8 goals, 2 red cards, one crucial penalty, one comeback and one humiliating score - this was the story of the Cup semifinals which preserved the wonderful average of goals in the Cup this year, 4 per game! And the defending Cup holders don't defend it anymore - Hapoel Beer-Sheva is out, and the Cup will go to either Maccabee Haifa or Hapoel Jerusalem. The team of Daniel Brailovsky, even in its bad season, is very close to Europe once again. Just one more game to win.

However, Hapoel Jerusalem won't be a clear underdog, and yesterday this team showed once more its character and motivation, as well as the skill. Hapoel Beer-Sheva lost the preliminary fight against the Israeli Football Association as its demands and requests to postpone the semifinals (Yossi Benayoun, undoubtedly Beer-Sheva's key player, played with the Young National team in Spain) were denied, and without Benayoun Beer-Sheva wasn't the same mighty team that eliminated Beitar Jerusalem and Hapoel Haifa. Indeed, Dudu Heffer used the hesitance of the half-injured Liran Strauber and opened the score, 16 minutes into the game, but Moti Menakhem managed to equalize the score after half an hour of play with a header - Shaul Smadja blocked the first shot of Assaf Tubi, but the latter managed to pass the ball to Menakhem. 8 minutes before the break, there came the winner - Aris Eliacic knocked Menakhem down inside the box, and Tubi was precise from the penalty spot and made a comeback full. The referee Dani Koren registered quite an outrageous performance, as well as in the previous year's semifinals that included the team from Jerusalem - this time, or so it seemed, he wanted to be nice with the capital residents, and therefore disallowed Beer-Sheva's goals of Alon Riff (35) and Yair Simhon (89); at least one of those goals was legal, with no offside. Still, nothing could spoil the great celebrations of Jerusalem, even a certain "unjustice" in their favor and the 5 unbelievable misses of Assaf Tubi (60, 65, 81, 85, 87) that could've ended the game much-much earlier; as for Beer-Sheva, the team wasn't too sad, as now it can fully concentrate on the relegation struggles in order to stay in the National League for the next season. At least, it doesn't seem that the humiliations of Barcelona and Roda would return...

And as for Maccabee Haifa, it looks like a clear favourite for the Cup final, as yesterday the team registered one of its best games this season. Indeed, it enjoyed the extremely bad day of Maccabee Ironi Ashdod, its defence and its usually very reliable keeper Akakiy Devadze; however, the Greens looked perfect and deserved even a higher score. Adoram Keisi headed the ball in after the free kick of Avishai Zhano (8), and in another minute, Ashdod's prominent midfielder Tibor Balog was sent off after his unsportive foul on Hezi Shirazi. In another 2 minutes, Arik Benado used a pass of Offir Koppel, penetrated into Ashdod's box and shot sharply to beat Devadze once again, 2:0. Here it became clear the game was decided, and the final score remained the only open issue; during the 2nd half, it became humiliating for Ashdod. 5 minutes after a break, Haifa's distinguished scorer Alon Mizrahi used a huge mistake of Devadze after Ibrahim Doro's corner and sent the ball in, 3:0. After 54 minutes of play, Guy Sharabi of Ashdod was sent off as well, for a violent back foul on Doro. Doro himself, "The Man Of The Round", scored another 2 goals of Haifa (59, 68), and made the humiliation full. Pay attention that I haven't mentioned here any attack of Ashdod - those simply didn't exist...

The final will take place on May 12th, in Ramat-Gan National Stadium.

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In brackets you can see the League of the team and its current place there.
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MACCABEE HAIFA (A,4) - Maccabee Ironi Ashdod (A,7)  5:0 (2:0).
---------------------------------------------------------------
Hosts:    Adoram Keisi (8), Arik Benado (11), Alon Mizrahi (50),
          Ibrahim Doro (59, 68).
Guests:   -.
RED:      Tibor Balog, midfielder, Maccabee Ironi Ashdod, 9.
          Guy Sharabi, defender, Maccabee Ironi Ashdod, 54.
THE BEST: Ibrahim Doro, midfielder, Maccabee Haifa.


HAPOEL JERUSALEM (A,10) - Hapoel Beer-Sheva (A,15)  2:1 (2:1).
---------------------------------------------------------------
Hosts:    Moti Menakhem (30), Assaf Tubi (37 pen).
Guests:   Dudu Heffer (16).
THE BEST: Chaba Horvath, midfielder, Hapoel Jerusalem.





                         THE 11 OF THE ROUND
                         -------------------
                           Liran Strauber
                         (Hapoel Jerusalem)

   Salman Amar         Arik Benado         Moti Ohayon         Marco Balbul
(Hapoel Jerusalem)   (Maccabee Haifa)   (Hapoel Jerusalem)   (Maccabee Haifa)

  Adoram Keisi       Offir Koppel       Chaba Horvath        Ibrahim Doro
(Maccabee Haifa)   (Maccabee Haifa)   (Hapoel Jerusalem)   (Maccabee Haifa)

                         Alon Mizrahi      Moti Menakhem
                       (Maccabee Haifa)  (Hapoel Jerusalem)


6: Maccabee Haifa       (League A)
5: Hapoel Jerusalem     (League A)


THE BEST OF THE ROUND:  Ibrahim Doro, midfielder, Maccabee Haifa.


THE BEST CUP SCORERS:
        Alon Mizrahi (Maccabee Haifa)           6(1)  1
        **************************************************
        Offer Shitrit (Hapoel Tel-Aviv)         5(0)
        **************************************************
        Ronen Harazi (Hapoel Haifa)             4(0)
        Cobi Refua (Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv)       4(0)
        **************************************************
        Ibrahim Doro (Maccabee Haifa)           3(0)  2
        Moshe Vaanunu (Maccabee Ahi Nazareth)   3(0)
        Yair Simhon (Hapoel Beer-Sheva)         3(0)
        Assaf Tubi (Hapoel Jerusalem)           3(1)  1(1)


PASSING INTO THE NEXT ROUND:
        Maccabee Haifa          (A,  4)
        Hapoel Jerusalem        (A, 10)

* - the teams that had also participated in the final a year ago.

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