29 goals (!), 6 red cards (!), 4 penalties (all scored) and another own goal scored by an International player, again in the game of Hapoel Ashkelon - this was the breathtaking and surprising story of the last week. The most surprising part is undoubtedly the table - out of the big Empires, just Maccabee Haifa and Hapoel Tel-Aviv are where they're expected to be. Maccabee Tel-Aviv? Beitar Jerusalem? Hapoel Haifa, or Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa? Hapoel Beer-Sheva? All of those lost their points and are far away from the top; however, just 2 games have been played, and the conclusions shouldn't be jumped into.
Maccabee Haifa, playing at home vs Hapoel Ashkelon, was extremely disappointing during the last 25 minutes of play, as well as sparkling and devastating all the time before; that was enough to bring 6 goals, 4 to the hosts and 2 to the guests, and to show once again a great skill of Haifa's attacking line, Sergei Kandaurov et Alon Mizrahi. Hapoel Rishon le-Zion registered a huge surprise, humiliating Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa with 4:1 away after having conceded first before the break; Hapoel Jerusalem registered a great comeback at home, vs Maccabee Herzliya, 3:2 in a great game, and the hero was nobody else but the eternal Michel Dayan. Another charming strike of Georgi Daraselia became a winner for Hapoel Tel-Aviv, 1:0 over Hapoel Kefar-Saba away. A goal of Assif Ben-Ishai, 6 minutes from time, brought Maccabee Ironi Ashdod quite a surprising victory over Hapoel Haifa, 1:0; Akakiy Devadze preserved his net clean. 2:0 to the kids of Hapoel Beit-Shean at home over Hapoel Beer-Sheva, and the young Moris Uzan became our "Player Of The Week", scoring a header and causing a penalty. 2:1 at home to Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv, after an impressive comeback over Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa through a couple of goals of its substitute Eli Tsuref. And finally, it was a great thriller in Ramat-Gan; being down 0:2 to Maccabee Tel-Aviv, Beitar Jerusalem registered a marvellous 2nd half and scored 3 goals to complete a perfect comeback, but was beaten 2 minutes from time by the Chilean scorer Rodrigo Goldberg's equalizer. And now - let us move to the details.
Playing at home against quite a weak and unsecure squad of Hapoel Ashkelon, Maccabee Haifa needed just 6 minutes to open the score, when the incredible multi-move combination of Eliran Elkayam - Sergei Kandaurov - Ibrahim Doro - Adoram Keisi - Alon Mizrahi left no chance to Ashkelon's defence. While Haifa was attacking in waves, a magnificent goal of Alon Mizrahi (25) was disallowed because of a hand-touch suspicion, but in another 4 minutes, Ibrahim Doro made a great pass to Hezi Shirazi who turned around inside the box and scored. A red card shown to Boaz Meir (25) after a brutal foul on the sparkling Sergei Kandaurov, naturally, just helped the hosts' plans to enjoy their pressure. 2 minutes after the break, a wonderful solo penetration of Kandaurov and a shot from 14 meters made the score 3:0; and in another 18 minutes, Alon Mizrahi was knocked down inside the box, but Kandaurov took the ball, advanced and beat Asi Rakhamim again, joining Mizrahi in "The Best Scorers' List". Unfortunately, here came a certain breakdown of Haifa - first, Arik Benado tried to intercept the ball of Harel Kakhlon and instead curved an unstoppable ball over the hands of flying Nir Davidovich to his far corner, 4:1. And 7 minutes from time, Yossi Shoshani performed a free kick from the right wing, and Dudu Dahan headed it home undisturbed. 4:2, but Haifa, the 1st place and with a magnificent attacking line, should still be aware of its defensive problems and think them over thoroughly.
When Amiran Mogieri shot an unstoppable penalty kick, 10 minutes before the break, and so opened the score for Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa vs Hapoel Rishon le-Zion at home, nobody could've predicted the sudden flourishing of the guests; moreover, the same Mogieri shot a great bomb parried greatly by a flying Sagi Strauss from under his bar, "The Save Of The Week". However, Eyal Lakhman had his secret weapon - a new and widely unknown forward Rafi Cohen (the National keeper has nothing to do with him, don't be confused). When he directed a good pass of Nir Shikwa (48) under the right crossbar of Golan Malul, and then used a pass of Eyal Cohen to roll the ball past the frustrated keeper (54) to finish a comeback, Petakh-Tikwa of Moshe Sinai was virtually caught with its pants down. Evgeniy Kashentsev, the forward of Rishon le-Zion, recalled his great penetrations from the past, one of which resulted in a famous goal vs Grasshoppers. This time he scored twice, once after a pass of Nissan Capeta (71) and once after the one of Avi Pitusi (77). After 2 games, Rishon stays with all the points and a great goal difference of 6-1; as for Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa, this team is much duller than in its previous seasons.
Another incredible drama of many goals was registered in "The Game Of The Week" in Ramat-Gan, between Maccabee Tel-Aviv and Beitar Jerusalem. Maccabee was pressing vigorously from the very beginning, and if Moshe Glam (23) found just a right post of Itzhak Korenfein, Eli Driks opened the score with a header, after Alon Offir's free kick from the left wing (33). 4 minutes before the break, a great pass of Guy Nakhman left Driks in front of an empty net in a position from which it was really impossible to miss. But Beitar came a totally different team to the 2nd half, much because of Yossi Abuksis who substituted a weak Raanan Deri. Abuksis made a goal pass to Alon Harazi, who shot a very sharp ball (62) to touch the defender, misleading Uvarov and reducing the score. A magnificent combination of Yossi Abuksis - Eli Ohana - Istvan Salloi - Istvan Pisont resulted in an equalizer (72), and in another 10 minutes, Alon Harazi (what a support did the defender give to his attacking line!..) was knocked down in Maccabee's box by the young Guy Tsarfati, and Istvan Salloi converted a penalty into a 3:2 lead to Beitar! But the Maccabees weren't broken. 5 minutes from time, the Chilean Jewish striker Rodrigo Goldberg came as a substitute instead of a weak Alon Brumer; in another 3 minutes, he finished a long-termed attack of Maccabee with a flat shot from 15 meters to touch Tretyak and to go in, misleading the frustrated Korenfein. What a game! 3:3 at the very end.
In Jerusalem, nothing seemed to start badly for Maccabee Herzliya - after 12 minutes of play, a corner performed by Yair Asayag found a flying header of its Brazilian striker Santos Sierra who scored past Liran Strauber. However, Hapoel Jerusalem didn't break down, due to its wonderful 36-years-old midfielder Michel Dayan - he inspired the youngsters and scored a really beautiful free kick, 5 minutes before the break, to equalize the score. Staying in 10 players, as Yair Asayag was sent off seconds before the break with a dubious 2nd yellow card by a weak referee Arik Haimovich, Herzliya started defending the result, in vain. 5 minutes in the 2nd half, Shuli Gilardi made a perfect double save from the shots of Assaf Tubi and Vickey Bukovza; however, after a corner kick performed by Michel Dayan an unstoppable header of Moti Ohayon completed a comeback. The teams exchanged the goals then, Vickey Bukovza enlarging the margin for the hosts (54) and Guy Gat reducing it for the guests (65); in between, Herzliya's coach's son, Ronen Feigenbaum, was sent off with 2 quick yellow cards to piss his father off very much. Having a keeper in a great form and a good attacking line, Herzliya's still stuck with no points and a great deal of bad luck, especially of Yair Asayag. Apropos, Herzliya - Hapoel Kefar-Saba had to transfer its home game vs Hapoel Tel-Aviv to Herzliya's stadium, since some works had to be done in Kefar-Saba. After just 13 minutes of play, the "hosts" got an advantage, as Shimon Gershon had been sent off after a foul on Washington penetrating singlefootedly towards the rival's net; however, the game stayed pretty equal. Fortunately for the badly scoring Hapoel Tel-Aviv of the last season, now it has Georgi Daraselia in its attacking line - using the penetration of Felix Halfon at the right wing and his pass seconds after the break, he shot a well-directed ball from 16 meters diagonally to the right low corner of Scheinsinger who dived in vain. Seconds from the final whistle, Yaniv Avvargeal had a great opportunity to equalize the score, missing the frame from a good point.
Akakiy Devadze in the net of Maccabee Ironi Ashdod was quite busy in the 1st half at home, vs Hapoel Haifa, destroying the creations of Reuven Attar time after time; the peak was reached when Devadze stopped Najouan Grayib in one-to-one after Attar's pass to the forward. However, the red card shown before the break to Oren Zeituni (for fisting the face of Naor Galili) influenced Haifa badly. Avi Perets was now quite busy in its net, registering several great saves; however, he could do nothing against the flat shot of Assif Ben-Ishai from 7 meters to his left corner, 6 minutes from time. The goal came after a great double pass between Ben-Ishai and Amir Turgeman, both in Hapoel Haifa the last season (!). And so, Ironi Ashdod is another surprising team of the first 2 games, and the preparation seems to be good.
Still without 6 of its key players, Hapoel Beit-Shean was defending in the 1st half at home, vs Hapoel Beer-Sheva, and even suffered from one left post and one bar. However, the 2nd half was totally different. Moris Uzan used a great left-wing penetration of the Croatian player Igor Acmagic to open the score with a good header (49); and in another 5 minutes, the same Uzan was knocked down inside the box by Beer-Sheva's keeper Shaul Smadja, and Eitan Taib converted the penalty into the last goal of this game. Beni Tabak, Beer-Sheva's coach, tried again his secret weapon called Yossi Benayoun; this time the kid was sparkling again, but it wasn't enough.
And finally, Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv spoiled Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa's mood fully before the European Cup games of the latter. Indeed, Moti Kakun scored from the penalty spot seconds before the break, after Manor Hassan had been knocked down by Bnei-Yehuda's Slovakian defender Marek Petrus; and indeed, Petrus was sent off after arguing with the referee Assaf Keinan about this decision. Even so, Petakh-Tikwa was unable to preserve its lead, as the Oranges had a great substituting striker named Eli Tsuref. He used the goal passes of Sahar Mizrahi (53) and Cobi Refua (84) to register a comeback and to bring Viko Hadad his first points as Bnei-Yehuda's coach. And for Petakh-Tikwa - you'd better play much better in Vejle (Denmark)!
NEXT WEEK (in 3 weeks): Hapoel Rishon le-Zion (2) hosts Maccabee Ironi Ashdod (5), and Hapoel Tel-Aviv (4) hosts Hapoel Jerusalem (3). The unlucky Maccabee Herzliya (14) hosts the leaders, Maccabee Haifa. And there is an interesting game between the two faking Empires, Hapoel Haifa (12) vs Maccabee Tel-Aviv (11); it seems like a game NOT TO BE MISSED! By now, I would like to wish good luck to our "Europeans", Beitar Jerusalem, Hapoel Beer-Sheva and Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa; they'll surely need it.
MACCABEE HAIFA - Hapoel Ashkelon 4:2 (2:0).
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Hosts: Alon Mizrahi (6), Hezi Shirazi (29), Sergei Kandaurov (47, 65).
Guests: OG (Arik Benado, 66), Dudu Dahan (83).
RED: Boaz Meir, midfielder, Hapoel Ashkelon, 25.
THE BEST: Sergei Kandaurov, midfielder, Maccabee Haifa.
Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa - HAPOEL RISHON LE-ZION 1:4 (1:0).
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Hosts: Amiran Mogieri (35 pen).
Guests: Rafi Cohen (48, 54), Evgeniy Kashentsev (71, 77).
THE BEST: Rafi Cohen, forward, Hapoel Rishon le-Zion.
HAPOEL JERUSALEM - Maccabee Herzliya 3:2 (1:1).
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Hosts: Michel Dayan (40), Moti Ohayon (50), Vickey Bukovza (54).
Guests: Santos Sierra (12), Guy Gat (65).
RED: Yair Asayag, forward, Maccabee Herzliya, 45.
Ronen Feigenbaum, defender, Maccabee Herzliya, 58.
THE BEST: Michel Dayan, midfielder, Hapoel Jerusalem.
Hapoel Kefar-Saba - HAPOEL TEL-AVIV 0:1 (0:0).
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Hosts: -.
Guests: Georgi Daraselia (46).
RED: Shimon Gershon, defender, Hapoel Tel-Aviv, 13.
THE BEST: Georgi Daraselia, forward, Hapoel Tel-Aviv.
MACCABEE IRONI ASHDOD - Hapoel Haifa 1:0 (0:0).
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Hosts: Assif Ben-Ishai (84).
Guests: -.
RED: Oren Zeituni, defender, Hapoel Haifa, 45.
THE BEST: Alon Hazan, midfielder, Maccabee Ironi Ashdod.
HAPOEL BEIT-SHEAN - Hapoel Beer-Sheva 2:0 (0:0).
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Hosts: Moris Uzan (49), Eitan Taib (54 pen).
Guests: -.
THE BEST: Moris Uzan, forward, Hapoel Beit-Shean.
BNEI-YEHUDA TEL-AVIV - Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa 2:1 (0:1).
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Hosts: Eli Tsuref (53, 84).
Guests: Moti Kakun (45 pen).
RED: Marek Petrus, defender, Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv, 44.
THE BEST: Eli Tsuref, forward, Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv.
Maccabee Tel-Aviv - Beitar Jerusalem 3:3 (2:0).
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Hosts: Eli Driks (33, 41), Rodrigo Goldberg (88).
Guests: Alon Harazi (62), Istvan Pisont (72), Istvan Salloi (82 pen).
THE BEST: Yossi Abuksis, midfielder, Beitar Jerusalem.
THE WEEK'S TEAM:
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Meir Cohen
(Hapoel Beit-Shean)
Ron Nakhman Eitan Taib Eilon Schwegger Assif Ben-Ishai
(Bnei-Yehuda) (Hapoel Beit-Shean) (Bnei-Yehuda) (Maccabee Ironi Ashdod)
Alon Hazan Sergei Kandaurov Moris Uzan Yossi Abuksis
(Mcb. Ironi Ashdod) (Maccabee Haifa) (Hapoel Beit-Shean) (Beitar Jerusalem)
Eli Tsuref Rafi Cohen
(Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv) (Hapoel Rishon le-Zion)
Hapoel Beit-Shean, Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv - 3.
Maccabee Ironi Ashdod - 2.
Maccabee Haifa, Hapoel Rishon le-Zion, Beitar Jerusalem - 1.
THE BEST GOAL:
91: Michel Dayan, Alon Mizrahi, Moris Uzan,
Evgeniy Kashentsev (the 2nd), Assif Ben-Ishai, Istvan Pisont.
MO: Alon Mizrahi, Istvan Pisont, Michel Dayan.
THE BEST SAVE:
MO: Sagi Strauss, from Amiran Mogieri, 44.
PLACE TEAM G W T L Goals Points
1 (1) Maccabee Haifa 02 2 0 0 8- 3 6
2 (2-3) Hapoel Rishon le-Zion 02 2 0 0 6- 1 6
3 (4-5) Hapoel Jerusalem 02 2 0 0 5- 3 6
4 (6) Hapoel Tel-Aviv 02 2 0 0 2- 0 6
5 (7-8) Maccabee Ironi Ashdod 02 1 1 0 2- 1 4
6 (14-15) Hapoel Beit-Shean 02 1 0 1 2- 2 3
- (2-3) Hapoel Beer-Sheva 02 1 0 1 2- 2 3
- (4-5) Hapoel Kefar-Saba 02 1 0 1 2- 2 3
9 (14-15) Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv 02 1 0 1 2- 3 3
10 (7-8) Beitar Jerusalem 02 0 2 0 4- 4 2
11 (11-12) Maccabee Tel-Aviv 02 0 1 1 4- 5 1
12 (9-10) Hapoel Haifa 02 0 1 1 0- 1 1
13 (9-10) Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa 02 0 1 1 1- 4 1
14 (13) Maccabee Herzliya 02 0 0 2 2- 4 0
15 (11-12) Hapoel Ashkelon 02 0 0 2 3- 6 0
16 (16) Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa 02 0 0 2 2- 6 0
IN BRACKETS - the places of the teams after the last week.
NOTE: Hapoel Beit-Shean should've been placed higher than Hapoel Beer-Sheva,
as it won in their face-to-face game. However, Kefar-Saba interfered
to make this equation hard for another solution than a temporary
equality in places between the three teams.
BEST PLAYER: Moris Uzan, midfielder, Hapoel Beit-Shean.
TOP SCORERS: Sergei Kandaurov (Maccabee Haifa) 3(0) 2
Alon Mizrahi (Maccabee Haifa) 3(0) 1
**********************************************************
Rafi Cohen (Hapoel Rishon le-Zion) 2(0) 2
Evgeniy Kashentsev (Hapoel Rishon le-Zion) 2(0) 2
Eli Tsuref (Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv) 2(0) 2
Eli Driks (Maccabee Tel-Aviv) 2(0) 2
Georgi Daraselia (Hapoel Tel-Aviv) 2(0) 1
Moti Kakun (Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa) 2(1) 1(1)
NOTE - the penalties scored are put in brackets. The last
column means the number of goals scored this week.
THE NEXT ROUND (in 3 weeks):
| Hosts | Guests |
| Maccabee Herzliya (14) | Maccabee Haifa (1) |
| Hapoel Rishon le-Zion (2) | Maccabee Ironi Ashdod (5) |
| Hapoel Tel-Aviv (4) | Hapoel Jerusalem (3) |
| Beitar Jerusalem (10) | Hapoel Kefar-Saba (6-8) |
| Hapoel Beer-Sheva (6-8) | Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa (13) |
| Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa (16) | Hapoel Beit-Shean (6-8) |
| Hapoel Ashkelon (15) | Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv (9) |
| Hapoel Haifa (12) | Maccabee Tel-Aviv (11) |
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