24 goals (the biggest number this season), just 1 red card and 3 penalties, 1 missed - this was the great story of the last weekend before the winter recess of 4 weeks. 1 real surprise, 2 wonderful comebacks, 2 quite dull victories of the leaders over the outsiders, 5 goals of the 3 leading Israeli scorers and another good game of the Olympic keeper - what else could we wish?

Both Beitar Jerusalem and Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa were quite dull, but used the skills of Eli Ohana and Manor Hassan to collect all the points from the bottom teams of Hapoel Beit-Shean and Hapoel Tel-Aviv, respectively. Hapoel Beer-Sheva was extremely close to losing points at home, but finally managed to cause the first loss to Hapoel Tsafririm Holon in the era of Eli Cohen as its manager. Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa swapped places with Maccabee Tel-Aviv, beating the defending double holders away in a face-to-face game with a humiliating result of 3:0! Both Maccabee and Hapoel Haifa managed somehow to sweeten the bitter taste of their Round 1 performances, the first devastating Hapoel Kefar-Saba 4:1 at home, and the second beating Maccabee Herzliya 1:0 away. Bnei-Yehuda made just a disappointing draw at home, vs Hapoel Rishon le-Zion, 2:2, and could've lost hadn't it been for the wonderful Alon Mizrahi. And the most thrilling game of this week was played between the outsiders - Hapoel Jerusalem, playing in Netanya after 7 consecutive losses against Hapoel Taibe and being down 0:2 at the early stage of the game, managed to put itself together and to score 4 unanswered goals, leaving Taibe deep at the bottow and rising itself to the 10th place. And now - the details.

Beating Maccabee Tel-Aviv a week before, Hapoel Beit-Shean came without inferior feelings to Teddy, to meet Beitar Jerusalem; and indeed, the best chance of the 1st half belonged to Golan Deri who passed David Amsalem at the right wing and shot a sharp diagonal ball, beating Itzhak Korenfein but going out after kissing the right post on its way. But later on, Beitar answered with the only goal of the game - Istvan Pisont rolled the ball to David Amsalem who performed a perfect direction change inside the box and shot it wide, with Eli Ohana sliding to kick it in from 5 meters, 1:0. Ohana himself could double the score 4 minutes from time - his perfect dribbling past Eitan Taib resulted in a sharp shot, Meir Cohen parried it well, and Ronen Harazi, moving forward, missed the ball with his heel. Anyway, Beitar finished Round 1 with an impressive record of +13=2-0, 33-8, 41 points, beating the all-time Israeli record of points after 15 games which belonged to Maccabee Tel-Aviv of 1993-94 (+13=1-1, 42-10, 40 pts.). Moreover, Itzhak Korenfein, "The Keeper Of The First Round", conceded just 8 goals in 15 games and is now in a good position to beat the all-time Israeli keeper's "dry" record of Alexander Uvarov from the last year (16 goals conceded in 30 games). Let's wait and see. As for now, there seems to be no team to deny Beitar the Championship, as it wins also dull and uninteresting games.

However, Moti Kakun, the prominent forward of Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa, declared yesterday: "The struggle for the title isn't over yet!" Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa, playing yesterday against the bottom squad of Hapoel Tel-Aviv, wasn't better than the guests, and saw Moti Kakun and Yaniv Offri missing time after time in front of the guests' keeper, Shavit Elimelekh. However, Petakh-Tikwa still knew how to score - 6 minutes from time, the fresh substitute Daniel Abbas penetrated into the box, passing Eyal Ben-Ami, and shot the ball wide, and there stood Manor Hassan, one of the worst players yesterday on the pitch, who still managed to stop the ball and to lob it over Elimelekh from 5 meters. An important winner for the runners-up, before the start of Round 2.

For Hapoel Beer-Sheva, the story was no easier than for the 2 abovementioned leaders - after 32 minutes of play, Itzhak Swissa passed 2 defenders of the hosts and shot the ball from a hard angle between Shaul Smadja and his close post. A very surprising 1:0 away to Hapoel Tsafririm Holon, and a lot of responsibility for this goal is lying on "The Second Best Keeper Of Round 1", for whom it was just the 12th goal conceded. And still, the favourites registered a great comeback, thanks to the substitutes. First, it was Dudu Heffer, getting a ball from Siad Halilovic near the box and shooting a fantastic curved ball at half a height from 18 meters to the left corner of flying Alexander Zhidkov. And 2 minutes from time, Heffer kidnapped a ball from Moti Fleeter, ran for 40 meters and fed Sharon Avitan with a goal pass. 2:1, and Beer-Sheva became the 3rd team to pass the barrier of 30 League points before the recess.

Maccabee Tel-Aviv hoped very much to make its 4th place position stable, and normally could always do it at home against Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa; however, the dreadful form and the lack of security of Gadi Brumer and Alexander Uvarov influence the whole team. On the other side, these were yesterday Guy Itzhak, Idan Tal and Offer Shitrit to make the sensation complete. After 24 minutes of play, Guy Itzhak exploited the dreadful mistake of Gadi Brumer to stop the ball on the box line and to shot from there a great curved ball to the left high corner of Uvarov, 1:0. The legendary Russian keeper managed to stop several dangerous balls, but conceded yet another goal, seconds before the break - a header of Shitrit after a corner was denied at the goal-line by Yaacov Hillel, the ball came to Guy Itzhak at the left wing, the latter bounced the ball to the center, and Shitrit headed it in from 3 meters, 2:0. And after the break, it was the turn of Uvarov to make a mistake - Guy Itzhak sent another great ball to Offer Shitrit, Uvarov got out 5 meters from the box, but Shitrit managed to pass him and to shoot a sharp ball from a hard angle outside the box to an empty net, despite the attempt of Gadi Brumer to reach it. 3:0! At the end, the hosts tried to do something, but found the great Golan Malul at the guests' net. The first away victory of Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa over Maccabee Tel-Aviv in the last 10 years, and the 2 teams swapped places in the table.

Maccabee Tel-Aviv finished here the magnificent series of 23 unbeaten months at home, with 27 home games collecting points. The previous home loss of Maccabee Tel-Aviv was at February 11th, 1995, to Maccabee Haifa, also 0:3 - the scorers of Haifa were Haim Revivo (with an unforgettable left-foot volley from 30 meters), Eyal Berkovich and Offer Shitrit, the hero of yesterday. No one of the three stayed in Maccabee Haifa of today. Maybe, this is the reason for the deterioration of the Greens?

Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv collected just one point at home against Hapoel Rishon le-Zion and missed a great opportunity to pass Maccabee Tel-Aviv in the table. Alon Mizrahi opened the score early in the 1st half, but a free kick of Meir Azran and a sharp shot of Nissan Capeta changed the situation completely. Still, Bnei-Yehuda was lucky to have Mizrahi who scored a perfect equalizer, getting a ball from Moti Sason near the box, moving aside to free himself from his personal guard, Yaron Ben-Dov, and shooting a great ball in a turn from the air, from 16 meters to a high right corner of helpless Sagi Strauss. Mizrahi, who won "The Best Israeli Scorer" award in 1991-92, 1992-93 and 1993-94, struggles for it now as well, together with Offer Shitrit and Eli Ohana. In between, this award was twice earned by Haim Revivo (once altogether with Amir Turgeman), who plays no longer in Israel but in Spain.

Apropos, Amir Turgeman - yesterday this forward scored twice, this time for Maccabee Haifa, to make his overall record this season standing on 5 goals. In addition to his goals, these were Haim Silbas (from a penalty kick) and Avishai Zhano to make the Greens breathe easier. Kefar-Saba managed to answer just with a reducer of Tamir Netser; before that, a penalty kick shot by Yaniv Avvargeal was parried greatly by Nir Davidovich. Davidovich played another cool game, and he's our "Man Of The Game" and "Keeper Of The Week".

Hapoel Haifa played a pretty dull game in Herzliya, but the hosts were even worse. The only goal was scored after a great mistake of Igal Entebbi, who let Offer Talker shoot from inside the box. An important victory of Haifa, and 3 important points lost for Herzliya.

And the game of outsiders was suddenly the one to bring us the best drama of this week. With a new foreign attacking line of Evgeniy Kashentsev and Valeriy Kurlianchuk, Hapoel Taibe succeeded with those two during the first minutes of play - first, Bajiat Uda scored from a penalty spot after a foul on Kurlianchuk, and 10 minutes later on, Kurlianchuk made a goal pass to Kashentsev who scored. Nevertheless, Jerusalem wasn't broken, and managed to save the game - still in the 1st half, it started with Michel Dayan who scored with another great free kick of his from 20 meters. Later on, Assaf Tubi made a goal pass to Ronen Schweig who equalized the score, and then, the same Tubi used a terrible mistake by Bajiat Uda to get the ball from him, to enter the box and to score, 3:2 and a comeback of Jerusalem! Taibe attacked vigorously, but Jaroslav Baku was always at the right place. And then came the last accord - another penetration of Assaf Tubi sent the ball into the box, and Carlos Moya, struggling for the ball together with Moti Menakhem, finally headed the ball into his own net. Jerusalem registered a victory after 7 consecutive losses, and maybe it'll start a new way for this team. And as for Taibe, something very basic has to be done there.

NEXT ROUND (in 4 weeks, February 1st) - Beitar Jerusalem (1) hosts Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa (4), and Maccabee Tel-Aviv (5) hosts Hapoel Haifa (7). At the bottom, Hapoel Taibe (16) hosts Hapoel Rishon le-Zion (12).

BEITAR JERUSALEM - Hapoel Beit-Shean  1:0 (0:0).
-------------------------------------------------
Hosts:    Eli Ohana (52).
Guests:   -.
THE BEST: Eli Ohana, forward, Beitar Jerusalem.


HAPOEL PETAKH-TIKWA - Hapoel Tel-Aviv  1:0 (0:0).
--------------------------------------------------
Hosts:    Manor Hassan (84).
Guests:   -.
THE BEST: Beni Kozoshvili, defender, Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa.


HAPOEL BEER-SHEVA - Hapoel Tsafririm Holon  2:1 (0:1).
-------------------------------------------------------
Hosts:    Dudu Heffer (64), Sharon Avitan (89).
Guests:   Itzhak Swissa (32).
THE BEST: Dudu Heffer, midfielder, Hapoel Beer-Sheva.


Maccabee Tel-Aviv - MACCABEE PETAKH-TIKWA  0:3 (0:2).
------------------------------------------------------
Hosts:    -.
Guests:   Guy Itzhak (24), Offer Shitrit (45, 61).
THE BEST: Guy Itzhak, midfielder, Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa.


Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv - Hapoel Rishon le-Zion  2:2 (2:2).
---------------------------------------------------------
Hosts:    Alon Mizrahi (16, 43).
Guests:   Meir Azran (20), Nissan Capeta (31).
THE BEST: Alon Mizrahi, midfielder, Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv.


Maccabee Herzliya - HAPOEL HAIFA  0:1 (0:1).
---------------------------------------------
Hosts:    -.
Guests:   Offer Talker (43).
RED:      Vassili Ivanov, defender, Maccabee Herzliya, 72.
THE BEST: Ran Ben-Shimon, defender, Hapoel Haifa.


MACCABEE HAIFA - Hapoel Kefar-Saba  4:1 (2:0).
-----------------------------------------------
Hosts:    Haim Silbas (16 pen), Avishai Zhano (35), Amir Turgeman (68, 86).
Guests:   Tamir Netser (77).
THE BEST: Nir Davidovich, keeper, Maccabee Haifa.
On the 36th minute Yaniv Avvargeal (Hapoel Kefar-Saba) missed a penalty
kick - Nir Davidovich saved.


Hapoel Taibe - HAPOEL JERUSALEM  2:4 (2:1).
--------------------------------------------
Hosts:    Bajiat Uda (22 pen), Evgeniy Kashentsev (32).
Guests:   Michel Dayan (43), Ronen Schweig (47), Assaf Tubi (53),
          OG (Carlos Moya, 84).
THE BEST: Assaf Tubi, forward, Hapoel Jerusalem.





                            THE WEEK'S TEAM:
                            ----------------
                             Nir Davidovich
                            (Maccabee Haifa)

   Beni Kozoshvili    Sergei Belianchuk  Ran Ben-Shimon     Salman Amar
(Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa)  (Maccabee Haifa)  (Hapoel Haifa)  (Hapoel Jerusalem)

    Dudu Heffer         Guy Itzhak         Assaf Tubi          Idan Tal
(Hapoel Beer-Sheva)  (Maccabee P.-T.)  (Hapoel Jerusalem)  (Maccabee P.-T.)

                     Offer Shitrit             Alon Mizrahi
                (Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa)   (Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv)


Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa                    - 3.
Maccabee Haifa, Hapoel Jerusalem         - 2.
Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa, Hapoel Beer-Sheva,
Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv, Hapoel Haifa       - 1.





   PLACE           TEAM                   G   W   T   L    Goals  Points

  1  (1)      Beitar Jerusalem           15  13   2   0    33- 8    41
  2  (2)      Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa        15  10   4   1    31-16    34
  3  (3)      Hapoel Beer-Sheva          15  10   1   4    23-12    31
  4  (5)      Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa      15   8   3   4    21-14    27
  5  (4)      Maccabee Tel-Aviv          15   7   4   4    22-18    25
  6  (6)      Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv       15   7   4   4    18-17    25
  7  (8)      Hapoel Haifa               15   7   1   7    22-19    22
  8  (9)      Maccabee Haifa             15   5   6   4    18-16    21
  9  (7)      Hapoel Kefar-Saba          15   6   2   7    17-18    20
 10  (13)     Hapoel Jerusalem           15   5   1   9    15-23    16
 11  (10)     Hapoel Tsafririm Holon     15   3   5   7    11-16    14
 12  (14)     Hapoel Rishon le-Zion      15   4   2   9    15-29    14
 13  (11)     Hapoel Tel-Aviv            15   3   4   8     9-17    13
 14  (12)     Maccabee Herzliya          15   4   1  10     7-15    13
 15  (15)     Hapoel Beit-Shean          15   3   3   9    10-16    12
 16  (16)     Hapoel Taibe               15   3   1  11    12-30    10

IN BRACKETS - the places of the teams before this week.



BEST PLAYER:    Guy Itzhak, midfielder, Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa.


TOP SCORERS:    Eli Ohana           (Beitar Jerusalem)        11(0)  1
                Alon Mizrahi        (Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv)    11(4)  2
                Offer Shitrit       (Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa)   11(2)  2
                *********************************************************
                Yaniv Offri         (Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa)      9(0)
                Moti Kakun          (Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa)      9(4)
                *********************************************************
                Itzhak Zohar        (Beitar Jerusalem)         8(2)
                Avi Nimni           (Maccabee Tel-Aviv)        8(3)
                *********************************************************
                Shai Holtzman       (Hapoel Beer-Sheva)        7(3)
                *********************************************************
                Eli Abrabanel       (Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa)      6(0)
                Istvan Salloi       (Beitar Jerusalem)         6(0)
                Yaniv Avvargeal     (Hapoel Kefar-Saba)        6(1)

                NOTE - the penalties scored are put in brackets. The last
                       column means the number of goals scored this week.


THE NEXT ROUND (in 4 weeks):

Hosts	Guests
Beitar Jerusalem (1)	Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa (4)
Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa (2)	Hapoel Jerusalem (10)
Maccabee Herzliya (14)	Hapoel Beer-Sheva (3)
Maccabee Tel-Aviv (5)	Hapoel Haifa (7)
Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv (6)	Hapoel Beit-Shean (15)
Maccabee Haifa (8)	Hapoel Tel-Aviv (13)
Hapoel Tsafririm Holon (11)	Hapoel Kefar-Saba (9)
Hapoel Taibe (16)	Hapoel Rishon le-Zion (12)

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