26 goals (9 scored by the foreigners), 3 red cards and 2 penalties, just 1 scored - this was the story of the last weekend. And it was a real International story - the Bosnian, the Slovenian and the Chilean players were sent off with the red cards, the Croatian's assist would compete for "The Goal Pass Of The Season", and the brilliant combination of the Israeli and the Georgian left no chance to the Russian.
Hapoel Tel-Aviv won a home derby with its usual 1:0 score, an exciting combination of Offer Shitrit and Georgi Daraselia to finish the week of Yellow speculations; now really a few people would doubt whether Hapoel belongs to the top. Both Maccabee Haifa and Hapoel Haifa defeated their opponents, respectively Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa (home) and Hapoel Ashkelon (away), with an identical score of 3:1, catching the 2nd and the 3rd place. Beitar Jerusalem dropped to the 4th place, still unbeaten, but surprisingly losing 2 important points in Herzliya; a powerful one-timer of Igal Entebbi was answered by the substitute Alon Cohen in the game where the keepers Shuli Gilardi and Itzhak Korenfein played the first violins. Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa played vs Hapoel Rishon le-Zion at home, and Hapoel Jerusalem hosted Maccabee Ironi Ashdod; in both games that were quite exciting and ended 2:2, the hosts opened and closed the goals scored. Hapoel Kefar-Saba defeated Hapoel Beer-Sheva away, 2:1, and the Princes of Negev found themselves at the very bottom of the table for the 1st time since 1989. And finally, Viko Hadad made a brilliant substitution to be talked about for years - his 3 substitutes brought Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv 3 goals and 2 goal passes in its 3:1 home victory vs Hapoel Beit-Shean, after a dry 1st half with a missed penalty. Now - the details.
21,000 spectators in Bloomfield, no matter which team they supported, were amazed to see an outstanding miss of Rodrigo Goldberg 6 minutes into the Tel-Aviv derby - Noam Shoham sent a free kick from the right wing which somehow passed all the Red defence, but Goldberg, being alone in front of the keeper, sent the ball wide and far away from the post! The other chances were mostly created by Hapoel and not Maccabee - the peak was the flat shot of Krasimierz Muskal (31), but Alexander Uvarov dived brilliantly to protect his right corner. Demian Geiser was sent off with a 2nd yellow card for a brutal and a totally redundant foul on Gadi Brumer near the midline (39), and the 2 teams had 2 bright opportunities to open the score still before the break. Offer Shitrit (43) rushed into the box and was clearly knocked down by Amir Shelakh, with no reaction of the referee Haim Yaacov - the only referee's mistake throughout the game. In another minute, Avi Nimni advanced and suddenly shot a surprising bomb from 25 meters under the left crossbar of Shavit Elimelekh; the keeper, surprised by a ball hidden for him by his defenders, still managed to throw himself into the air and to parry it to the corner with his fingertips, "The Save Of The Week".
The 2nd half started with Maccabee's attacks - Elimelekh proved his reputation again, with a fabulous double-save from the shots of Offer Levi and Domagio Kosic (47), and Nir Klinger (60) missed Hapoel's left post by mere centimeters from 14 meters. Maccabee seemed to press well and to exploit its numerous advantage; however, its defensive line stayed uncovered and hesitant, and the Georgian magician of Hapoel Tel-Aviv, Georgi Daraselia, used it to give his team the 3rd 1:0 victory just singlefootedly, as he did vs Maccabee Herzliya and Hapoel Kefar-Saba. His great pass (61) sent Offer Shitrit into a penetration at the left wing; Shitrit ran there, stopped and centered the ball back to Daraselia. The Georgian midfielder tried to go through Gadi Brumer and Amir Shelakh by force and failed; however, the National defenders thought too much each about the other's priority to send the ball away, and Daraselia was insistent enough to push the ball between them to Offer Shitrit. Shitrit turned around and threw the ball forward into the box past Alon Brumer, rushing after the ball himself; however, with his eye's corner he saw the speeding Daraselia. The Georgian indeed rushed into the box, saw Uvarov advancing towards him and trying also to close his far corner, and put all his soul into a very mighty and clever shot into Uvarov's close corner at half a height from 10 meters. A goal of a typically English style to make the Red part of the stadium explode. 1:0.
There were still 29 minutes to go, but it was felt Maccabee had been broken. Rodrigo Goldberg was sent off (66) for a rude foul on Yaacov Hillel, and Daraselia had yet another 2 chances, both stopped well by Uvarov. The final whistle found the new reality still there - Hapoel Tel-Aviv at the top and Maccabee Tel-Aviv near the bottom even after their face-to-face derby. Welcome to the 1997-98 Championship, ladies and gentlemen.
Maccabee Haifa is the 2nd, but the home victory over Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa was in no way easy. After 31 minutes of play, Arik Benado (in his only mistake this game) knocked Roman Filipchuk down inside Haifa's box after Haim Shabo's pass, and Filipchuk himself shot a flat penalty to the right corner of a frantically diving Nir Davidovich. Haifa managed to equalize in just 4 minutes, when a combination of Zhano - Bransi - Belianchuk resulted in a mighty shot of Haifa's defender under Golan Malul's bar. And Haifa was better in the 2nd half, but failed to score time after time; only 10 minutes from time, a pass of Avishai Zhano to Alon Mizrahi into the box through the legs of Petakh-Tikwa's defenders let the latter turn around and shoot past Golan Malul to break his draught of scoring, 2:1. And during the final minute of play, Arik Benado sent Ibrahim Doro into a penetration at his left wing, and Doro bounced the ball over Golan Malul from the box' corner. Doro was immediately sent off with his 2nd yellow card for running bewildered towards the tribunes, but it didn't change the fact of Haifa's victory.
A weak shot of Dmitriy Ulyanov, after 7 minutes of play, deflected from Alexander Taikov and misled the keeper Asi Rakhamim, 1:0 to Hapoel Haifa away vs Hapoel Ashkelon. Reuven Attar's shot found Rakamim well-prepared, before Ashkelon managed to equalize - Boaz Meir (21) sent Samir Znapir into the box, the latter performed half a scissors-kick back pass to Georgi Anchavadze, and the Georgian volleyed the ball from 14 meters, deflecting from Dmitriy Ulyanov and misleading Dudu Awwat. However, Ashkelon didn't attack at all after the scored goal, and 11 minutes in the 2nd half, Haifa scored a brilliant goal in a command play - after several quick passes Miroslav Bicinic rolled the ball to Liron Basis, the latter rolled it back with one touch, Bicinic immediately heeled the ball back to Basis, and the Israeli forward finally rolled the ball to the far-away corner of Rakhamim, 2:1 and "The Goal Of The Week". The final goal was scored with 16 minutes to go, by Bicinic himself - his first shot was blocked by Rakhamim, but immediately deflected into Bicinic' chest and back into the net. During the last minute, Awwat made a great save from David Kazelashvili's header, but had the goal even been scored, it would've changed nothing.
The two Haifa's teams managed to advance in the table because of a great surprise taking place in Herzliya - 8 minutes in the game, Igal Entebbi used a short pass from Vassili Ivanov and shot an extraordinary bomb from 25 meters at half a height to the left corner of Korenfein. Beitar attacked and attacked, but could do nothing against the excellent game of Shuli Gilardi; when Gilardi was beaten, it was twice Ronen Feigenbaum with the saves from the goal-line. The game wasn't one-sided - Herzliya's counterattacks were close to being lethal, but Itzhak Korenfein was in his best, too; when he was beaten once by the header of Ronen Feigenbaum, Sergei Tretyak saved the ball from the goal-line. 14 minutes in the 2nd half, Nir Sevilla used a rare mistake of Vassili Ivanov and rolled the ball to a fresh substitute Alon Cohen, who bombed an equalizer from 16 meters past Shuli Gilardi. Several minutes from time, Korenfein and Tretyak managed to stop an attack of Moshe Eisenberg and Ilan Bakhar. Playing without the injured Eli Ohana, Tomer Azulai and Istvan Salloi, Beitar wasn't what it used to be, and so its next game at home vs Hapoel Tel-Aviv, the best attack vs the best defence, is hardly predictable anymore, while several days ago I would've put money on Beitar. As for Herzliya, this point was very important mentally.
A perfect instinct of Sagi Strauss parried Moti Kakun's header, but Manor Hassan slid on the rebound to kick it in, 1:0 to Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa over Hapoel Rishon le-Zion at home (7). However, Hassan's speed didn't enable him to stop on time - he hit the post, broke his right leg and will be absent for around 3 months, a serious blow to Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa and its midline. Rishon le-Zion started attacking after that moment and managed to equalize - Nissan Capeta made a cool pass to Evgeniy Kashentsev (18), and the latter's header was precise. The home team was still better than the guests, and just the numerous saves of Sagi Strauss, "The Keeper Of The Week", left the score drawn; and on the 81st minute, another great pass of Nissan Capeta found Rafi Cohen in a perfect position inside the box, 2:1 to Rishon! However, Petakh-Tikwa also had a substitute to bring it a point - Andrei Christophick sent a ball into the box, Moti Kakun headed it wide, and Eran Prizant was well-placed to hit the ball home, 2:2. Seconds from the final whistle, Strauss registered another save, from Andrei Christophick, and left the draw intact.
In Jerusalem, Salman Amar (38) sent Assaf Tubi into the box, and the latter overran Gal Fibakh and bounced the ball over Akakiy Devadze, 1:0 to Hapoel Jerusalem over Maccabee Ironi Ashdod. The guests needed just 2 minutes to equalize - Assif Ben-Ishai sent Amir Turgeman into the box, and the latter rolled the ball past Liran Strauber, a goal very similar to the one of Rafi Cohen described above. 5 minutes after the break, it was a brilliant free kick of Yossi Madar, "The Player Of The Game", from 18 meters to make Ashdod's comeback complete; however, 22 minutes from time, Moti Ohayon equalized with a close header after Dudi Stolper's free kick. Both teams had some chances to score before the end, but finally, this draw was quite justified.
In Beer-Sheva, Francisco Washington de Santos shot precisely from inside the box to the right corner of Shaul Smadja and opened the score for Hapoel Kefar-Saba after just 14 minutes of play. Beer-Sheva wasn't even dangerous most of the time and mostly occupied itself in loud and disgusting arguments between ... its own players - the 17.5-years-old Yossi Benayoun was crying bitterly after the break, and later on ran after Dudu Heffer and spat on him time and again. In such an atmosphere, a counterattack of Kefar-Saba resulted in a goal pass of Avi Sandor to Sharon Mimer, and the latter bombed it from 14 meters diagonally to Smadja's right corner at half a height, 2:0. The last minute's header of Tomer Vaaknin from Sergei Gusev's goal pass from the left wing turned to be just a reducer - Hapoel Beer-Sheva found itself at the very bottom of the table, for the first time since 1989. The last minute news says Beer-Sheva's coach Jackie Dekel threw his veterans Shimon Biton, Dudu Heffer, Oren Sagron and Sharon Avitan out of the team's squad for the close games. And it was Hapoel Kefar-Saba's 3rd consecutive victory - watch out!
Finally, it was the home game of Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv vs Hapoel Beit-Shean. The 1st half was scoreless, as Meir Cohen in Beit-Shean's net was in his best and even parried a penalty kick shot weakly by Cobi Refua (27). However, Viko Hadad showed his luck and experience in the 2nd half - Sahar Mizrahi substituted Lior Sukori, Nissim Avitan came instead of a disappointing Cobi Refua, and Moti Sason entered the game on the expense of Ron Nakhman. 20 minutes in the 2nd half, Moti Sason's pass from the right wing was finished by a good timing of Nissim Avitan vs the bad one of Meir Cohen, 1:0. In another 2 minutes, a goal pass of Vassili Moukan found Avitan's header and 2:0. Beit-Shean managed to reduce the score after another goal of Moris Uzan, but the last accord of the last minute was again of Nissim Avitan, with a flying header after the penetration on the right wing by ... Sahar Mizrahi. So, Bnei-Yehuda has now a pressure reduced, and as for Hapoel Beit-Shean, it should better start worrying.
NEXT ROUND (in a week): Beitar Jerusalem (4) hosts Hapoel Tel-Aviv (1), NEVER TO BE MISSED!!! Maccabee Haifa (2) has a tough game in Ashdod, vs the local Maccabee Ironi (7). The 2 former European representatives of Israel will meet in Beer-Sheva, the local Hapoel (16) vs Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa (6).
HAPOEL TEL-AVIV - Maccabee Tel-Aviv 1:0 (0:0).
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Hosts: Georgi Daraselia (61).
Guests: -.
RED: Demian Geiser, midfielder, Hapoel Tel-Aviv, 39.
Rodrigo Goldberg, forward, Maccabee Tel-Aviv, 66.
THE BEST: Georgi Daraselia, midfielder, Hapoel Tel-Aviv.
MACCABEE HAIFA - Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa 3:1 (1:1).
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Hosts: Sergei Belianchuk (35), Alon Mizrahi (80), Ibrahim Doro (90).
Guests: Roman Filipchuk (31 pen).
RED: Ibrahim Doro, midfielder, Maccabee Haifa, 90.
THE BEST: Alon Mizrahi, forward, Maccabee Haifa.
Hapoel Ashkelon - HAPOEL HAIFA 1:3 (1:1).
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Hosts: Georgi Anchavadze (21).
Guests: Dmitriy Ulyanov (7), Liron Basis (56), Miroslav Bicinic (74).
THE BEST: Miroslav Bicinic, midfielder, Hapoel Haifa.
Maccabee Herzliya - Beitar Jerusalem 1:1 (1:0).
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Hosts: Igan Entebbi (8).
Guests: Alon Cohen (59).
THE BEST: Ronen Feigenbaum, defender, Maccabee Herzliya.
Hapoel Jerusalem - Maccabee Ironi Ashdod 2:2 (1:1).
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Hosts: Assaf Tubi (38), Moti Ohayon (68).
Guests: Amir Turgeman (40), Yossi Madar (50).
THE BEST: Yossi Madar, midfielder, Maccabee Ironi Ashdod.
Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa - Hapoel Rishon le-Zion 2:2 (1:1).
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Hosts: Manor Hassan (7), Eran Prizant (83).
Guests: Evgeniy Kashentsev (18), Rafi Cohen (81).
THE BEST: Sagi Strauss, keeper, Hapoel Rishon le-Zion.
Hapoel Beer-Sheva - HAPOEL KEFAR-SABA 1:2 (0:1).
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Hosts: Tomer Vaaknin (90).
Guests: Washington de Santos (14), Sharon Mimer (87).
THE BEST: Tamir Netser, defender, Hapoel Kefar-Saba.
BNEI-YEHUDA TEL-AVIV - Hapoel Beit-Shean 3:1 (0:0).
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Hosts: Nissim Avitan (65, 67, 90).
Guests: Moris Uzan (80).
THE BEST: Nissim Avitan, forward, Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv.
On the 27th minute Cobi Refua (Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv) missed a penalty kick -
Meir Cohen saved.
THE WEEK'S TEAM:
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Sagi Strauss
(Hapoel Rishon le-Zion)
Guy Gat Arik Benado Ronen Feigenbaum Eyal Ben-Ami
(Maccabee Herzliya) (Maccabee Haifa) (Maccabee Herzliya) (Hapoel Tel-Aviv)
Sahar Mizrahi Georgi Daraselia Miroslav Bicinic Yaacov Hillel
(Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv) (Hapoel Tel-Aviv) (Hapoel Haifa) (Hapoel Tel-Aviv)
Alon Mizrahi Nissim Avitan
(Maccabee Haifa) (Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv)
Hapoel Tel-Aviv - 3.
Maccabee Haifa, Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv, Maccabee Herzliya - 2.
Hapoel Haifa, Hapoel Rishon le-Zion - 1.
THE BEST GOAL:
91: Liron Basis, Assaf Tubi, Sergei Belianchuk, Yossi Madar, Igal Entebbi.
MO: Liron Basis.
Also - Igal Entebbi, Georgi Daraselia.
THE BEST SAVE:
MO: Shavit Elimelekh, from Avi Nimni, 44.
PLACE TEAM G W T L Goals Points
1 (1) Hapoel Tel-Aviv 09 6 3 0 9- 2 21
2 (3) Maccabee Haifa 09 5 3 1 18- 9 18
3 (4) Hapoel Haifa 09 5 3 1 15- 8 18
4 (2) Beitar Jerusalem 09 4 5 0 25-12 17
5 (5) Hapoel Jerusalem 09 4 4 1 13-10 16
6 (6) Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa 09 4 3 2 16-13 15
7 (7) Maccabee Ironi Ashdod 09 3 4 2 12-13 13
8 (10) Hapoel Kefar-Saba 09 4 0 5 13-15 12
9 (9) Hapoel Rishon le-Zion 09 2 4 3 12-14 10
10 (8) Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa 09 2 4 3 8-11 10
11 (14) Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv 09 2 3 4 10-12 9
12 (11) Hapoel Ashkelon 09 2 2 5 11-19 8
13 (12) Hapoel Beit-Shean 09 2 1 6 8-15 7
14* (13) Maccabee Tel-Aviv 09 1 3 5 10-14 6
15* (16) Maccabee Herzliya 09 1 3 5 10-14 6
16 (15) Hapoel Beer-Sheva 09 1 3 5 13-22 6
IN BRACKETS - the places of the teams after the last week.
* By the face-to-face game - Tel-Aviv won 2:1 at home, Week 08.
BEST PLAYER: Georgi Daraselia, midfielder, Hapoel Tel-Aviv.
TOP SCORERS: Istvan Pisont (Beitar Jerusalem) 7(0)
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Alon Mizrahi (Maccabee Haifa) 6(0) 1
Moti Kakun (Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa) 6(4)
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Nir Sevilla (Beitar Jerusalem) 5(0)
Istvan Salloi (Beitar Jerusalem) 5(1)
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Nissim Avitan (Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv) 4(0) 3
Georgi Daraselia (Hapoel Tel-Aviv) 4(0) 1
Evgeniy Kashentsev (Hapoel Rishon le-Zion) 4(0) 1
Moris Uzan (Hapoel Beit-Shean) 4(0) 1
Sergei Kandaurov (Maccabee Haifa) 4(0)
Eli Driks (Maccabee Tel-Aviv) 4(0)
Yossi Benayoun (Hapoel Beer-Sheva) 4(1)
NOTE - the penalties scored are put in brackets. The last
column means the number of goals scored this week.
THE NEXT ROUND (in a week):
| Hosts | Guests |
| Beitar Jerusalem (4) | Hapoel Tel-Aviv (1) |
| Maccabee Ironi Ashdod (7) | Maccabee Haifa (2) |
| Hapoel Haifa (3) | Maccabee Herzliya (15) |
| Maccabee Tel-Aviv (14) | Hapoel Jerusalem (5) |
| Hapoel Beer-Sheva (16) | Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa (6) |
| Hapoel Kefar-Saba (8) | Hapoel Beit-Shean (13) |
| Hapoel Rishon le-Zion (9) | Hapoel Ashkelon (12) |
| Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa (10) | Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv (11) |
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