Just 16 goals, 5 red cards and a hard thought needed for choosing "The Goal Of The Week" in the lack of sparks - this was the story of the last weekend. And still, it was interesting because of all the surprises - Hapoel Tel-Aviv was very lucky to narrowly escape Hapoel Beer-Sheva at home, Hapoel Haifa devastated Maccabee in the Reddest derby lastly seen, and Maccabee Herzliya, due to a real concert of its foreigners, left no chance to Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa.
In a double performance in Bloomfield, Beitar Jerusalem defeated Bnei-Yehuda with Shai Holtzman's winner, and Hapoel Tel-Aviv was extremely thankful for a nil draw vs Beer-Sheva; this way, Beitar Jerusalem and Hapoel Tel-Aviv swapped their positions, and I can hardly see any force that will move Beitar from the leadership. Hapoel Haifa and Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa also swapped places - the first humiliated Maccabee Haifa with 4:2 in a very interesting derby, and the second could do nothing against Vassili Ivanov and Oleg Naduda of Maccabee Herzliya, 1:3 away. Hapoel Jerusalem returned to the route of victories, defeating Hapoel Rishon le-Zion 2:1 at home; if not for the brilliant performance of Sagi Strauss in Rishon's net, the result could've been scary. And not much can be said about the rest of the games - Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa and Maccabee Ironi Ashdod parted with a pathetic nil draw, while Maccabee Tel-Aviv and Hapoel Kefar-Saba defeated their bottom opponents, Hapoel Beit-Shean and Hapoel Ashkelon respectively, with an identical score of 1:0.
Eli Ohana, Reuven Attar and Istvan Salloi injured, Nir Sevilla, David Amsalem and Alon Harazi suspended for the yellow cards - and when Beitar lacks in its lines all those players that could've made any Israeli club shine, its Chairman Moshe Dadash makes another brilliant move and brings Shai Holtzman from the French club Rennes. The bright Israeli forward, having sat on the French bench for more than 4 months, felt a well-explicable hunger for the ball and was responsible for Beitar's victory yesterday over Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv away - Jean Talesnikov threw the ball in towards him, and the forward turned around like a lightning and pushed the ball past the surprised Rafi Cohen from a hard angle (35). The game wasn't bright by any means, and therefore, the goal of Holtzman turned to be a winner - the keepers Itzhak Korenfein and Rafi Cohen saw to the rest. Beitar manages to win even in its dull games, with nearly none of its key players, and this is a perfect way to win the Championship, especially after catching the 1st place - that happened yesterday, for the first time this season.
Hapoel Tel-Aviv, having been at the first place for 7 consecutive weeks, lost the leadership yesterday after a dull nil draw vs Hapoel Beer-Sheva at home; the guests, thoroughly prepared by their new coach Eliyahu Offer and led by their new defender Ehud Kahila (passing there from Beitar Jerusalem; it seems Beitar saves nothing in order to stop its Red rivals from Tel-Aviv), presented a defensive game with several killing counterattacks, while the hosts hardly found their usual game against the tough defence. The nervousness of Eli Cohen's guys from Tel-Aviv resulted in 2 red cards - Krasimierz Muskal (79) was sent off after having been on the pitch for just 7 minutes, for a back foul over Ilan Vaaknin (a foul deserving booking at most, in my opinion), and Yaacov Hillel was sent off with a 2nd yellow card in another 10 minutes for a handplay. The leaders had some opportunities - Daraselia (63) and Kefir Udi (75) missed the frame, and the double header of Offer Shitrit (50) found the double save of Smadja; however, most of the opportunities belonged to the guests, with a great game of Yossi Benayoun. Benayoun himself shot a clever ball that Shavit Elimelekh saved (3), and a move of Benayoun - Simhon - Sagron resulted in the latter's shot at half a height from 18 meters, parried in a brilliant flight by Elimelekh. Beer-Sheva probably starts the new way, as it makes the draw against the clear favourites and is still extremely disappointed - in an injury time, a killing free kick of Dudu Heffer from 25 meters found the right post of Hapoel Tel-Aviv.
The game in Haifa was definitely the best of this week and very remarkable even in the season's scale; however, the sportive interest of the points' division disappeared after 35 minutes of play. A great combination of Basis - Ulyanov - Bicinic - Ulyanov was cut inside the box after just 5 minutes of the game by Avishai Zhano's foul, and Giovanni Rosso left no chance to Nir Davidovich from a penalty spot. In just 13 minutes, Rosso started another attack of the guests with a long-ranged pass to Najouan Grayib at the left wing; Grayib registered a great penetration, overran Zhano and centered a ball well-finished by Culakovic, 2:0. Zhano, in one of his worst games in Maccabee Haifa, was soon substituted by Marco Balbul (32), and there were some hopes that Maccabee could find its regular game and retaliate properly; however, those hopes were irreversibly shattered by one of the most bizarre goals scored lastly in Israel. 10 minutes before the break, Miroslav Bicinic sent a bounce from his half into the direction of Maccabee's net, and Liron Basis was running towards the ball together with Balbul, while Nir Davidovich was advancing towards the edge of the box to collect it. Suddenly, a strange thing happened - Balbul slipped and fell, the ball hit the ground and jumped over the stunned Davidovich, Liron Basis overran the keeper and secured the ball's way into an empty net, touching it slightly. 3:0, and Maccabee was broken.
The 2nd half started with the feeling that the game had been over, and so several moments were created, but the thrilling excitement of a sportive event had been gone; the joy of the Red fans became an euphory when Liron Basis played a clever double-pass with Sergen Culakovic and rolled the ball past the helpless Davidovich (66), 4:0. However, then the 2 reducing headers came; first, it was a penetration of Ibrahim Doro and a precise bounce to Alon Mizrahi (75), and then, it was a mirror copy of the previous attempt when Marco Balbul penetrated at the right wing and found the head of an uncovered Hezi Shirazi (82). However, this was too little and too late; had Maccabee played that way from the very beginning, the story could've been different. Hopefully for the Greens, the next week's story vs Hapoel Rishon le-Zion away will be different; as for Hapoel Haifa, the intuition of Eli Gutman for choosing the proper foreigners is utterly remarkable.
However, Haifa's trip to Rishon won't be a simple one, if Sagi Strauss goes on with making real miracles in Rishon's net, like he did against Hapoel Jerusalem; still, the rest of Rishon players were dull, and so Hapoel Jerusalem managed to return to the victorious route. After just 6 minutes of play, Assaf Tubi's pass found Laszlo Czeh shooting flatly and precisely from inside the box, 1:0. 2 next shots of Czeh (22, 30) were saved brilliantly by Strauss, but Czeh still found his way to put another signature of his on the game - this time, his ball from the left wing (34) found Assaf Tubi, in a sort of payback for the 1st goal, and Tubi rushed into the box and shot it mightily past the keeper, the stunned guests' defence watching this nonchalantly. Another fantastic save of Strauss from Czeh's header (37) and a clever shot of Stolper over Strauss but into the keeper's left post (42), left the score intact before the break; 2 minutes afterwards, Rishon scored "The Goal Of The Week", when Nissan Capeta (with his 7th goal pass in 13 games! Eyal Berkovich himself could be proud of such an effectivity) raised a corner kick to a jumping head of Evgeniy Kashentsev. Several chances of Rishon were wasted or saved by Strauber, and 2 minutes from time, the veteran Michel Dayan made a statement about his return after an injury and his virtuosic skill even at the age of nearly 37 - Sharon Martsiano lost a ball to Dayan, and the latter sent a curved ball towards the net from 30 meters without thinking twice; however, it was the day of Strauss who sent himself into a half-back flight and threw the ball to a corner, what a save! It was definitely the day of Strauss, but not of his team; as for Rishon, it should start playing differently in its defensive line.
A 50th birthday of Shiya Feigenbaum and a wedding party of his son Ronen in one week were added yesterday by a great and surprising victory of their team, Maccabee Herzliya, over Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa at home. In the 1st half, Petakh-Tikwa played better, but found Shuli Gilardi well-prepared in the net of Herzliya time after time, as he parried the deadly balls of Moti Kakun (16) and Eran Prizant (24); on the other hand, Shai Hess registered a superb save from the shot of Santos Sierra, 36 minutes in the game. After 6 minutes, Herzliya got its first advantage, but in men at this stage - Gilardi made a fine double-save and was injured in between by Guy Shamir, the latter was booked by the referee Arik Haimovich, a discussion of multiple participants started, and Eli Abrabanel was seen sending a hand towards the face of Ronen Feigenbaum, a red card pretty justified. Until the break, no goals were scored, but just after the break, Herzliya started its foreign concert - Oleg Naduda found Santos Sierra in the box, the latter rolled it slightly back to Vassili Ivanov, and the Russian defender shot it sharply and flatly to the left corner of Shai Hess, 1:0.
In another 7 minutes, Ivanov became a goal-passer in his turn - he got a ball from Sierra again and rolled it to Naduda, and the Russian forward made a step forward and shot it mightily past Shai Hess and in, 2:0. A deflection of Shuli Gilardi after a mighty shot of Gabor Marton enabled Yaniv Offri to roll a reducer in (72), but it didn't help Petakh-Tikwa much. 9 minutes from time, Yaniv Hermesh rolled the ball back to his keeper, Naduda kidnapped the ball, and Shai Hess had nothing left but to knock the forward down; the keeper was booked for this, but parried well a penalty shot by Guy Gat. The ball was cleared towards the midcircle, but from there it went to Vassili Ivanov who rolled it to Tsakhi Zanetti; the young substitute curved the ball over Shai Hess and sealed the goals for this exciting game, 3:1. Being at the very bottom just 5 weeks ago, Herzliya took lastly 11 points out of 15 (the 2 equal results were achieved against the top Empires of Beitar Jerusalem and Hapoel Haifa, and even then Herzliya scored first); as for Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa, its series of 10 unbeaten games was cut, but it's still close to the top, and the future of fighting for the European place is quite bright.
Several great saves of Asi Rakhamim in the game of Hapoel Ashkelon vs Hapoel Kefar-Saba at home didn't change a final result of another Ashkelon's loss - Laszlo Komodi's corner passed all the defence of Ashkelon and finally found the raised leg of the defender Tamir Netser with a winner from 6 meters. Ashkelon had one real chance to equalize, when Georgi Anchavadze shot from 11 meters a clever and dangerous ball flatly near Eran Scheinsinger; those balls are very hard for the tall keepers to handle, but Scheinsinger dived momentarily like a cat and pushed the ball away to a corner, my "Save Of The Week".
Several saves of Meir Cohen didn't change the fact that his team lost - Maccabee Tel-Aviv scored another goal through Eli Driks, after the first ball of Nyilas was parried by the keeper. Hapoel Beit-Shean finished the game with 9 players - Gala Pancheladze was sent off after a foul on Michael Osinov that hardly justified a yellow card (59), and Yehuda Amar jumped in a karate way to the legs of Nyilas and saw his 2nd yellow card, a minute from time. Beit-Shean is preparing for another "Film Of War"; as for Tel-Aviv, it still didn't leave the dangerous zone and looks exactly like the bottom team...
Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa and Maccabee Ironi Ashdod parted with a nil draw - and nothing else can be said about this game. It's a pity that the two promising teams can present such a shame. As for Ashdod, when it's left without Alon Hazan who passes to Watford by the end of the round, its performance and results will reduce drastically.
NEXT ROUND (in a week): Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa (4) meets Hapoel Tel-Aviv (2), and Hapoel Haifa (3) hosts Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv (13). Maccabee Tel-Aviv (10) meets Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa (11) in a bottom game.
Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv - BEITAR JERUSALEM 0:1 (0:1).
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Hosts: -.
Guests: Shai Holtzman (35).
THE BEST: Sergei Tretyak, defender, Beitar Jerusalem.
Hapoel Tel-Aviv - Hapoel Beer-Sheva 0:0.
-----------------------------------------
Hosts: -.
Guests: -.
RED: Krasimierz Muskal, midfielder, Hapoel Tel-Aviv, 79.
Yaacov Hillel, defender, Hapoel Tel-Aviv, 88.
THE BEST: Ehud Kahila, defender, Hapoel Beer-Sheva.
Maccabee Haifa - HAPOEL HAIFA 2:4 (0:3).
-----------------------------------------
Hosts: Alon Mizrahi (75), Hezi Shirazi (82).
Guests: Giovanni Rosso (5 pen), Sergen Culakovic (18), Liron Basis (35, 66).
THE BEST: Liron Basis, forward, Hapoel Haifa.
MACCABEE HERZLIYA - Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa 3:1 (0:0).
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Hosts: Vassili Ivanov (46), Oleg Naduda (53), Tsakhi Zanetti (82).
Guests: Yaniv Offri (72).
RED: Eli Abrabanel, midfielder, Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa, 42.
THE BEST: Vassili Ivanov, defender, Maccabee Herzliya.
On the 81st minute Guy Gat (Maccabee Herzliya) missed a penalty kick -
Shai Hess saved.
Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa - Maccabee Ironi Ashdod 0:0.
----------------------------------------------------
Hosts: -.
Guests: -.
THE BEST: NO ONE!!!
HAPOEL JERUSALEM - Hapoel Rishon le-Zion 2:1 (2:0).
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Hosts: Laszlo Czeh (6), Assaf Tubi (35).
Guests: Evgeniy Kashentsev (47).
THE BEST: Sagi Strauss, keeper, Hapoel Rishon le-Zion.
Hapoel Ashkelon - HAPOEL KEFAR-SABA 0:1 (0:0).
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Hosts: -.
Guests: Tamir Netser (58).
THE BEST: Bakhva Ambidze, midfielder, Hapoel Kefar-Saba.
Hapoel Beit-Shean - MACCABEE TEL-AVIV 0:1 (0:1).
--------------------------------------------------
Hosts: -.
Guests: Eli Driks (40).
RED: Gala Pancheladze, midfielder, Hapoel Beit-Shean, 59.
Yehuda Amar, defender, Hapoel Beit-Shean, 89.
THE BEST: Elek Nyilas, midfielder, Maccabee Tel-Aviv.
THE WEEK'S TEAM:
----------------
Sagi Strauss
(Hapoel Rishon le-Zion)
Tamir Netser Ran Ben-Shimon Ehud Kahila Amir Avigdor
(Hapoel Kefar-Saba) (Hapoel Haifa) (Hapoel Beer-Sheva) (Hapoel Beer-Sheva)
Vassili Ivanov Oleg Naduda Giovanni Rosso Elek Nyilas
(Maccabee Herzliya) (Maccabee Herzliya) (Hapoel Haifa) (Maccabee Tel-Aviv)
Liron Basis Sergen Culakovic
(Hapoel Haifa) (Hapoel Haifa)
Hapoel Haifa - 4.
Maccabee Herzliya, Hapoel Beer-Sheva - 2.
Hapoel Kefar-Saba, Hapoel Rishon le-Zion, Maccabee Tel-Aviv - 1.
THE BEST GOAL:
MO: Evgeniy Kashentsev.
THE BEST SAVE:
MO: Eran Scheinsinger, from Georgi Anchavadze, 68.
PLACE TEAM G W T L Goals Points
1 (2) Beitar Jerusalem 13 7 6 0 30-14 27
2 (1) Hapoel Tel-Aviv 13 7 5 1 13- 6 26
3 (4) Hapoel Haifa 13 7 4 2 24-14 25
4 (3) Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa 13 7 3 3 22-16 24
5 (5) Maccabee Haifa 13 6 3 4 23-16 21
6 (6) Maccabee Ironi Ashdod 13 5 6 2 18-15 21
7 (7) Hapoel Jerusalem 13 5 5 3 17-17 20
8 (8) Hapoel Kefar-Saba 13 6 1 6 16-17 19
9 (10) Maccabee Herzliya 13 4 4 5 19-18 16
10 (9) Hapoel Rishon le-Zion 13 3 5 5 16-20 14
11 (14) Maccabee Tel-Aviv 13 3 4 6 14-17 13
12 (11) Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa 13 2 7 4 9-13 13
13 (12) Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv 13 2 5 6 12-18 11
14 (13) Hapoel Ashkelon 13 3 2 8 13-23 11
15 (15) Hapoel Beit-Shean 13 2 4 7 10-18 10
16 (16) Hapoel Beer-Sheva 13 1 4 8 14-28 7
IN BRACKETS - the places of the teams after the last week.
BEST PLAYER: Liron Basis, forward, Hapoel Haifa.
TOP SCORERS: Istvan Pisont (Beitar Jerusalem) 8(0)
Alon Mizrahi (Maccabee Haifa) 8(1) 1
**********************************************************
Liron Basis (Hapoel Haifa) 7(0) 2
Eli Driks (Maccabee Tel-Aviv) 7(0) 1
Moti Kakun (Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa) 7(4)
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Nir Sevilla (Beitar Jerusalem) 6(0)
**********************************************************
Assaf Tubi (Hapoel Jerusalem) 5(1) 1
Evgeniy Kashentsev (Hapoel Rishon le-Zion) 5(1) 1
Igal Zrihen (Maccabee Ironi Ashdod) 5(0)
Istvan Salloi (Beitar Jerusalem) 5(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 (1) | Hapoel Beit-Shean (15) |
| Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa (4) | Hapoel Tel-Aviv (2) |
| Hapoel Haifa (3) | Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv (13) |
| Hapoel Rishon le-Zion (10) | Maccabee Haifa (5) |
| Hapoel Kefar-Saba (8) | Maccabee Ironi Ashdod (6) |
| Hapoel Beer-Sheva (16) | Hapoel Jerusalem (7) |
| Hapoel Ashkelon (14) | Maccabee Herzliya (9) |
| Maccabee Tel-Aviv (11) | Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa (12) |
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