28 goals in 9 games (including the home feast of Beitar Jerusalem on Tuesday vs Hapoel Beer-Sheva), 4 penalties and 6 red cards - this was the interesting story of the last week. Indeed, 5 games brought us just 4 goals, but the other games were the real celebration of football; Hapoel Beer-Sheva was definitely the most attractive team - in its 2 games 18 (!) goals were scored! However, this team finds itself now at the place before the last, clearly a disappointment. Hapoel Tel-Aviv and Hapoel Jerusalem returned to the top, followed closely by the two Haifa teams; Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa and Beitar Jerusalem are also in the vicinity of the top, and so is, quite surprisingly, Maccabee Ironi Ashdod. And who closes the table? Yes, Maccabee Tel-Aviv - what an anomaly!
A dull home nil draw of Hapoel Tel-Aviv vs Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa still left Hapoel the first; the team of Eli Cohen stays 100%-successful away, but still can't find a victory at home! Hapoel Jerusalem defeated Hapoel Beit-Shean at home, 1:0; the same was the result of Maccabee Haifa's home game vs Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv, and of the two newcomers' victories, Maccabee Ironi Ashdod away over Maccabee Herzliya and Hapoel Ashkelon at home over Maccabee Tel-Aviv (!). Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa and Beitar Jerusalem parted with a 1:1 draw, in a game which stayed of a good quality despite the severe sandstorm, and Hapoel Kefar-Saba finally collected yet another 3 points, defeating Hapoel Rishon le-Zion away, 3:1. But the best performance had been held in Beer-Sheva - being 2 goals down, Hapoel Haifa presented a brilliance of Reuven Attar and Giovanni Rosso to defeat the hosts in a stubborn battle, 5:4 despite the talent of the young Yossi Benayoun.
But first let's start with a concert of Beitar Jerusalem this Tuesday, with 9 goals scored after the break (!). Istvan Salloi, with 4 goals and an assist, registered the most brilliant performance of the season so far and got the mark of 9; he started his execution of Beer-Sheva just after the break with a curved header to leave Smadja no chance, and he went on 7 minutes later, with a good shot from a close range. Yossi Abuksis (56) and again Salloi (60) made the score humiliating, and Salloi (80) scored another goal which seemed to be the final spot. However, the following 10 minutes brought the fans a pleasure of another 4 goals seen (!). Beer-Sheva somehow revived for 2 brief moments of satisfaction for its fans - first, Sergei Gusev (83) was on the rebound after Itzhak Korenfein's save, and in another 2 minutes, the same Gusev gave a brilliant pass to Yossi Benayoun who passed Korenfein with an utter elegancy and rolled the ball into an empty net from a hard angle. But it was hard to stop Beitar that day, and the 2 goals of Beer-Sheva just enflamed the wrath of Dror Kashtan's players - first, Nir Sevilla (87) rolled the ball past the miserable Smadja, and then Eli Ohana (90) headed it home to set the final score. 7:2, and what a performance of Beitar!
The games of the "European" Israeli teams were continued this Saturday, in a game between Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa and Beitar Jerusalem. Despite the dominance of the hosts and a wonderful shot of Eli Abrabanel (10) parried superbly by Itzhak Korenfein from his left corner at half a height, the guests created most of the dangerous moments, mostly because of Petakh-Tikwa's shaky defence. First, Ilan Boaron sadly lost a duel to Eli Ohana inside the box; Ohana rolled the ball back, and Pisont bombed it from 14 meters, the keeper Shai Hess blocking the shot and falling back from its might. But in another 5 minutes (18), it was in - Avi Fletcher rolled the ball back to the keeper, Ohana kidnapped the ball and shot it flat past the advancing keeper to his close left corner. 1:0, born completely out of nothing.
Petakh-Tikwa wasn't broken, and still dominated, though Beitar based its game on the lethal counterattacks and made Shai Hess, "The Man Of The Game", work hard. Eli Abrabanel shot a great ball from 18 meters, passing diagonally several centimeters from the right post of Korenfein (36). And then the equalizer came - Gabor Marton sent a brilliant pass to Manor Hassan, and the latter had passed Alon Harazi who had no choice but to knock him down. The justified penalty was awarded, and Moti Kakun caught the top of "The Best Scorers' List" with his 6 goals and 4 scored penalties, 1:1, 3 minutes before the break.
Eli Ohana injured his knee and was substituted with Nir Sevilla (57); the distinguished Israeli forward will miss the European Cup game vs FC Bruges this Tuesday. A clear foul of Manor Hassan on Jean Talesnikov inside Beitar's box should've resulted in another penalty kick, but the referee Meir Levi marked to continue playing. A bad save of Itzhak Korenfein from Eli Abrabanel's shot found the substitute Yaniv Offri on the rebound, but the latter's shot from the hard angle met just the post. And Shai Hess made several great saves to leave the score intact.
The controversial moment came 12 minutes from time. A free kick was awarded to Beitar, 30 meters from Hess' net, and Yossi Abuksis shot a bomb that passed the wall. Shai Hess slipped the ball and jumped to get it tight for the 2nd time, only to be hit by Shmuel Levi who tried to reach the rebound; Ilan Boaron reached the scene immediately and pushed Levi aside. The referee Meir Levi was extremely decisive and sent off both Levi and Boaron, in such a hasty step that both red-carded players sat together outside and peacefully discussed the event. The two "European" teams lost points, but clearly showed their top intentions and will struggle there until the very end.
Hapoel Tel-Aviv failed to defeat Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa at home, but still is unbeaten and leads the League; the defence is mostly remarkable, conceding 1 goal in 7 games (!). Offer Shitrit had two brilliant opportunities to score, but once he was greatly blocked by Golan Malul (37), and once Sharon Tsofin (69) cleared the ball from the goal-line; Tsofin himself was sent off in another 5 minutes, conceding the 2nd yellow card. The best opportunity to score was of Offer Cohen from Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa, but he missed the empty frame from 3 meters (!). So, we can say that the only really exciting moment of the game was before it - a short ceremony of giving the golden medal of Hapoel Tel-Aviv to Moshe Sinai, one of the best Israeli players ever, coaching now Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa.
Hapoel Jerusalem, levelling its number of points to Hapoel Tel-Aviv's and obtaining again the 2nd place, defeated Hapoel Beit-Shean at home, 1:0. The winner was scored after just 4 minutes of play, when a double-pass between Laszlo Czeh and Ram Setti resulted into Czeh's flat shot past Meir Cohen from 12 meters. Later on, both teams had some opportunities to score, but the keepers were doing their jobs well - for example, the save of Liran Strauber at the goal-line from the shot of Udi Shnorman is considered by "Ha'Daka Ha'91" as "The Save Of The Week". Anyway, the game was nothing special, but Hapoel Jerusalem is definitely satisfied with the points gathered.
A goal and an assist of Eyal Berkovich that Saturday helped West Ham to crash Liverpool at home, 2:1; a goal and an assist of Haim Revivo helped Celta Vigo to achieve a surprising away draw vs Atletico Madrid, 3:3. The Greens of Maccabee Haifa, without those 2 brilliant Israeli players, still fail sometimes to show the pieces of Soccer they used to show, but this season they don't waste points even with the mediocre level of play. Yesterday they had tons of opportunities vs Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv, but the good skill of Rafi Cohen and the incredible misses of Haifa's players left the score nearly intact. Just 2 minutes of Bnei-Yehuda's lack of concentration were decisive. 2 minutes before the break, Eilon Schwegger was sent off with a 2nd yellow card after fouling Ibrahim Doro. In another minute, a great pass of Avishai Zhano, "The Man Of The Game", came into the box from the right wing; the Czech midfielder Jiri Weora raised high and headed the ball to the left post of Rafi Cohen, and Hezi Shirazi was on the rebound to push the ball into an empty net.
Maccabee Haifa is close to the top, and so is Hapoel Haifa, giving us a breathtaking drama in Beer-Sheva and finally collecting all the points. At first, it didn't look that way at all - after 22 minutes, a great slalom of the young and talented Yossi Benayoun resulted in a foul of Najouan Grayib on him inside the box, and Benayoun himself shot a flat penalty under the stomach of the keeper Dudu Awwat, 1:0. In another 3 minutes, it was 2:0 to Beer-Sheva after a great goal pass of Dudu Heffer and quite an unexpected shot of Yair Simhon from 18 meters to the right low corner of Awwat. But Hapoel Haifa wasn't broken - Liron Basis (41) shot a bomb from inside the box after a goal pass of the former CSKA Moscow player Dmitriy Ulyanov, and that was a reducer. And 2 minutes afterwards, a totally redundant foul of Dudu Moyal on Sergen Culakovic inside the box resulted in a penalty kick, and Reuven Attar equalized with a perfectly performed shot, 2:2.
Two brilliant moves in the 2nd half made a comeback of Haifa perfect and forced Beer-Sheva to lose again. First, a brilliant slalom of Giovanni Rosso against his former teammates (53) resulted in a goal pass to Reuven Attar who had no problems to beat Smadja, 3:2. And 15 minutes later, a short corner kick was performed by the same two - Attar gave a short pass to Rosso, Rosso heeled it back to Attar, Attar raised a sharp ball to the box with an external side of his left foot, and it landed precisely to Sergen Culakovic's header, 4:2.
Beer-Sheva refused to give up, but Haifa wanted to base its victory even further; that's why the spectators (mostly Haifa's and neutral, of course) enjoyed another 3 goals scored. A minute after Culakovic's header, Amir Avigdor assisted Yossi Benayoun, and the latter rolled the ball past Awwat with a great skill, 4:3. 14 minutes from time, Haifa stroke again - it was a double-pass between Reuven Attar and Dmitriy Ulyanov, and the latter managed to bounce the ball from a hard angle over Shaul Smadja, 5:3. The last, however meaningless, effort, became "The Goal Of The Week" - Rami Eliyahu rolled the ball to Sharon Avitan, and the latter turned inside the box and shot a brilliant bomb to the far corner of Awwat from the edge of the box at half a height. 5:4, in a thrilling game to leave one team at the top and one at the dangerous vicinity of the bottom.
Maccabee Ironi Ashdod, falling behind the leaders after its last 2 unsuccessful games, closed the gap after an away victory of 1:0 over Maccabee Herzliya - Yossi Madar, coming as a substitute, scored the only goal in a confusion near Shuli Gilardi's net, 5 minutes after the break. Ashdod managed to save the victory even in 10 players - 17 minutes from time, Guy Sharabi was sent off by the referee Moshe Atias for the foul on Oleg Naduda, hardly justifying a yellow card. Naduda, returning to Herzliya's squad, gave quite a good debut performance, but failed to score - his bomb from 20 meters (58) at half a height, changing its direction after deflecting from the defender, was met with a fantastic flight of Akakiy Devadze to the width of his goal, my "Save Of The Week".
Hapoel Kefar-Saba, coming to Rishon le-Zion and meeting there a team in quite a crisis, finally came out of the crisis of its own, 3:1. It started seconds before the break, when a great pass of Sharon Mimer for 40 meters found the sprint of Yaniv Avvargeal, rushing into the box and rolling the ball past the helpless Sagi Strauss. In the 2nd half, two bright shots of Washington de Santos made the score humiliating for Rishon. Meir Azran could just reduce it, seconds from time, with a penalty kick that didn't change the facts - Kefar-Saba is finally out of the bottom line, and Rishon le-Zion, starting the League so brightly, should definitely refresh its defensive line, as Sagi Strauss alone can't save the team.
And finally, it was the game in Ashkelon to give Maccabee Tel-Aviv another humiliating blow. This time, for a change, it didn't even score. Indeed, Ashkelon's keeper Asi Rakhamim made several remarkable saves from the shots of various Maccabee players, but the winner came 21 minutes from time on the other side - David Kazelashvili, "The Man Of The Game", slid the ball with a slight header after a bounce of Georgi Anchavadze and so made a goal pass to Samir Znapir, who rolled the ball past Uvarov, 1:0. 2 minutes afterwards, the young defender of Maccabee Oren Rothem was sent off after a brutal back foul on the same Kazelashvili. Both teams had some opportunities to score before the end, but didn't exploit it. Anyway, Ashkelon really didn't impress, but it was much-much better than Maccabee... What a surprise!
NEXT ROUND (in 4 weeks): Maccabee Ironi Ashdod (7) hosts Hapoel Tel-Aviv (1), and a great game is expected between Hapoel Haifa (4) and Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa (5). Also a very important game, this time at the bottom - Maccabee Tel-Aviv (16) against Maccabee Herzliya (14). Meet you there, and by now - Happy Jewish Year to you, my dear subscribers, and an easy fast!
BEITAR JERUSALEM - Hapoel Beer-Sheva 7:2 (0:0). [From Week 06]
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Hosts: Istvan Salloi (46, 53, 60, 80), Yossi Abuksis (56),
Nir Sevilla (87), Eli Ohana (90).
Guests: Sergei Gusev (83), Yossi Benayoun (85).
THE BEST: Istvan Salloi, midfielder, Beitar Jerusalem.
Hapoel Tel-Aviv - Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa 0:0.
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Hosts: -.
Guests: -.
RED: Sharon Tsofin, defender, Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa, 74.
THE BEST: Avi Azulai, defender, Hapoel Tel-Aviv.
HAPOEL JERUSALEM - Hapoel Beit-Shean 1:0 (1:0).
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Hosts: Laszlo Czeh (4).
Guests: -.
THE BEST: Laszlo Czeh, midfielder, Hapoel Jerusalem.
MACCABEE HAIFA - Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv 1:0 (1:0).
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Hosts: Hezi Shirazi (44).
Guests: -.
RED: Eilon Schwegger, defender, Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv, 43.
THE BEST: Avishai Zhano, defender, Maccabee Haifa.
Hapoel Beer-Sheva - HAPOEL HAIFA 4:5 (2:2).
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Hosts: Yossi Benayoun (22 pen, 69), Yair Simhon (25), Sharon Avitan (89).
Guests: Liron Basis (41), Reuven Attar (43 pen, 53),
Sergen Culakovic (68), Dmitriy Ulyanov (76).
THE BEST: Reuven Attar, midfielder, Hapoel Haifa.
Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa - Beitar Jerusalem 1:1 (1:1).
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Hosts: Moti Kakun (42 pen).
Guests: Eli Ohana (18).
RED: Shmuel Levi, defender, Beitar Jerusalem, 78.
Ilan Boaron, defender, Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa, 78.
THE BEST: Shai Hess, keeper, Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa.
Maccabee Herzliya - MACCABEE IRONI ASHDOD 0:1 (0:0).
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Hosts: -.
Guests: Yossi Madar (50).
RED: Guy Sharabi, defender, Maccabee Ironi Ashdod, 73.
THE BEST: Alon Hazan, midfielder, Maccabee Ironi Ashdod.
Hapoel Rishon le-Zion - HAPOEL KEFAR-SABA 1:3 (0:1).
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Hosts: Meir Azran (90 pen).
Guests: Yaniv Avvargeal (45), Washington de Santos (70, 73).
THE BEST: Washington de Santos, forward, Hapoel Kefar-Saba.
HAPOEL ASHKELON - Maccabee Tel-Aviv 1:0 (0:0).
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Hosts: Samir Znapir (69).
Guests: -.
RED: Oren Rothem, defender, Maccabee Tel-Aviv, 71.
THE BEST: David Kazelashvili, forward, Hapoel Ashkelon.
THE WEEK'S TEAM:
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Shai Hess
(Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa)
Avishai Zhano Gabor Marton Avi Azulai Hagai Kol
(Maccabee Haifa) (Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa) (Hapoel Tel-Aviv) (Hapoel Jerusalem)
Alon Hazan Yossi Abuksis Giovanni Rosso Reuven Attar
(Maccabee Ironi Ashdod) (Beitar Jerusalem) (Hapoel Haifa) (Hapoel Haifa)
David Kazelashvili Laszlo Czeh
(Hapoel Ashkelon) (Hapoel Jerusalem)
Hapoel Jerusalem, Hapoel Haifa, Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa - 2.
Hapoel Tel-Aviv, Maccabee Haifa, Beitar Jerusalem,
Maccabee Ironi Ashdod, Hapoel Ashkelon - 1.
THE BEST GOAL:
MO: Sharon Avitan.
Also - Sergen Culakovic, Yaniv Avvargeal.
THE BEST SAVE:
91: Liran Strauber, from Udi Shnorman, 23.
MO: Akakiy Devadze, from Oleg Naduda, 58.
PLACE TEAM G W T L Goals Points
1 (1) Hapoel Tel-Aviv 07 4 3 0 6- 1 15
2 (3) Hapoel Jerusalem 07 4 3 0 10- 6 15
3 (4) Maccabee Haifa 07 4 2 1 14- 7 14
4 (5) Hapoel Haifa 07 4 2 1 11- 6 14
5 (6) Beitar Jerusalem 07 3 4 0 19-10 13
6 (2) Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa 07 4 1 2 13-10 13
7 (7) Maccabee Ironi Ashdod 07 3 3 1 9- 9 12
8 (8) Hapoel Rishon le-Zion 07 2 2 3 9-11 8
- (14) Hapoel Ashkelon 07 2 2 3 9-11 8
10 (10) Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa 07 1 4 2 5- 7 7
11 (9) Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv 07 1 3 3 6- 9 6
12 (16) Hapoel Kefar-Saba 07 2 0 5 9-13 6
13 (11) Hapoel Beit-Shean 07 2 0 5 6-11 6
14 (12) Maccabee Herzliya 07 1 2 4 8-11 5
15 (13) Hapoel Beer-Sheva 07 1 2 4 11-19 5
16 (15) Maccabee Tel-Aviv 07 0 3 4 8-12 3
IN BRACKETS - the places of the teams after the last week.
BEST PLAYER: Reuven Attar, midfielder, Hapoel Haifa.
TOP SCORERS: Moti Kakun (Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa) 6(4) 1(1)
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Istvan Pisont (Beitar Jerusalem) 5(0)
Alon Mizrahi (Maccabee Haifa) 5(0)
Istvan Salloi (Beitar Jerusalem) 5(1) 4
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Nir Sevilla (Beitar Jerusalem) 4(0) 1
Sergei Kandaurov (Maccabee Haifa) 4(0)
Eli Driks (Maccabee Tel-Aviv) 4(0)
Yossi Benayoun (Hapoel Beer-Sheva) 4(1) 2(1)
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Laszlo Czeh (Hapoel Jerusalem) 3(0) 1
Eli Abrabanel (Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa) 3(0)
Naor Galili (Maccabee Ironi Ashdod) 3(0)
Georgi Daraselia (Hapoel Tel-Aviv) 3(0)
Evgeniy Kashentsev (Hapoel Rishon le-Zion) 3(0)
Reuven Attar (Hapoel Haifa) 3(2) 2(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 |
| Maccabee Ironi Ashdod (7) | Hapoel Tel-Aviv (1) |
| Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa (10) | Hapoel Jerusalem (2) |
| Hapoel Beit-Shean (13) | Maccabee Haifa (3) |
| Hapoel Haifa (4) | Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa (5) |
| Beitar Jerusalem (6) | Hapoel Ashkelon (8-9) |
| Hapoel Rishon le-Zion (8-9) | Hapoel Beer-Sheva (15) |
| Hapoel Kefar-Saba (12) | Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv (11) |
| Maccabee Tel-Aviv (16) | Maccabee Herzliya (14) |
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