M: Sergei Belianchuk (110), Alon Mizrahi (112).
H: -.

GOAL PASSES: 	M: Avishai Zhano (110), Ibrahim Doro (112);
             	H: NONE.


M:  Nir Davidovich        6      H:  Liran Strauber          5
    -----------------------          -------------------------
    Golan Deri          5.5          Salman Amar           5.5
    Sergei Belianchuk     6          (Dudi Stolper, 81     - 5)
    Marco Balbul          6          Stephan Mihei           5
    Arik Benado           6          Moti Ohayon             6
    Adoram Keisi        5.5          Arik Sason            5.5
    -----------------------          Shlomi Danino           6
    Offir Koppel        5.5          -------------------------
    Avishai Zhano       5.5          Amir Gola             5.5
    Ibrahim Doro        5.5          (Vickey Bukovza, 110)
    (Guy Melamed, 114)               Eyal Avrahami           5
    -----------------------          Chaba Horvath         5.5
    Vladimir Niederhaus   5          Laszlo Czeh             5
    (Rajid Bransi, 85 -   5)         (Moti Menakhem, 79    - 5)
    Alon Mizrahi        5.5          -------------------------
    (Hezi Shirazi, 116)              Assaf Tubi              5


THE BEST OF THE GAME:  Sergei Belianchuk, defender, Maccabee Haifa.

THE AUDIENCE:  35,000 spectators, Ramat-Gan, Israel.

CORNERS:  Maccabee Haifa  3, Hapoel Jerusalem  2.

THE REFEREE:  Haim Lipkovich.      HIS MARK:  8.

YELLOW CARDS:  M - Marco Balbul (32), Ibrahim Doro (51), Adoram Keisi (97),
                    Offir Koppel (118);
               H - Amir Gola (6), Chaba Horvath (16).

NO RED CARDS.

The first touch of Gianfranco Zola, after he had substituted Tore Andre Flo 20 minutes from time, was stopped by the defender of Stuttgart; the ball went to Dennis Wise, and the latter threw Zola into a created gap with a pass of an incredible precision. Zola, just 7 seconds on the pitch, seized the opportunity with both hands and beat the advancing Wohlfahrt with a fantastic shot under the left crossbar from 16 meters... Chelsea 1 - Stuttgart 0, also a final score, and 30,000 spectators in Stockholm were really thankful for a wonderful Soccer they were able to watch, full of great combinations and goal threats...

No, I'm not mistaken, dear subscribers - this is the Israeli Cup final I'm going to talk about. However, I used the opening from the Cup Winners' Cup final in order to emphasize the abyss between the European and the Israeli Soccer, at least according to those 2 games. The crowd in Ramat-Gan was even bigger than this in Sweden, but what a different quality of play did they see! A scoreless draw with nearly no opportunities that went to an extra-time, where the less tired team managed to score; 15 last minutes of an acceptable soccer, preceded by an awful boredom, and a real shame to the Israeli teams if that is all they can produce.

In addition, Haim Lipkovich, in his last game as an active referee, made several mistakes (all, I have to admit, in favor of Hapoel Jerusalem) that didn't serve the good stream of the game as well. A wonderful penetration of Ibrahim Doro on the left wing (4), for example, was stopped by a handplay inside the box of Hapoel Jerusalem, with no reaction from the referee; and when Vladimir Niederhaus was sent into a penetration 14 minutes later, an offside, totally unjustified, was whistled against him. The same Doro was booked for pretence (51), while in reality, it should've been a 2nd yellow card for Amir Gola who fouled the Bosnian midfielder in a rude fashion. And finally, just after the break, it was a terrible conflict between Gola and Avishai Zhano which had to result in the red cards to both falcons, but Lipkovich was too lazy to show any cards. Well, what could we expect from a referee who was perhaps infected by the game's level?..

And there were some rare sparkles of Soccer as well, but they were very few, believe you me. In the whole 1st half, for example, those were just 3 opportunities of Hapoel Jerusalem to talk about - Chaba Horvath (21) shot from 23 meters and hit the bar, Assaf Tubi (35) has already passed Nir Davidovich but failed to make a goal pass, and finally, Davidovich managed to parry a cool free kick taken by Arik Sason (45). The 2nd half opened, on the contrary, with Haifa's attacks. Niederhaus sent a brilliant pass to Alon Mizrahi, but the latter shot without stopping and missed the frame (52); in another minute, it was a flat far-ranger of Avishai Zhano and a great diving save of Liran Strauber. Another great penetration of Doro (78) was spoiled by a bad finish; Adoram Keisi headed the ball high (80), and Alon Mizrahi managed to turn past his defender and to shoot under pressure from inside the box, but the ball went slightly above the bar (90).

The best opportunity of the 2nd half, however, was again of Hapoel Jerusalem, 22 minutes after the break. Assaf Tubi entered the box and was stopped there by Golan Deri; however, the ball ricochetted away, and no one in Haifa's defence bothered to collect it and to clear it from the dangerous zone, as if stopped by some magic force. Shlomi Danino, a truly positive surprise in the lines of Jerusalem, seized the opportunity and rushed into the box, passed a defender and shot the ball flatly from 4 meters. Had the ball been more determined, Hapoel would've taken the lead; however, the ball was weak, and in Haifa's net there stood Nir Davidovich who registered a brilliant save in a desperate dive, "The Save Of The Cup". Danino and me seized the heads simultaneously, unable to believe in the impossible miss and the great save altogether.

Nothing can be said about the first 19 minutes of the extra-time as well, and an impression was crawling into me the teams wanted to play the Russian roulette during the penalty shots. However, then came the 2 minutes when Liran Strauber, usually very reliable and secure, lost his face. 4 minutes after the extra-time break, it was Rajid Bransi who has passed the keeper 35 meters from the net (!) and tried to shoot into an empty goal; Amir Gola managed to save his net clean after the weak shot, but got injured and was taken care of outside the pitch. A corner was performed, Avishai Zhano raised the ball from the right wing of the attack towards the far post, and the defender Sergei Belianchuk stood near the keeper's area's edge and left-footed a weak but well-calculated volley shot in, opening the score and becoming "The Man Of The Game". Strauber should've closed better his near corner, but he's just thrown his hands up in disbelief and knelt to let the ball find a gap. 1:0 to Haifa.

Eyal Abrahami registered a great curved shot (114), but he missed the frame by centimeters. And this didn't matter much at all, as the score was 2:0 at that point. Ibrahim Doro was too egoistic throughout the match and lost numerous balls in his useless and stupid penetrations; however, the one that took place 8 minutes from the end, will be remembered for long. Getting a ball in the midcircle, he rushed forward, passed 2 defenders, misled yet another one, reckoned Strauber to come towards him and then sent a wide ball towards the center of the box. Alon Mizrahi had probably never scored an easier goal in his career, and he became the only person this year scoring in all the 5 Cup games of his team and achieving the result of 25 goals this season in the Cup and the League. Several minutes later on, Mizrahi got the Cup from the hands of the Israeli President, Mr. Ezer Weizmann. The 5th Green Cup of Haifa, the 4th in the 90-ies...

THE BEST CUP SCORERS:
        Alon Mizrahi (Maccabee Haifa)           7(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)
        Moshe Vaanunu (Maccabee Ahi Nazareth)   3(0)
        Yair Simhon (Hapoel Beer-Sheva)         3(0)
        Assaf Tubi (Hapoel Jerusalem)           3(1)

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