Just 13 goals, 1 red card, no penalties and 1 crucial own goal scored - this was a pretty dull story of the last weekend. The first half of the season is over, with Beitar Jerusalem at the League top (as usual) and Hapoel Beer-Sheva at its very bottom (pretty unusual).

Beitar Jerusalem needed the own goal scored by Guy Mishal, in order to defeat Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa away with a minimal score, 1:0; the same were the scores of Hapoel Tel-Aviv at home, vs Hapoel Ashkelon, and of Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa away, vs Hapoel Jerusalem. Alon Mizrahi and Sergei Kandaurov scored 2 superb unanswered goals into the net of Hapoel Beer-Sheva at home, and Hapoel Haifa lost 2 points in Beit-Shean, just 1:1 vs the locals that even opened the score. The same draw was registered in Herzliya in the derby of Sharon, between the local Maccabee and Hapoel Kefar-Saba. Maccabee "Driks" Tel-Aviv registered an impressive comeback through the 2 headers of its veteran, 2:1 over Maccabee Ironi Ashdod away. And Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv lost at home, 0:1 to Hapoel Rishon le-Zion - and Rafi Cohen scored to the net of Rafi Cohen...

Beitar Jerusalem was far from being the superb team we learnt to know lastly, but it was still enough to beat the mediocre Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa away, 1:0. As Nir Sevilla and Istvan Hamar were weak, and Istvan Pisont was well guarded by Guy Mishal, the ironic fate made the same Guy Mishal lose the game for his team - David Amsalem centered the ball after his penetration at the left wing, and Mishal indeed reached the ball before Pisont (54), only to send it unstoppably from 5 meters to the net of Golan Malul. Petakh-Tikwa had several chances to equalize through its young forward Shai Aharon, but didn't succeed; once Aharon's flat shot from 17 meters even beat Itzhak Korenfein, but just kissed his right post (62). Beitar nearly suffered another injury, when a ball cleared away by Petakh-Tikwa's defence hit the coach Dror Kashtan into the stomach; however, Kashtan recovered quickly, and nobody's mood was spoiled. This is the 3rd consecutive "Winter Championship" of Beitar Jerusalem, and the last year they went on to win the real title.

Playing at home vs the weak squad of Hapoel Ashkelon and pressing on and on, Hapoel Tel-Aviv nevertheless suffered from the hesitance of its forward Offer Shitrit and an incredibly good day of the guests' keeper Asi Rakhamim. In addition, the referee Yosef Benishti disregarded the clear penalty foul on Demian Geiser inside the box (26). And still, the justice was done. Rakhamim brilliantly won the one-to-one duels with Offer Shitrit (14), Kefir Udi (75) and Pinney Balili (76), parried the free kick of Georgi Daraselia before the break, and flew acrobatically to push away the 30-meters-ranged bomb of Demian Geiser (55); however, he could do nothing once - Daraselia made a bright goal pass to the fresh substitute Krasimierz Muskal (58), and the Polish midfielder used his first touch in the game (!) to overplay Rakhamim, 1:0. Daraselia had another opportunity to score (80), but his impressive solo penetration resulted in an imprecise shot. Scoring just 15 goals in 15 games, Hapoel Tel-Aviv presents us a solid defence and a creative midline, and 6 goals conceded by Shavit Elimelekh, with 10 dry games (!), are something with no precedent in our League, as far as I remember. Well done, Eli Cohen and the Red team!

32 minutes in Beit-Shean finished with another piece of virtuosity from Zadko Adic - Avi Danan centered the ball from the left wing, Elmin Usmanovic raised to slide the ball down with his header, and Adic curved a flat volley without stopping from 18 meters, to the right post of Dudu Awwat and in, 1:0. Hapoel Haifa started pressing after the goal, shocked as it was, and Beit-Shean contunied counterattacking; here followed the misses of Gala Pancheladze (the hosts) and Giovanni Rosso (the guests). And early in the 2nd half, Haifa finally managed to equalize - Sergen Culakovic left the ball to Najouan Grayib, and the latter shot it flatly and mightily from 14 meters under the stomach of Meir Cohen, 1:1. It's interesting that this draw made no team any good - Hapoel Haifa lost 2 important points in its struggles for the title, and Hapoel Beit-Shean lost 2 vital points in its bottom battles.

Basnic Frenga, the new foreigner of Hapoel Beer-Sheva, will probably find himself on the way home after the 2 incredible misses of his, resulting in 2 fine saves of Nir Davidovich; Jiri Weora of Maccabee Haifa will probably have the same fate - his 2 misses in front of Shaul Smadja were no less incredible, and that's not the first time he wastes the golden chances... As for the whole game, Maccabee Haifa pressed all the time and had the extraordinary players to exploit its opportunities, despite several great saves of Smadja. 14 minutes in the 2nd half, Ibrahim Doro sent a great far-ranger to Alon Mizrahi, and the best active Israeli forward passed Shaul Smadja and shot the ball in from a really hard angle, 1:0. This was the 132nd goal of Mizrahi in the Israeli League, and he became its 9th ever scorer; being just 25, this talented player can beat the record of Oded Makhnes (196 goals) in a couple of seasons. The 2nd goal came in another 15 minutes from one of the most successful Israeli foreigners ever, Sergei Kandaurov - he passed two players, cut to the center and shot a curved ball from 17 meters under the left crossbar of the helpless Smadja. Eliyahu Offer, the coach of Beer-Sheva, learnt to know the taste of loss for the first time this season, and Maccabee Haifa gained another necessary 3 points in its run after the leaders.

Another player from the top of "Best Israeli Scorers Ever" used yesterday his lethal headers to score his 118th and 119th goals, and to bring Maccabee Tel-Aviv an impressive comeback in Ashdod. After a threatening header of Alon Offir to the bar of Akakiy Devadze (3), the hosts opened the score after 27 minutes of play - Yossi Madar sent Assif Ben-Ishai at the left wing, Ben-Ishai volleyed it immediately into the box, and Igal Zrihen was there to turn around and to beat Uvarov with a flat shot from 12 meters to the keeper's left corner. However, in the 2nd half Eli Driks substituted Alon Offir, and Yossi Madar was sent off with a redundant 2nd yellow card (52). Driks headed the ball barely 3 times, always after the passes of Elek Nyilas, and all the times it went in - the first one was disallowed because of the foul inside the box, but the other ones (58, 73) brought Tel-Aviv a surprsing victory. Avi Nimni had another opportunity to score, but Devadze parried his deadly shot to a corner (79). This loss made the life easier for Maccabee Tel-Aviv and harder for Ashdod - it lost its chance to stay in the top group and approached the midtable teams from above. The question of expectations...

The team which stayed at the top group was Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa, defeating the mediocre team of Hapoel Jerusalem away - and the man responsible for that was nobody else but another prominent Israeli scorer, Moti Kakun. 22 minutes in a game, Guy Shamir rolled a great ball to Kakun, and the natural-born forward had no problem to beat Liran Strauber, 1:0. This shot turned to be a winner, as Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa had no normal chances from that moment on, and Hapoel Jerusalem failed to exploit its numerous opportunities. One of the most responsible for that was Petakh-Tikwa's keeper, Shai Hess.

Both Shai Hess and Rafi Cohen were the successful keepers of Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa in the European Cups; Rafi Cohen's time in Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv is much harder, and yesterday he experienced another 2 blows. After several good saves, he was beaten 18 minutes from time by a flat shot of ... Rafi Cohen, Hapoel Rishon le-Zion's forward! And the 2nd blow was an extraordinary performance of Sagi Strauss in Rishon's net - in his last games' form, Strauss can present a clear threat on Rafi Cohen's and Itzhak Korenfein's status in the National team. Bnei-Yehuda made several desperate attempts to equalize, but Strauss was always well-placed. In an injury time, his instinctively raised hands parried the deadly bomb of Aharon Siton from 8 meters to a corner, "The Save Of The Week"; the last failed attempt was of Moti Sason who shot the ball high from inside the box. Bnei-Yehuda is in a deep-deep trouble, and Viko Hadad, its coach, is possibly on his way out. And Rishon finally had gained the points even after the thrilling injury time, finding itself now in the midtable group.

And finally, it was the game of another 2 midtable teams, Maccabee Herzliya and Hapoel Kefar-Saba. After a dreadful 1st half, Kefar-Saba opened the score after the break - again, it was Niv Tal with a goal pass, and Yaniv Avvargeal entered the box and bombed it from 15 meters under the left crossbar of Shuli Gilardi, 1:0 (54). In 16 minutes, Herzliya equalized the score - Yair Asayag raised a corner kick, and Alex Barmecher headed it home despite the frantic attempts of Eran Scheinsinger and his defender to parry the ball. Scheinsinger is mostly responsible for Kefar-Saba's points, after stopping Santos Sierra at one-to-one (88). After all, both teams can be quite pleased with their position and the football they played and play by now.

THE NEXT ROUND (in 5 weeks): several extremely interesting games are taking place. Maccabee Ironi Ashdod (6) hosts Beitar Jerusalem (1) in a game NOT TO BE MISSED! A very important top game is taking place in Haifa, where Maccabee Haifa (4) hosts Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa (5); the duel between the two cities is finished in Petakh-Tikwa, where the local Maccabee (12) will host Hapoel Haifa (3). Hapoel Tel-Aviv (2) hosts Maccabee Herzliya (9), and Hapoel Kefar-Saba (7) will try at home to hit Maccabee Tel-Aviv (11) one more time. Hapoel Jerusalem (8) will try to gain points at home vs Hapoel Ashkelon (13), and a game without compromises will be played in Beit-Shean - the local Hapoel (15) will host Hapoel Rishon le-Zion (10). And a very important bottom struggle will be held in Shkhunat-ha'Tikwa, where Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv (14) will host Hapoel Beer-Sheva (16); Beer-Sheva's last victory was exactly a round ago.

Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa - BEITAR JERUSALEM  0:1 (0:0).
-----------------------------------------------------
Hosts:    -.
Guests:   OG (Guy Mishal, 54).
THE BEST: David Amsalem, defender, Beitar Jerusalem.


HAPOEL TEL-AVIV - Hapoel Ashkelon  1:0 (0:0).
----------------------------------------------
Hosts:    Krasimierz Muskal (58).
Guests:   -.
THE BEST: Asi Rakhamim, keeper, Hapoel Ashkelon.


Hapoel Beit-Shean - Hapoel Haifa  1:1 (1:0).
---------------------------------------------
Hosts:    Zadko Adic (32).
Guests:   Najouan Grayib (52).
THE BEST: Eitan Taib, defender, Hapoel Beit-Shean.


MACCABEE HAIFA - Hapoel Beer-Sheva  2:0 (0:0).
-----------------------------------------------
Hosts:    Alon Mizrahi (59), Sergei Kandaurov (74).
Guests:   -.
THE BEST: Alon Mizrahi, forward, Maccabee Haifa.


Hapoel Jerusalem - HAPOEL PETAKH-TIKWA  0:1 (0:1).
---------------------------------------------------
Hosts:    -.
Guests:   Moti Kakun (22).
THE BEST: Shai Hess, keeper, Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa.


Maccabee Ironi Ashdod - MACCABEE TEL-AVIV  1:2 (1:0).
------------------------------------------------------
Hosts:    Igal Zrihen (27).
Guests:   Eli Driks (58, 73).
RED:      Yossi Madar, midfielder, Maccabee Ironi Ashdod, 52.
THE BEST: Eli Driks, forward, Maccabee Tel-Aviv.


Maccabee Herzliya - Hapoel Kefar-Saba  1:1 (0:0).
--------------------------------------------------
Hosts:    Alex Barmecher (70).
Guests:   Yaniv Avvargeal (54).
THE BEST: Michael Zemlinskiy, defender, Hapoel Kefar-Saba.


Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv - HAPOEL RISHON LE-ZION  0:1 (0:1).
---------------------------------------------------------
Hosts:    -.
Guests:   Rafi Cohen (72).
THE BEST: Sagi Strauss, keeper, Hapoel Rishon le-Zion.





                            THE WEEK'S TEAM:
                            ----------------
                              Sagi Strauss
                         (Hapoel Rishon le-Zion)

   Beni Kozoshvili        Eitan Taib         Avi Azulai       Eyal Ben-Ami
(Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa) (Hapoel Beit-Shean) (Hapoel Tel-Aviv) (Hapoel Tel-Aviv)

    Elek Nyilas      Sergei Kandaurov   Jean Talesnikov      Ibrahim Doro
(Maccabee Tel-Aviv)  (Maccabee Haifa)  (Beitar Jerusalem)  (Maccabee Haifa)

                        Eli Driks          Alon Mizrahi
                   (Maccabee Tel-Aviv)   (Maccabee Haifa)


Maccabee Haifa                            - 3.
Hapoel Tel-Aviv, Maccabee Tel-Aviv        - 2.
Beitar Jerusalem, Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa,
Hapoel Rishon le-Zion, Hapoel Beit-Shean  - 1.


THE BEST GOAL:
  MO:   Zadko Adic.
        ALSO - Sergei Kandaurov, Yaniv Avvargeal.

THE BEST SAVE:
  MO:   Sagi Strauss, from Aharon Siton, 90.





   PLACE           TEAM                  G   W   T   L    Goals  Points

  1     (1)  Beitar Jerusalem           15   9   6   0    36-16    33
  2     (2)  Hapoel Tel-Aviv            15   9   5   1    15- 6    32
  3     (3)  Hapoel Haifa               15   8   5   2    26-15    29
  4     (4)  Maccabee Haifa             15   8   3   4    27-17    27
  5     (5)  Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa        15   8   3   4    23-17    27
  6     (6)  Maccabee Ironi Ashdod      15   5   7   3    21-19    22
  7     (8)  Hapoel Kefar-Saba          15   6   3   6    19-20    21
  8     (7)  Hapoel Jerusalem           15   5   6   4    18-19    21
  9     (9)  Maccabee Herzliya          15   4   6   5    20-19    18
 10    (11)  Hapoel Rishon le-Zion      15   4   5   6    18-22    17
 11    (12)  Maccabee Tel-Aviv          15   4   4   7    16-19    16
 12    (10)  Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa      15   3   7   5    10-14    16
 13    (13)  Hapoel Ashkelon            15   3   3   9    13-24    12
 14    (14)  Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv       15   2   5   8    12-20    11
 15    (15)  Hapoel Beit-Shean          15   2   5   8    13-24    11
 16    (16)  Hapoel Beer-Sheva          15   1   5   9    15-31     8

IN BRACKETS - the places of the teams after the last week.



BEST PLAYER:    Eli Driks, forward, Maccabee Tel-Aviv.


TOP SCORERS:    Alon Mizrahi        (Maccabee Haifa)           10(1)  1
                **********************************************************
                Eli Driks           (Maccabee Tel-Aviv)         9(0)  2
                Istvan Pisont       (Beitar Jerusalem)          9(0)
                **********************************************************
                Moti Kakun          (Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa)       8(4)  1
                **********************************************************
                Liron Basis         (Hapoel Haifa)              7(0)
                **********************************************************
                Igal Zrihen         (Maccabee Ironi Ashdod)     6(0)  1
                Nir Sevilla         (Beitar Jerusalem)          6(0)
                **********************************************************
                Sergei Kandaurov    (Maccabee Haifa)            5(0)  1
                Rafi Cohen          (Hapoel Rishon le-Zion)     5(0)  1
                Laszlo Czeh         (Hapoel Jerusalem)          5(0)
                Istvan Salloi       (Beitar Jerusalem)          5(1)
                Assaf Tubi          (Hapoel Jerusalem)          5(1)
                Evgeniy Kashentsev  (Hapoel Rishon le-Zion)     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 5 weeks):

Hosts	Guests
Maccabee Ironi Ashdod (6)	Beitar Jerusalem (1)
Hapoel Tel-Aviv (2)	Maccabee Herzliya (9)
Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa (12)	Hapoel Haifa (3)
Maccabee Haifa (4)	Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa (5)
Hapoel Kefar-Saba (7)	Maccabee Tel-Aviv (11)
Hapoel Jerusalem (8)	Hapoel Ashkelon (13)
Hapoel Beit-Shean (15)	Hapoel Rishon le-Zion (10)
Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv (14)	Hapoel Beer-Sheva (16)

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