair Asayag hit the bar of Korenfein. So, Beitar won once again. An interesting fact - Itzhak Zohar scored this year 8 goals so far, but just Golan Malul conceded the field goal from the scorer. 2 of his goals were scored from the penalty spot, and all the others - from the free kicks! Zohar beat with his lethal curved shots from every possible range and angle the most prominent keepers of the Israeli League - Alexander Uvarov, Shai Hess, Eran Scheinsinger, Shavit Elimelekh and Jaroslav Baku.
And if Beitar rushed forward, Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa let the top gap grow up to 5 points. It seemed to go so easy, as Haifa lost all of its stars very quickly - Reuven Attar (16) and Sergei Kandaurov (20) were sent off after arguing with the referee and cursing him, and in the 2nd half, Hezi Shirazi (64) was sent off after nearly kicking the head off Shai Hess. But nevertheless, Haifa managed to preserve the clear net, due to some unbelievable misses of the hosts and the great performance given by the young Nir Davidovich in Haifa's net. The keeper reached his peak, denying twice the trials of Eli Abrabanel from a close range in the 2nd half. Finally, the game ended goalless, and both teams have now a lot to think about.
Hapoel Beer-Sheva also achieved just a draw, but unlike Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa, Beer-Sheva should be happy, as it managed to equalize twice at home against the full of aspirations squad of Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa, full of aspirations. Najouan Grayib opened the score after just 5 minutes of play; but after another 10 minutes, a marvellous shot of Giovanni Rosso from 20 meters passed Golan Malul, hit the bar and deflected to Liron Basis who headed it into an empty net. 2 minutes before the break, Offer Shitrit scored and restored the guests' lead; however, just after the break Beer-Sheva equalized again - Dudu Heffer, the fresh substitute, managed to enter the box and to shoot in a turn to the left corner of Golan Malul. Petakh-Tikwa had an opportunity to win, but Shaul Smadja, fixing the mistakes he made during the game, got out in a great timing to deny Grayib.
Maccabee Tel-Aviv defeated Hapoel Rishon le-Zion with a minimal score, after Alon Brumer shot an unstoppable bomb from 25 meters under the right crossbar of Sagi Strauss, "The Goal Of The Week". Another opportunity was of Avi Nimni several minutes from time, but Sagi Strauss in a terrific flight parried it to a corner. And there were another 2 opportunities, when just 11 meters parted between each team and the goal, and still, everything remained as it was. First, Tomacz Czibola was knocked down by Ron Nakhman in Maccabee's box, but Alexander Uvarov stretched superbly to his right in order to parry the penalty shot (not badly at all) by Eitan Shalom; and then, after 20 minutes, it was the turn of Sagi Strauss to parry the ball of Avi Nimni in a no less superb flight. Maccabee won, but still has a lot to improve.
Hapoel Haifa, having a great record of 5 consecutive victories, was badly surprised at home by Hapoel Tsafririm Holon. Haifa was attacking a lot, but Alexander Zhidkov was superb in his net, and in the counterattacks, Itzhak Swissa and Oren Zeituni managed to beat Rafi Cohen without any problems. Holon of Eli Cohen is totally different from Holon of Meir Nimni, still unbeaten and going forward and forward, collecting points one after another.
Hapoel Tel-Aviv, having to get points at any rate, managed to make an away nil draw against Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv. Hapoel jumped two places up, and Hapoel Taibe is now one place from the very bottom, losing 0:3 at home to Hapoel Kefar-Saba. Kefar-Saba is now ahead of Maccabee Haifa, by the way.
And finally, Maccabee Herzliya defeated Hapoel Beit-Shean at home, 2:0. First, it was a great foreign combination of Shkvyrin - Filipchuk - Naduda, with the latter shooting greatly from 16 meters to the net of Meir Cohen who didn't even move. And late in the 2nd half, it was Yaniv Cohen who sneaked between the legs of all the defence of Beit-Shean and the hands of Meir Cohen and shot it in from 5 meters. Another important victory to the squad of Shiya Feigenbaum, another crucial loss to the guys of Elisha Levi.
NEXT ROUND (in a week): except the bottom game between Hapoel Tel-Aviv (14) and Hapoel Taibe (15), and probably the game between Hapoel Haifa (7) and Hapoel Beer-Sheva (3), nothing seems to be of a great interest.
BEITAR JERUSALEM - Hapoel Jerusalem 2:1 (2:0).
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Hosts: Itzhak Zohar (35), Eli Ohana (45).
Guests: Michel Dayan (63).
THE BEST: Itzhak Zohar, midfielder, Beitar Jerusalem.
Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa - Maccabee Haifa 0:0.
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Hosts: -.
Guests: -.
RED: Reuven Attar, midfielder, Maccabee Haifa, 16.
Sergei Kandaurov, midfielder, Maccabee Haifa, 20.
Hezi Shirazi, forward, Maccabee Haifa, 64.
THE BEST: Nir Davidovich, keeper, Maccabee Haifa.
Hapoel Beer-Sheva - Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa 2:2 (1:2).
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Hosts: Liron Basis (10), Dudu Heffer (50).
Guests: Najouan Grayib (5), Offer Shitrit (44).
THE BEST: Guy Itzhak, midfielder, Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa.
MACCABEE TEL-AVIV - Hapoel Rishon le-Zion 1:0 (1:0).
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Hosts: Alon Brumer (10).
Guests: -.
THE BEST: Alon Brumer, midfielder, Maccabee Tel-Aviv.
On the 61st minute Eitan Shalom (Hapoel Rishon le-Zion) missed a penalty
kick - Alexander Uvarov saved.
On the 81st minute Avi Nimni (Maccabee Tel-Aviv) missed a penalty kick -
Sagi Strauss saved.
Hapoel Haifa - HAPOEL TSAFRIRIM HOLON 0:2 (0:1).
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Hosts: -.
Guests: Itzhak Swissa (22), Oren Zeituni (52).
THE BEST: Ronen Feigenbaum, defender, Hapoel Tsafririm Holon.
Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv - Hapoel Tel-Aviv 0:0.
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Hosts: -.
Guests: -.
THE BEST: Alon Hazan, midfielder, Hapoel Tel-Aviv.
Hapoel Taibe - HAPOEL KEFAR-SABA 0:3 (0:2).
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Hosts: -.
Guests: Yaniv Avvargeal (16), Tomer Shem-Tov (40), Assaf Tubi (84).
THE BEST: Joseph Tchabi, defender, Hapoel Kefar-Saba.
MACCABEE HERZLIYA - Hapoel Beit-Shean 2:0 (1:0).
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Hosts: Oleg Naduda (28), Yaniv Cohen (79).
Guests: -.
RED: Tomer Azulai, defender, Maccabee Herzliya, 89.
THE BEST: Roman Filipchuk, forward, Maccabee Herzliya.
THE WEEK'S TEAM:
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Nir Davidovich
(Maccabee Haifa)
Shuki Nagar Ronen Feigenbaum Joseph Tchabi Avi Azulai
(Bnei-Yehuda) (Tsafririm Holon) (Hapoel Kefar-Saba) (Hapoel Tel-Aviv)
Alon Brumer Stav Elimelekh Alon Hazan
(Maccabee Tel-Aviv) (Hapoel Beer-Sheva) (Hapoel Tel-Aviv)
Itzhak Zohar Roman Filipchuk Guy Itzhak
(Beitar Jerusalem) (Maccabee Herzliya) (Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa)
Hapoel Tel-Aviv - 2.
Beitar Jerusalem, Hapoel Beer-Sheva, Maccabee Tel-Aviv,
Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa, Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv, Hapoel Kefar-Saba,
Maccabee Haifa, Hapoel Tsafririm Holon, Maccabee Herzliya - 1.
PLACE TEAM G W T L Goals Points
1 (1) Beitar Jerusalem 13 11 2 0 30- 8 35
2 (2) Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa 13 9 3 1 27-13 30
3 (3) Hapoel Beer-Sheva 13 8 1 4 20-11 25
4 (4) Maccabee Tel-Aviv 13 7 4 2 22-14 25
5 (5) Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa 13 6 3 4 16-14 21
6 (6) Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv 13 6 3 4 15-15 21
7 (7) Hapoel Haifa 13 6 1 6 21-18 19
8 (9) Hapoel Kefar-Saba 13 6 1 6 13-11 19
9 (8) Maccabee Haifa 13 4 5 4 14-15 17
10 (12) Hapoel Tsafririm Holon 13 3 4 6 10-14 13
11 (13) Maccabee Herzliya 13 4 1 8 7-12 13
12 (10) Hapoel Jerusalem 13 4 1 8 11-20 13
13 (11) Hapoel Rishon le-Zion 13 4 1 8 13-25 13
14 (16) Hapoel Tel-Aviv 13 2 4 7 7-16 10
15 (14) Hapoel Taibe 13 3 1 9 10-24 10
16 (15) Hapoel Beit-Shean 13 2 3 8 9-15 9
IN BRACKETS - the places of the teams before this week.
BEST PLAYER: Nir Davidovich, keeper, Maccabee Haifa.
TOP SCORERS: Eli Ohana (Beitar Jerusalem) 10(0) 1
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Yaniv Offri (Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa) 9(0)
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Itzhak Zohar (Beitar Jerusalem) 8(2) 1
Offer Shitrit (Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa) 8(2) 1
Avi Nimni (Maccabee Tel-Aviv) 8(3)
Moti Kakun (Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa) 8(3)
Alon Mizrahi (Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv) 8(4)
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Shai Holtzman (Hapoel Beer-Sheva) 7(3)
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Istvan Salloi (Beitar Jerusalem) 6(0)
NOTE - the penalties scored are put in brackets. The last
column means the number of goals scored this week.
THE NEXT ROUND (in a week):
| Hosts | Guests |
| Hapoel Rishon le-Zion (13) | Beitar Jerusalem (1) |
| Hapoel Kefar-Saba (8) | Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa (2) |
| Hapoel Haifa (7) | Hapoel Beer-Sheva (3) |
| Hapoel Beit-Shean (16) | Maccabee Tel-Aviv (4) |
| Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa (5) | Maccabee Herzliya (11) |
| Hapoel Jerusalem (12) | Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv (6) |
| Hapoel Tsafririm Holon (10) | Maccabee Haifa (9) |
| Hapoel Tel-Aviv (14) | Hapoel Taibe (15) |
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