24 goals (in 9 games, including the game of Tuesday to complete the previous round), 4 penalties, no red cards at all and 1 very important own goal - it was the harvest of the last weekend. The big losers are, no doubt, Walid Badir and Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa, and naturally, all the 3 bottom teams; the great winners were Maccabee Tel-Aviv, Maccabee Herzliya, Beitar Jerusalem and Hapoel Beer-Sheva. And there is a change in "The Best Scorers List" - for the first time since 1994, its leader is again the wonderful Alon Mizrahi.
Playing the battle of edges against Hapoel Taibe, Beitar Jerusalem was scoreless in the 1st half, but scored no less than 5 times after the break. Hapoel Beer-Sheva had a decent rival at home, but still managed to defeat Hapoel Kefar-Saba, 2:1; and it could've been a greater victory if not for the skill of Kefar-Saba's young keeper, Eran Scheinsinger. Shura Uvarov, having a gap of 17 years (!) from Scheinsinger, showed us that sometimes the age does not matter - 2 incredible saves of his denied Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa from scoring, and Walid Badir, Petakh-Tikwa's unfortunate defender, shot unstoppably into his own net to give a victory to Maccabee Tel-Aviv. Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa is about to leave even the first 3, as in the middle of the week a miserable mistake of the same Walid Badir enabled Maccabee Herzliya to defeat his away, and Maccabee Tel-Aviv is just one point beyond the team of Nir Levin. Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa made just a draw against Hapoel Jerusalem at home; Morad Magamedov of the hosts and Salman Amar of the guests scored there their first goals of this season. The two bottom teams, Hapoel Tel-Aviv and Tsafririm Holon, were defeated away by respectively Hapoel Haifa and Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv; the winner of the 2nd game was scored by Alon Mizrahi who passed Eli Ohana in "The Best Scorers List". Maccabee Haifa, with an improved form of Reuven Attar and Sergei Kandaurov, beat Maccabee Herzliya away. And finally, it was a very important victory of Hapoel Rishon le-Zion away over Hapoel Beit-Shean; Rishon's forward Nir Shikwa is our "Player Of The Week". Now - the details.
The game between Beitar Jerusalem and Hapoel Taibe, charged highly with both sportive and political meanings, was expected to be hot and violent, especially after the attack of the suicide bomber on Tel-Aviv the day before the game. However, nothing happened - Taibe's fans just didn't visit Jerusalem that afternoon; and exactly as these were just the fans of one team on the tribunes, it was just one team on the pitch. And still, Beitar was dull in the 1st half and no goals were scored then - almost no dangerous moments were created in Taibe's box, and if they were, either the bad luck of Beitar or Akakiy Devadze were there to leave Beitar scoreless. However, it was clear the first goal was just the question of time, and that it would defeat Taibe completely - this team forgot the word "attack" at all. And the first goal came after 55 minutes of play - David Amsalem penetrated at the left wing and centered the ball, Istvan Salloi tried to shoot it from the air, and the ball finally came to Shmuel Levi who bombed it from 5 meters between the legs of Devadze. And here it was just the question of score, not of the outcome. A magnificent penetration of Itzhak Zohar into the box and a wonderful curved shot to the far corner of Devadze brought him "The Goal Of The Week" award, and later on, the same Zohar shot a sharp flat ball to the right corner of stunned Devadze from 18 meters. To finish the feast, it was Istvan Pisont with his 2 goals (reaching a wonderful harvest of 5 goals during the last 3 games, after being dry for the first 20 weeks). First, a shot of him from inside the box couldn't be stopped, and then, it was the bomb from 18 meters that hit the left post of Devadze and went in. To tell you the truth, I expected this result of 5:0 from the very beginning, but seeing Taibe yesterday on the field, I could hardly understand how could this team enter the National League at all. And as for Beitar... Everything had already been said about them this year.
Hapoel Beer-Sheva had yesterday quite a tough rival, Hapoel Kefar-Saba, at home; had anybody told me before the start of the season that I would write those lines about Kefar-Saba, I would've laughed into his face. Nevertheless, Beer-Sheva was better and opened the score - Tsabar Daniel shot flatly and sharply from a very hard angle, Eran Scheinsinger parried the ball, and Liron Basis was on the rebound to send the ball centimeters above the hands of the recovering keeper, 1:0. Later on, a wonderful penetration of Shimon Biton resulted in a good shot parried superbly by Scheinsinger, and then Kefar-Saba managed to equalize the score with its Polish means - Joseph Tchabi advanced through the center and passed the ball to Bogdan Ujebyak, and the latter used all his speed to send the sharp ball without stopping, leaving Avi Perets no chance at all this time, 1:1. And still, Beer-Sheva had the two great foreign players of its own to bring it a victory, still in the 1st half. A meteoric penetration of Siad Halilovic into the box was stopped by a foul of Gabi Sapir, Giovanni Rosso scored from a white spot, the referee Suhil Daud demanded to repeat the penalty, and Rosso, calming down after the hot argument with the man in black, still sent the ball above the hands of the flying keeper, 2:1.
In the 2nd half, Beer-Sheva was better, but had just one real goal opportunity, to show the Israeli soccer fans one more time why it's worthwhile sometimes to visit the stadia. Giovanni Rosso penetrated at the right wing and centered a ball into the box, and Oren Sagron took off into a really beautiful flight resulting in a mighty flying header. A breathtaking save of Eran Scheinsinger sent the ball to a corner and denied Sagron "The Goal Of The Week" award.
Beer-Sheva is now the stable runner-up place, and it was helped in this by 2 consecutive losses of Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa. The first one was to its top rival, Maccabee Tel-Aviv. There, Alexander Uvarov parried greatly a dangerous free kick of Manor Hassan, and later on, Avi Nimni opened the score on the other side from the penalty spot, after he himself had been knocked down inside the box by Gabor Marton. However, Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa equalized still in the 1st half - after a continuous attack, Manor Hassan gave a short pass to Beni Kozoshvili, and the experienced defender of the guests touched the ball gently to curve it without stopping from 18 meters under the left crossbar of the helpless Uvarov. What an effort!
However, in the 2nd half Maccabee Tel-Aviv won. A penetration of Offer Mizrahi found Haim Hageage, the latter centered the ball, and Walid Badir was confused enough to shoot into his own net and to beat Shai Hess. And in the injury time, Gabor Marton tried to make us forget his involvement in Nimni's penalty, after he penetrated and shot a great curved ball to the far corner of Uvarov from 18 meters; Uvarov raised himself into the air, parried the ball in a truly acrobatic flight and left the score intact.
The story of Petakh-Tikwa went on badly this Tuesday - a miserable mistake of Walid Badir near his box let Roman Filipchuk kidnap the ball, enter the box and roll it past Shai Hess, 1:0 to Maccabee Herzliya. Petakh-Tikwa thought it had enough time to equalize (the score was opened after just 7 minutes of play), but failed to do that up to the very end - both the misses and the excellent keeping of Shuli Gilardi, our "Man Of The Game", were the reasons for that. For Herzliya, it was a day of real joy - it seems this team finally managed to secure its place in the National League for the next season. And Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa is now in quite a complicated situation (considering its top aspirations, of course, and nothing else) - 13 points behind Beitar Jerusalem, 5 points from Hapoel Beer-Sheva and just 1 point ahead of Maccabee Tel-Aviv which is lastly as unstoppable as we used to see it.
It seems Petakh-Tikwa will have no representatives in Europe this season, as the other team of this town, Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa, failed to win, too. It managed to achieve just a draw at home against Hapoel Jerusalem, but at least revealed us fully its great defender, Morad Magamedov. The score was opened with a goal of Salman Amar - Michel Dayan, the legend of the guests, sent a ball from 40 meters into the box, and Amar got it on his chest there, put it down to his leg immediately afterwards on the wet field and sent a very weak ball between the legs of Golan Malul, a miserable goal for the National keeper to concede. But Morad Magamedov equalized in the 2nd half with a header of his, after the goal pass of Guy Itzhak. The draw was a justified result for both teams - no one of them deserved to win. At least, Hapoel Jerusalem plays according to the expectations and even far better than those.
From Golan Malul - to Rafi Cohen, our "Keeper Of The Week" who seems to open the National Team game against Luxembourg in the close days. Cohen made several good saves, but didn't have to show too much against the weak squad of Hapoel Tel-Aviv; on the other hand, Shavit Elimelekh, the keeper of the Reds, is to blame for another loss of his team. After 37 minutes of play, Ran Ben-Shimon, our "Man Of The Game", jumped to the corner kick bounced by Avi Pass and headed it home over the hesitant Elimelekh who got out in a very bad timing. And the story of the outsiders who desperately wanted to equalize was finally over after 88 minutes of play. A free kick of Ran Ben-Shimon from 18 meters, shot after the foul on the young Ilan Ternashvili, was parried dreadfully by Elimelekh, Zoabi was on the rebound, and Elimelekh had to kick him down in order not to let him score. Itzhak Ben-Itzhak had no doubts at all about the penalty to punish the guests. Ran Ben-Shimon took the shot, Elimelekh guessed the corner and stretched to parry it, but then he had nothing to do but to shout on his defence that allowed Ternashvili to score on a rebound. 2:0 to Hapoel Haifa, going now up to the 7th place.
Another bottom team, Hapoel Tsafririm Holon, can blame the weather for its unfortunate loss to Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv - Itzhak Swissa shot at one-to-one against Guy Nakhshon after 10 minutes of play, Nakhshon managed just to slow the ball but then rushed back and managed to stop it finally at the goal line, helped by a muddy dirt there. The game was pretty dull, and the only goal was scored on the other side, after a wonderful collaboration of Avi Tikwa and Alon Mizrahi. Mizrahi, who scored, passed Eli Ohana in "The Best Scorers List" and is now at the top there, with 14 goals (6 of them, we should admit, from the penalties). And the Orange of Bnei-Yehuda, still inconvincing, registered its first victory after 4 consecutive losses. The fans of the Oranges' were shown in their best coming to the stadium with a huge poster, wishing a quick recovery to the team's injured keeper, Liran Strauber.
Maccabee Haifa, using the good form of Sergei Kandaurov and Reuven Attar, managed to defeat Maccabee Herzliya away - first, Kandaurov converted the penalty after Attar had been knocked down inside Herzliya's box by Guy Gat, and then, a goal pass of Kandaurov let Attar enter the box and shoot sharply in before Gilardi. Herzliya managed to reduce the score through Yair Simhon, and then Haifa was pressed to its net and clenched the teeth to preserve the victory. The Greens even registered one dangerous counterattack, but Gilardi made a double save from the shots of Avishai Zhano and Sergei Belianchuk.
Last but not the least - Hapoel Rishon le-Zion defeated Hapoel Beit-Shean away. A wonderful penetration of Moshe Sebeg finally produced a goal pass to Eitan Shalom who opened the score. Shimon Danan managed to equalize for the hosts still in the 1st half, and the game seemed to be pretty equal then. However, in the 2nd half it was the wonderful shot of Nir Shikwa in a turn to put Rishon ahead. And between the attacks of Beit-Shean, Rishon also scored a final goal - a combination of Pitusi - Shalom - Pitusi - Anatolic sent the latter into a deep penetration on the left wing which ended with a direction change, entering the box and sending a ball under the bar of Meir Cohen. The first goal of Rishon's foreigner in Israel, and Rishon seems to run finally away from the dangerous zone.
NEXT WEEK (in a fortnight): Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa (3) hosts Beitar Jerusalem (1) in a game NOT TO BE MISSED, despite the temporary crisis of the hosts. Maccabee Haifa (9) hosts Maccabee Tel-Aviv (4), in a game of the Empires playing unaccordingly this year. Hapoel Tsafririm Holon (14) hosts Hapoel Beit-Shean (11), Hapoel Tel-Aviv (15) plays a tough game at home vs Hapoel Beer-Sheva (3), and Hapoel Taibe (16) hosts Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv (6). And in between, let us wish a good luck to our National team, playing away against Luxembourg in the WC'98 Preliminaries!
Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa - MACCABEE HERZLIYA 0:1 (0:1). (From Week 21)
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Hosts: -.
Guests: Roman Filipchuk (7).
THE BEST: Shuli Gilardi, keeper, Maccabee Herzliya.
BEITAR JERUSALEM - Hapoel Taibe 5:0 (0:0).
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Hosts: Shmuel Levi (55), Itzhak Zohar (66, 70), Istvan Pisont (84, 89).
Guests: -.
THE BEST: Itzhak Zohar, midfielder, Beitar Jerusalem.
HAPOEL BEER-SHEVA - Hapoel Kefar-Saba 2:1 (2:1).
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Hosts: Liron Basis (24), Giovanni Rosso (44 pen).
Guests: Bogdan Ujebyak (38).
THE BEST: Siad Halilovic, midfielder, Hapoel Beer-Sheva.
MACCABEE TEL-AVIV - Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa 2:1 (1:1).
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Hosts: Avi Nimni (16 pen), OG (Walid Badir, 61).
Guests: Beni Kozoshvili (32).
THE BEST: Avi Nimni, midfielder, Maccabee Tel-Aviv.
Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa - Hapoel Jerusalem 1:1 (0:1).
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Hosts: Morad Magamedov (63).
Guests: Salman Amar (44).
THE BEST: Morad Magamedov, defender, Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa.
BNEI-YEHUDA TEL-AVIV - Hapoel Tsafririm Holon 1:0 (1:0).
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Hosts: Alon Mizrahi (25).
Guests: -.
THE BEST: Yuval Naim, defender, Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv.
HAPOEL HAIFA - Hapoel Tel-Aviv 2:0 (1:0).
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Hosts: Ran Ben-Shimon (38), Ilan Ternashvili (88).
Guests: -.
THE BEST: Ran Ben-Shimon, midfielder, Hapoel Haifa.
On the 88th minute Ran Ben-Shimon (Hapoel Haifa) missed a penalty kick -
Shavit Elimelekh saved. Ilan Ternashvili was on the rebound to score.
Maccabee Herzliya - MACCABEE HAIFA 1:2 (0:0).
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Hosts: Yair Simhon (81).
Guests: Sergei Kandaurov (51 pen), Reuven Attar (67).
THE BEST: Reuven Attar, midfielder, Maccabee Haifa.
Hapoel Beit-Shean - HAPOEL RISHON LE-ZION 1:3 (1:1).
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Hosts: Shimon Danan (37).
Guests: Eitan Shalom (22), Nir Shikwa (77), Ivica Anatolic (89).
THE BEST: Nir Shikwa, forward, Hapoel Rishon le-Zion.
THE WEEK'S TEAM:
----------------
Rafi Cohen
(Hapoel Haifa)
Yuval Naim Morad Magamedov Ran Ben-Shimon Shimon Biton
(Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv) (Mcb. Petakh-Tikwa) (Hapoel Haifa) (Hapoel Beer-Sheva)
Siad Halilovic Istvan Pisont Reuven Attar Avi Nimni
(Hapoel Beer-Sheva) (Beitar Jerusalem) (Maccabee Haifa) (Maccabee Tel-Aviv)
Itzhak Zohar Nir Shikwa
(Beitar Jerusalem) (Hapoel Rishon le-Zion)
Beitar Jerusalem, Hapoel Beer-Sheva, Hapoel Haifa - 2.
Maccabee Tel-Aviv, Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa,
Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv, Maccabee Haifa, Hapoel Rishon le-Zion - 1.
PLACE TEAM G W T L Goals Points
1 (1) Beitar Jerusalem 23 18 4 1 52-12 58
2 (2) Hapoel Beer-Sheva 23 16 2 5 37-19 50
3 (3) Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa 23 13 6 4 39-23 45
4 (4) Maccabee Tel-Aviv 23 13 5 5 42-23 44
5 (5) Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa 23 11 6 6 29-20 39
6 (7) Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv 23 9 6 8 23-26 33
7 (8) Hapoel Haifa 23 9 5 9 27-24 32
8 (6) Hapoel Kefar-Saba 23 8 6 9 24-25 30
9 (10) Maccabee Haifa 23 7 8 8 26-26 29
10 (9) Hapoel Jerusalem 23 8 5 10 25-32 29
11 (11) Hapoel Beit-Shean 23 7 5 11 20-25 26
12 (12) Maccabee Herzliya 23 8 2 13 14-21 26
13 (13) Hapoel Rishon le-Zion 23 6 6 11 24-37 24
14 (14) Hapoel Tsafririm Holon 23 3 9 11 14-32 18
15 (15) Hapoel Tel-Aviv 23 3 8 12 11-24 17
16 (16) Hapoel Taibe 23 3 1 19 13-51 10
IN BRACKETS - the places of the teams before this week.
BEST PLAYER: Nir Shikwa, forward, Hapoel Rishon le-Zion.
TOP SCORERS: Alon Mizrahi (Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv) 14(6) 1
*********************************************************
Eli Ohana (Beitar Jerusalem) 13(1)
*********************************************************
Offer Shitrit (Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa) 12(3)
Avi Nimni (Maccabee Tel-Aviv) 12(4) 1(1)
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Yaniv Offri (Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa) 11(0)
Itzhak Zohar (Beitar Jerusalem) 11(3) 2
Moti Kakun (Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa) 11(4)
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Istvan Salloi (Beitar Jerusalem) 10(0)
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Shai Holtzman (Hapoel Beer-Sheva) 9(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 |
| Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa (3) | Beitar Jerusalem (1) |
| Hapoel Tel-Aviv (15) | Hapoel Beer-Sheva (2) |
| Maccabee Haifa (9) | Maccabee Tel-Aviv (4) |
| Hapoel Rishon le-Zion (12) | Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa (5) |
| Hapoel Taibe (16) | Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv (6) |
| Hapoel Jerusalem (10) | Hapoel Haifa (7) |
| Hapoel Kefar-Saba (8) | Maccabee Herzliya (13) |
| Hapoel Tsafririm Holon (14) | Hapoel Beit-Shean (11) |
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