21 goals, 4 red cards (3 for the foreigners) and 2 scored penalties - this was the really breathtaking story of the last weekend. No changes at the top or at the very bottom, but some teams collected very needful points in order to take a free breath (Maccabee Herzliya), and some surprisingly found themselves at the vicinity of the top (Maccabee Ironi Ashdod). And there was also a disagreement between me and "Ha'Daka Ha'91" about "The Goal Of The Week" - I preferred the brilliant speedy combination of Amit Levi - Yair Asayag - Oleg Naduda from Maccabee Herzliya to a well-taken, but static free kick of Haim Silbas from Maccabee Haifa.
Hapoel Tel-Aviv fully recovered after the loss to Beitar Jerusalem, defeating Hapoel Haifa at home in a top game, 2:1. A painful red card shown to Istvan Pisont after 10 minutes of play (!), left Beitar Jerusalem broken and extremely lucky to equalize in the derby of Jerusalem, after a harsh mistake of Hapoel's keeper Liran Strauber, 1:1. A great game in Kiryat-Eliezer between Maccabee Haifa and Maccabee Tel-Aviv revived the sparkling moments of those 2 clubs before several years; in the game where tons of goal moments were created near both goals, the hosts were still better and luckier to win 2:0. Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa defeated Hapoel Kefar-Saba 1:0 at home, and again, the goal scorer (this time - Walid Badir) was severely injured. Maccabee Ironi Ashdod crashed Bnei-Yehuda away, 4:1; Igal Zrihen scored 2 goals to enter "The Best Scorers List", and Alon Hazan scored another couple of goals to become "The Player Of The Week". A dull draw between Hapoel Beit-Shean and Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa, 1:1, resulted in 2 red cards to each team's foreigner, and Hapoel Ashkelon finally collected points on the expense of the desperate Hapoel Beer-Sheva, 2:0 at home. And finally, Maccabee Herzliya registered its 2nd victory this season, a convincing 3:1 at home over Hapoel Rishon le-Zion; the final goal of Herzliya wouldn't embarrass any of the European Leagues. And now let me share the details with you.
The top game between the two leading Hapoel clubs of the League brought us 3 goals; considering the fact those teams' defences are the best in Israel, the game can be considered as successful and even much better than expected. After just 5 minutes of play, a brilliant pass of Georgi Daraselia left Kefir Udi alone in front of Dudu Awwat, and the young forward had no problems, 1:0. Awwat denied several of Hapoel's opportunities before the 2nd goal of the hosts - in a huge confusion in Haifa's box after a corner kick, Offer Shitrit pushed the ball in from 5 meters past the lying keeper, 2:0. What a start of the Reds of Tel-Aviv! Even so, Haifa reduced the score soon; Offer Talker raised a clever ball from the right wing, and Giovanni Rosso came with a mighty header of his from 11 meters out of Elimelekh's reach, 2:1. However, Haifa couldn't equalize, and Hapoel Tel-Aviv was even closer to another goal. Besides, Ran Ben-Shimon of Hapoel Haifa was sent off after a redundant foul on a penetrating Daraselia, 10 minutes from time. So, Hapoel Tel-Aviv managed to stay at the top and to justify this quite surprising fact; as for Hapoel Haifa, this team will speak at the top strongly even despite that loss.
The name Halilo Fadiga is registered in the black letters in the Israeli Soccer history - 12 minutes in the 2nd leg game between FC Bruges and Beitar Jerusalem in Belgium, this Senegalian forward hit Tomer Azulai's face with an elbow to break the defender's nose, but got just booked for that (!) and even scored later on. During the derby of Jerusalem, Beitar lived that painful moment once again, but on the other side. 10 minutes from the start, Istvan Pisont was sick and tired enough of Shlomi Danino's provocations, and so he turned with an elbow into Danino's face and added another elbow from another side to bring Danino down. The linesman immediately called for the referee Eyal Tsur, and the latter showed Pisont a red card with no hesitation. During the game, Pisont commented the incident in English during the live broadcast: "He made provocations on me from the very beginning, pinching and hitting me. It wasn't clever to lose my mind. Not only wasn't I clever, I acted like a fool".
Beitar didn't recover from this unexpected blow and was extremely lucky to collect a point at the end. Still before the red card, Laszlo Czeh used a terrible mistake in Beitar's defence and shot the ball flatly from 16 meters, but Korenfein dived greatly to deflect the ball to a corner (4); in another 4 minutes, a brilliantly performed shot of Ram Setti in a turn to the bar and in was wrongly disallowed by Tsur (in quite a mediocre refereeing) because of an offside which had never happened there. 31 minutes in the game, Eyal Avrahami sent the ball deep into Beitar's box, Moti Ohayon centered it, and Assaf Tubi slid to the ball to push it in from 5 meters, 1:0 to Hapoel; several minutes before, Tubi's volley from 16 meters went too high. However, during the 2nd half Hapoel failed to score, and Beitar had 2 chances, using one. Hamar (47) shot a clever flat ball greatly parried by Liran Strauber to the corner. The other chance Strauber would prefer to forget - Eitan Mizrahi performed a corner kick, Hapoel's keeper stayed stuck slightly off the goal-line, and Alon Harazi came all the way from the defence to jump high into the air and to head the ball down close to his right post, 1:1. Still, this quality of Beitar's game won't be sufficient the next week, vs the Greens of Maccabee Haifa.
Talking about the Greens, their game vs Maccabee Tel-Aviv at home gave its fans a huge pleasure, both with the quality and the result. Maccabee Tel-Aviv wasn't bad at all, but Haifa opened the score early - Jiri Weora was knocked down 20 meters from the box, and Haim Silbas curved a great free kick under the right crossbar of Uvarov; a couple of years ago Uvarov probably could've made "The Save Of The Week" out of it, but this time his desperate flight was enough just to touch the ball, to deflect it to the post and in, "The Goal Of The Week" as for "Ha'Daka Ha'91". Several cool saves of Uvarov (who, after all, was good, like most of the players in both teams) still held Maccabee Tel-Aviv in the game, but after 35 minutes of play, he was forced to take the 2nd ball out of his net - it had been Weora again to earn a penalty kick this time, after a foul of a young defender Geoffrey Ishai, and Alon Mizrahi didn't miss his chance from the penalty spot. Still in the 1st half, Weora could score himself, but his shot missed the frame, passing Uvarov.
Maccabee Tel-Aviv missed its best chance seconds before the break - Rodrigo Goldberg managed to pass Nir Davidovich and to roll the ball into an empty net, but Arik Benado slid back to seal his net, "The Save Of The Week" as for "Ha'Daka Ha'91". Davidovich himself made my own "Save Of The Week", flying under the bar to parry a killing header of Gadi Brumer from 5 meters. And still, the best chance was of Haifa. Uvarov's saves and a very good impression from his game were nearly erased after he slipped the mighty shot of Ibrahim Doro; Alon Mizrahi was on the rebound and managed to shoot high from 5 meters! An unbelievable miss! Until the end, the keepers continued to be busy, but it was worthwhile, as their nets were kept clean. A great game, and let such the games happen often in our League.
Haifa will come to Jerusalem proudly, and it will also exploit the numerous injured and also suspended players of Beitar, who won't play. Another top team with lots of injured key players is Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa, and lastly it can't be glad anymore after scoring a goal. After the severe injury of Manor Hassan, it was Walid Badir yesterday to leave the pitch - his flying header, 2 minutes before the break, found the net and eventually became the home winner vs Hapoel Kefar-Saba, but his head found the knee of the keeper Eran Scheinsinger. As a result, Badir's nose was broken, and he'll have to take a rest for a week or 2 at least; as for Scheinsinger, he couldn't continue the game either and was substituted after the break by the young Ami Rosenberg. Aside from this unfortunate accident, nothing else remarkable was registered, and Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa stayed close to the top, but with just a few healthy players. "Another victory like that - and lost we are!"
Lots of Israeli families, like lots of people all over the world, were touched to tears when Elton John sang his "Candle In The Wind" at the Lady Diana's funeral several months ago. As for the Israeli soccer, Elton John's name is quite famous there, too - Ronnie Rosenthal, the most famous Israeli player ever, is rebirthing now in Watford, the English team the famous singer owns. Another player to be a candidate to this team, Alon Hazan, showed yesterday his extraordinary skill once again, to whom it may concern. His early penalty (16) after a foul on Amir Turgeman, and his header just after the break, after the corner kick performed by Yossi Madar, gave his team a surprising lead in Shkhunat-ha'Tikwa over the pathetic hosts, Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv. Gadi Hazut made 2 great goal passes to Igal Zrihen (52, 67), and the forward managed to score another 2 goals to bring the home team on its knees. During the game, Akakiy Devadze registered a superb performance and made several great saves; however, 3 minutes from time, he conceded a goal from Cobi Refua's shot. Too late, too little. Bnei-Yehuda doesn't look good at all, and as for Ashdod, it started scratching the highest top. However, if Hazan leaves, it will be a terrible blow for the team. Another moment should be mentioned there, considering the refereeing - Amir Turgeman scored a perfect goal a bit before the break, when his ball passed the goal line before being cleared off by Eilon Schwegger, but the referee Lior Korenfeld marked to continue playing with no attention paid to that fact.
In Beit-Shean, a great free kick of Eitan Taib (34) gave the home team a lead of 1:0 over Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa. 10 minutes in the 2nd half, the score was equalized - Meir Cohen parried the ball of Offer Cohen, and Amiran Mogieri scored with a bomb from an angle of virtually zero, a great effort. In another 12 minutes, another meaningful event (out of the few in a boring game) happened - Golan Malul stretched greatly to parry the ball by Zadko Adic, the Croatian forward of Beit-Shean rushed on the rebound and was half-pushed down by Malul and Magamedov; Adic and Magamedov exchanged several blows and were expelled. The teams collected 1 point each, and that wasn't enough for any of them to leave the dangerous zone.
A brilliant performance of Asi Rakhamim in the net of Hapoel Ashkelon left his net clean, despite the vigorous attacks of the guests from Beer-Sheva - Yossi Benayoun lost the ball inside the box, and Oren Sagron shot well from 6 meters to find Asi in a great form (26). On a counterattack, Samir Znapir gave a clever ball to Yossi Shoshani, and the latter entered the box, passed the keeper Shaul Smadja and rolled the ball into an empty net, 1:0. Rakhamim continued to be perfect until the very end, and Beer-Sheva was again punished, seconds before the final whistle. A young substitute Shaya Geneva penetrated at the left wing and tried to center the ball for some finishing head; Smadja made a step forward in order to cut the expected cross, but the ball suddenly went into the close corner, and Smadja could just fly back to touch the ball before it kissed the net. A surprising and beautiful effort to give Ashkelon a good mood and 3 desperately needed points, 2:0; as for Beer-Sheva, it seems that only the miracle will save this team, though the time is still early to state.
And finally, it was a great game of Maccabee Herzliya at home, vs Hapoel Rishon le-Zion. A great flat free kick of Guy Gat from 18 meters to the right corner of Sagi Strauss opened the score (28), and this was the result of the 1st half. Several misses of Moshe Eisenberg made the coach Shiya Feigenbaum substitute him for Yair Asayag (54), and just 12 minutes later, the forward rushed into a penetration from a great pass of Vassili Ivanov and beat the keeper from a close range. Rafi Cohen could reduce the score with a meaningless goal, seconds from time, 3:1. And I haven't told you yet about the 3rd goal of Herzliya, a brilliant command effort with each move better than the previous one. Amit Levi sent a well-measured ball to Yair Asayag inside the box (78); Asayag rushed there and suddenly one-touched the ball with his heel to roll it diagonally back, and Oleg Naduda came in a run and wholeheartedly bombed the ball from 13 meters under the helpless Strauss' bar. What a goal pass, and what a great finishing accord! It was my "Goal Of The Week".
NEXT ROUND (in a week): Beitar Jerusalem (2) hosts Maccabee Haifa (3), NEVER TO BE MISSED!!! Hapoel Haifa (5) meets Hapoel Jerusalem (7). Also, 2 very important bottom games will take place - Hapoel Beer-Sheva (16) hosts Maccabee Herzliya (12), and Maccabee Tel-Aviv (14) hosts Bnei-Yehuda (13) in a mini-derby. The games between Maccabee and Bnei-Yehuda never disappointed its fans, with such the sparkling names as Niko Kudritskiy (of blessed memory), Haim Revivo, Alon Mizrahi, Sergei Gerasimets, Alexander Uvarov, Avi Nimni, Itzhak Zohar, Eli Driks, Amir Shelakh, etc.; hopefully, this one won't become an exception despite those teams' bottom troubles.
HAPOEL TEL-AVIV - Hapoel Haifa 2:1 (2:1).
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Hosts: Kefir Udi (5), Offer Shitrit (22).
Guests: Giovanni Rosso (39).
RED: Ran Ben-Shimon, defender, Hapoel Haifa, 80.
THE BEST: Offer Shitrit, forward, Hapoel Tel-Aviv.
Hapoel Jerusalem - Beitar Jerusalem 1:1 (1:0).
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Hosts: Assaf Tubi (31).
Guests: Alon Harazi (74).
RED: Istvan Pisont, midfielder, Beitar Jerusalem, 10.
THE BEST: Moti Ohayon, defender, Hapoel Jerusalem.
MACCABEE HAIFA - Maccabee Tel-Aviv 2:0 (2:0).
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Hosts: Haim Silbas (13), Alon Mizrahi (35 pen).
Guests: -.
THE BEST: Offir Koppel, midfielder, Maccabee Haifa.
HAPOEL PETAKH-TIKWA - Hapoel Kefar-Saba 1:0 (1:0).
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Hosts: Walid Badir (43).
Guests: -.
THE BEST: Gabor Marton, defender, Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa.
Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv - MACCABEE IRONI ASHDOD 1:4 (0:1).
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Hosts: Cobi Refua (87).
Guests: Alon Hazan (16 pen, 46), Igal Zrihen (52, 67).
THE BEST: Alon Hazan, midfielder, Maccabee Ironi Ashdod.
MACCABEE HERZLIYA - Hapoel Rishon le-Zion 3:1 (1:0).
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Hosts: Guy Gat (28), Yair Asayag (66), Oleg Naduda (78).
Guests: Rafi Cohen (90).
THE BEST: Oleg Naduda, midfielder, Maccabee Herzliya.
Hapoel Beit-Shean - Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa 1:1 (1:0).
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Hosts: Eitan Taib (34).
Guests: Amiran Mogieri (55).
RED: Zadko Adic, forward, Hapoel Beit-Shean, 67.
Morad Magamedov, defender, Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa, 67.
THE BEST: Meir Cohen, keeper, Hapoel Beit-Shean.
HAPOEL ASHKELON - Hapoel Beer-Sheva 2:0 (1:0).
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Hosts: Yossi Shoshani (27), Shaya Geneva (89).
Guests: -.
THE BEST: Asi Rakhamim, keeper, Hapoel Ashkelon.
THE WEEK'S TEAM:
----------------
Asi Rakhamim
(Hapoel Ashkelon)
Gadi Hazut Gabor Marton Arik Benado Ilan Boaron
(Maccabee Ironi Ashdod) (H. Petakh-Tikwa) (Maccabee Haifa) (H. Petakh-Tikwa)
Alon Hazan Offir Koppel Oleg Naduda Yossi Shoshani
(Maccabee Ironi Ashdod) (Maccabee Haifa) (Maccabee Herzliya) (Hap. Ashkelon)
Offer Shitrit Igal Zrihen
(Hapoel Tel-Aviv) (Maccabee Ironi Ashdod)
Maccabee Ironi Ashdod - 3.
Maccabee Haifa, Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa, Hapoel Ashkelon - 2.
Hapoel Tel-Aviv, Maccabee Herzliya - 1.
THE BEST GOAL:
91: Haim Silbas.
Also - Assaf Tubi, Eitan Taib, Oleg Naduda, Alon Hazan (the 2nd).
MO: Oleg Naduda.
Also - Haim Silbas, Shaya Geneva, Guy Gat,
Eitan Taib, Igal Zrihen (the 1st).
THE BEST SAVE:
91: Arik Benado (!), from Rodrigo Goldberg, 45.
MO: Nir Davidovich, from Gadi Brumer, 55.
PLACE TEAM G W T L Goals Points
1 (1) Hapoel Tel-Aviv 11 7 3 1 12- 5 24
2 (2) Beitar Jerusalem 11 5 6 0 28-14 21
3 (4) Maccabee Haifa 11 6 3 2 21-11 21
4 (5) Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa 11 6 3 2 19-13 21
5 (3) Hapoel Haifa 11 5 4 2 17-11 19
6 (7) Maccabee Ironi Ashdod 11 5 4 2 18-15 19
7 (6) Hapoel Jerusalem 11 4 5 2 14-13 17
8* (9) Hapoel Kefar-Saba 11 4 1 6 14-17 13
9* (8) Hapoel Rishon le-Zion 11 3 4 4 14-17 13
10 (10) Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa 11 2 6 3 9-12 12
11 (14) Hapoel Ashkelon 11 3 2 6 13-20 11
12 (15) Maccabee Herzliya 11 2 4 5 14-16 10
13 (11) Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv 11 2 4 5 11-16 10
14 (12) Maccabee Tel-Aviv 11 2 3 6 12-16 9
15 (13) Hapoel Beit-Shean 11 2 3 6 10-17 9
16 (16) Hapoel Beer-Sheva 11 1 3 7 13-26 6
IN BRACKETS - the places of the teams after the last week.
* Kefar-Saba has more victories and won a face-to-face game - 3:1, Week 07.
BEST PLAYER: Alon Hazan, midfielder, Maccabee Ironi Ashdod.
TOP SCORERS: Istvan Pisont (Beitar Jerusalem) 8(0)
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Alon Mizrahi (Maccabee Haifa) 7(1) 1(1)
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Nir Sevilla (Beitar Jerusalem) 6(0)
Moti Kakun (Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa) 6(4)
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Igal Zrihen (Maccabee Ironi Ashdod) 5(0) 2
Eli Driks (Maccabee Tel-Aviv) 5(0)
Istvan Salloi (Beitar Jerusalem) 5(1)
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Rafi Cohen (Hapoel Rishon le-Zion) 4(0) 1
Georgi Daraselia (Hapoel Tel-Aviv) 4(0)
Sergei Kandaurov (Maccabee Haifa) 4(0)
Evgeniy Kashentsev (Hapoel Rishon le-Zion) 4(0)
Nissim Avitan (Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv) 4(0)
Moris Uzan (Hapoel Beit-Shean) 4(0)
Offer Shitrit (Hapoel Tel-Aviv) 4(1) 1
Assaf Tubi (Hapoel Jerusalem) 4(1) 1
Yossi Benayoun (Hapoel Beer-Sheva) 4(1)
Reuven Attar (Hapoel Haifa) 4(3)
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 |
| Hapoel Rishon le-Zion (9) | Hapoel Tel-Aviv (1) |
| Beitar Jerusalem (2) | Hapoel Haifa (3) |
| Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa (4) | Hapoel Ashkelon (11) |
| Hapoel Haifa (5) | Hapoel Jerusalem (7) |
| Maccabee Ironi Ashdod (6) | Hapoel Beit-Shean (15) |
| Hapoel Kefar-Saba (8) | Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa (10) |
| Hapoel Beer-Sheva (16) | Maccabee Herzliya (12) |
| Maccabee Tel-Aviv (14) | Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv (13) |
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