Just 13 goals, no red cards at all and no movements in the table - this was the story of the last weekend, in which the 5 top teams collected only 3 pts! And so, the next week with the two top games can bring us a really interesting League for the rest of the season. Besides, this was the weekend of the beautiful goals (though quite few), amongst them the incredible pieces of Bakhva Ambidze and Moris Uzan.
Hapoel Jerusalem astonished the League in the central game, defeating Hapoel Tel-Aviv at home, 1:0; this game was of a real help to Beitar Jerusalem which was surprisingly beaten by Hapoel Kefar-Saba away, 0:1. In such a week, the 2 draws of Haifa teams can be considered a relative success - Hapoel Haifa escaped the surprising away defeat in Ramat-Gan during the last minute, 1:1 vs the unlucky Maccabee Tel-Aviv, and Maccabee Haifa surrendered to an unexpected equalizer of Moris Uzan, 2:2 at home vs Maccabee Herzliya. Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa registered a very disappointing draw in Beit-Shean, and despite the declaration of its coach Nir Levin about the European aspirations, his team doesn't look good. The bottom game between Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv and Hapoel Ashkelon brought neither goals nor any interesting moments, except for Asi Rakhamim's "Save Of The Week"; both teams are very close to the very bottom, and this was clearly shown in their game. Hapoel Beer-Sheva managed to make an away 1:1 draw vs Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa and stayed unbeaten for 3 consecutive games; however, the team is still the last, while the guys of Moshe Sinai should be angry about themselves for slipping the victory away. And finally, Maccabee Ironi Ashdod recovered somehow after its 2 painful losses and defeated Hapoel Rishon le-Zion, 2:1 at home. And now - the details.
When Istvan Salloi knocked down Tamir Ben-Haim, 35 meters from Beitar Jerusalem's net, after 7 minutes of play, he didn't expect 2 things were going to happen - Beitar would concede a rare in its beauty goal, and this goal would be Hapoel Kefar-Saba's winner... In the absence of Laszlo Komodi, it was the Georgian midfielder Bakhva Ambidze who dared to take a free kick, and the result wouldn't have embarrassed Ronald Koeman himself - an incredible direct shot diagonally under the right crossbar of Itzhak Korenfein, to the post and in! And this was it - as the game went on, Beitar became the really better team on the pitch, but its trials were stopped by Eran Scheinsinger or missed; Shai Holtzman wasted mercilessly a couple of opportunities, while Istvan Salloi and Istvan Pisont tried their luck acrobatically from difficult situations, in vain. On the other hand, it was Kefar-Saba with 2 real chances, both denied by our "Keeper Of The Week" Itzhak Korenfein - first, he stopped Yaniv Avvargeal inside the box (57), and then managed to take the ball shot weakly by Tomer Shem-Tov (76); the latter kidnapped the ball earlier from Sergei Tretyak, but was afraid to pass the rushing keeper and tried to raise the ball above him, in vain. Anyway, it was the first loss of Beitar after 22 unbeaten League games, and the next week will be its true examination. And Kefar-Saba, besides staying at the 6th place, gave the top teams the great opportunity to enjoy fully Beitar's loss.
The team with the biggest possible potential benefit from this, Hapoel Tel-Aviv, didn't exploit it, losing surprisingly to Hapoel Jerusalem, 0:1 away! The Jerusalemites dedicated this victory to their injured captain Michel Dayan, but in fact, the true winner was Beitar Jerusalem - another example for the united city... Hapoel Tel-Aviv hardly created any chance near the hosts' net, and the midtable team had lots of its own - Assaf Tubi missed greatly near the empty net (13), and Shavit Elimelekh threw himself upwards to parry the header of Moti Ohayon from under the bar. But 18 minutes from time, even Elimelekh couldn't help - Laszlo Czeh penetrated at the left wing and greatly centered the ball, Assaf Tubi missed it once again, but Chaba Horvath took the mighty shot from 13 meters, the ball going under the bar which Shavit Elimelekh could only touch. Horvath, after already changing 2 Israeli teams during this season, finally scored his opener in the National League, and he may be happy about that. And for those of you who enjoy the Israeli Soccer history - when Maccabee Haifa took the Israeli Cup in 1992-93 after defeating Maccabee Tel-Aviv 1:0 in the final game, the combination of Berkovich - Attar was similar to the one shown this Saturday in the capital.
However disappointed with the loss of 2 points, Hapoel Haifa was very lucky not to lose in Ramat-Gan to Maccabee Tel-Aviv - for Maccabee, it was the 2nd consecutive lack of luck, when the top team managed to equalize so close to the end! In a game not that eventful, the brilliant save of Alexander Uvarov from Offer Talker's header, and the header of Dedi Ben-Dayan that slightly missed the frame (52), were the only real opportunities, one for each side, during the first 70 minutes of play. 19 minutes from time, an unexpected development of a real beauty opened the score - Moshe Glam made a bad volley shot from 20 meters, and Dedi Ben-Dayan slightly moved his leg to heel the ball to the far away corner from 8 meters (!); the ball passed between lots of players and escaped the hands of the surprised Dudu Awwat, 1:0 to Maccabee. The referee Dani Koren, in a disastrous performance, overlooked the clear handplay of Nir Klinger inside Maccabee's box, but an equalizer came nevertheless. Amir Shelakh knocked Ronen Harazi down, 18 meters from the net, and Uvarov was very nervous to put the wall properly; finally, Ran Ben-Shimon took a short run, Uvarov gambled on one corner, Ben-Shimon shot coolly and precisely over the wall into the other, and the desperate dive of Uvarov backwards couldn't reach that piece of precision. Another week for Maccabee quite close to the bottom, and another week of anticipation for Hapoel, before the big game vs Beitar Jerusalem at home.
Another team to waste the golden opportunity to close its gap from the top was Maccabee Haifa, making just a disappointing 2:2 draw at home vs Maccabee Herzliya. A meaningful event happened after 27 minutes of play - Nir Davidovich managed to parry the bomb of Moris Uzan, and hit the post with his head after trying to block the rebound of Oleg Naduda; as a result, the ball went in and opened the score for the guests, and Davidovich couldn't play anymore and was replaced with Bonnie Ginzburg! The former National Israeli keeper registered a secure performance with not many Herzliya attacks to cope with, and Haifa desperately tried to equalize. The Greens managed to do so after 52 minutes of play - Golan Deri raised the ball into the box, Hezi Shirazi headed it home, Shuli Gilardi managed to parry the close-ranger, and Shirazi, lying himself on the ground, managed to push the ball past the lying keeper, with the latter reaching it after the goal-line. 1:1.
Haifa's pressure was translated into another goal, 20 minutes from time, when Vladimir Niederhaus, "The Man Of The Game", shot a weak volley from 16 meters; in a huge crowd of players, the ball managed to hit no one, and a hesitant dive of a surprised Gilardi was too late, 2:1. However, this game will be remembered for long not because of Niederhaus' performance or his goal, but because of Herzliya's equalizer in another 5 minutes. Amit Levi raised the ball into Haifa's net from the right wing, the Green defenders managed to close everybody well, and Moris Uzan, whom the ball was addressed to, seemed to have no opportunity to stop it decently or to head it home; however, he didn't need to. The young forward made a slight move backwards, and then made a speedy half-turn, bombing the ball under the bar from 8 meters with ... his right shoulder! The unstoppable piece of beauty left Bonnie Ginzburg moveless, and the stadium was even too astonished to applaud the beauty or to shamefully condemn the cruel equalizer. This is just to remind you that Moris Uzan managed already to make another draw vs Maccabee Haifa this season, playing then in Beit-Shean and also scoring a goal.
After the game, there came another astonishment for Maccabee Haifa's fans, when Maccabee Haifa's President Yaacov Shakhar announced that the manager Giora Spiegel wouldn't stay in the team for the next season. The era is over, and it can be seen as quite a successful one: 1 Championship (1993-94), 2 Cups (1992-93, 1994-95), 2 Vice-Championships (1994-95, 1995-96), a series of 46 unbeaten League games, and the best Israeli performance ever in the European Cups, with the victories over Torpedo Moscow and Parma (1993-94, ECWC). Well, every era is to end sooner or later, and let's hope for the best - and let's hope the players, free from the uncertainty, will give their best for the departing coach until the end of the season.
With the first 4 teams waiting for each other the next weekend, Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa continued losing all the highlights with a disappointing nil draw in Beit-Shean. The bottom squad of Beit-Shean was the better one throughout the game, but the incredible misses of Sergen Culakovic (83) and Primoz Gliha left the game scoreless; on the other hand, Gabor Marton and Andrei Christophick were unlucky as well. The young and unexperienced Sahar Rakhamim of Hapoel Beit-Shean, replacing the red-carded Meir Cohen, didn't face any serious threat, and therefore, his real skill couldn't be appreciated.
The same was the situation of Yaniv Wahaba, who replaced the injured National keeper Rafi Cohen in Bnei-Yehuda's net - Hapoel Ashkelon, playing away and giving too much respect for the hosts, seemed embarrassed to attack... On the other hand, Lallo Anka, "The Man Of The Game", managed to paralyze Yaniv Offri, and so the hosts couldn't develop their attacks, too. Bnei-Yehuda managed to register just one normal attack, after 12 minutes of play - Shuki Nagar shot mightily from 13 meters diagonally, and Asi Rakhamim flew well to send the ball to the corner, "The Save Of The Week". Both teams stayed very close to the bottom, and God, they deserve this!
The game between the other 2 bottom teams, Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa and Hapoel Beer-Sheva, was not brilliant as well, but at least produced some moments worth mentioning. Shaul Smadja managed to parry the ball of Ismail Amar (31), and then stopped Tsakhi Shemariyahu (53); however, after 64 minutes of play, even Smadja could do nothing - Shemariyahu rolled the ball to Guy Itzhak, and the talented midfielder of the hosts, returning to the pitch after a long injury, shot it diagonally from 18 meters to the right post of diving Smadja and in, 1:0. Petakh-Tikwa can see itself disappointed after not scoring another 2 goals, and then it conceded an equalizer - Rami Eliyahu sent the ball into the box, Golan Malul accompanied the ball with his glance (a very unusual mistake of the keeper whose conceded goals outnumber just those of Shavit Elimelekh and Dudu Awwat), and the Nigerian forward of Beer-Sheva, Christian Okpala, managed to roll the ball in from a hard angle, 1:1.
And finally, it was the game between the two losers of Round 2 so far, Maccabee Ironi Ashdod and Hapoel Rishon le-Zion. There, Ashdod managed to return to the road of positive surprises, with its 2:1 victory after the shot of Eyal Almoshnino from 13 meters under the bar (87). Beforehand, the teams exchanged 2 penalty kicks - first, Yossi Madar scored, after he himself had been knocked down by Nir Shikwa (46), and then it was the turn of Meir Azran, after Nissim Ben-David had been knocked down by Assif Ben-Ishai (67). Rishon, wake up! And as for Ashdod - I stated in the beginning of the season that Ashdod would take 8th place or higher, and it seems that without Alon Hazan this is a much harder assignment; however, it's still possible.
NEXT ROUND (in a week): probably, the most important weekend in everything concerning the top contest. Hapoel Tel-Aviv (1) hosts Maccabee Haifa (4), and Beitar Jerusalem (2) goes for a fight in Kiryat-Eliezer to meet there Hapoel Haifa (3), both of the games are NEVER TO BE MISSED!!! There is also a derby of Petakh-Tikwa, the important bottom game between Hapoel Ashkelon (15) and Hapoel Beit-Shean (14), and an interesting game between the triumphants of the last weekend, Hapoel Jerusalem (7) and Hapoel Kefar-Saba (6).
HAPOEL JERUSALEM - Hapoel Tel-Aviv 1:0 (0:0).
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Hosts: Chaba Horvath (72).
Guests: -.
THE BEST: Chaba Horvath, midfielder, Hapoel Jerusalem.
HAPOEL KEFAR-SABA - Beitar Jerusalem 1:0 (1:0).
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Hosts: Bakhva Ambidze (7).
Guests: -.
THE BEST: Gabi Sapir, defender, Hapoel Kefar-Saba.
Maccabee Tel-Aviv - Hapoel Haifa 1:1 (0:0).
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Hosts: Dedi Ben-Dayan (71).
Guests: Ran Ben-Shimon (89).
THE BEST: Ran Ben-Shimon, defender, Hapoel Haifa.
Maccabee Haifa - Maccabee Herzliya 2:2 (0:1).
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Hosts: Hezi Shirazi (52), Vladimir Niederhaus (70).
Guests: Oleg Naduda (27), Moris Uzan (75).
THE BEST: Vladimir Niederhaus, forward, Maccabee Haifa.
Hapoel Beit-Shean - Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa 0:0.
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Hosts: -.
Guests: -.
THE BEST: Ami Azulai, defender, Hapoel Beit-Shean.
MACCABEE IRONI ASHDOD - Hapoel Rishon le-Zion 2:1 (0:0).
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Hosts: Yossi Madar (47 pen), Eyal Almoshnino (87).
Guests: Meir Azran (67 pen).
THE BEST: Eyal Almoshnino, midfielder, Maccabee Ironi Ashdod.
Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa - Hapoel Beer-Sheva 1:1 (0:0).
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Hosts: Guy Itzhak (64).
Guests: Christian Okpala (76).
THE BEST: Morad Magamedov, defender, Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa.
Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv - Hapoel Ashkelon 0:0.
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Hosts: -.
Guests: -.
THE BEST: Lallo Anka, defender, Hapoel Ashkelon.
THE WEEK'S TEAM:
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Itzhak Korenfein
(Beitar Jerusalem)
Lallo Anka Michael Zemlinskiy Ran Ben-Shimon Gabi Sapir
(Hapoel Ashkelon) (Hapoel Kefar-Saba) (Hapoel Haifa) (Hapoel Kefar-Saba)
Chaba Horvath Eyal Almoshnino Vladimir Niederhaus Laszlo Czeh
(Hapoel Jerusalem) (Mcb. Ironi Ashdod) (Maccabee Haifa) (Hapoel Jerusalem)
Moris Uzan Christian Okpala
(Maccabee Herzliya) (Hapoel Beer-Sheva)
Hapoel Kefar-Saba, Hapoel Jerusalem - 2.
Beitar Jerusalem, Hapoel Haifa, Maccabee Haifa,
Maccabee Ironi Ashdod, Maccabee Herzliya,
Hapoel Ashkelon, Hapoel Beer-Sheva - 1.
THE BEST GOAL:
MO: Bakhva Ambidze.
ALSO - Ran Ben-Shimon, Dedi Ben-Dayan, Moris Uzan,
Guy Itzhak, Chaba Horvath.
THE BEST SAVE:
MO: Asi Rakhamim, from Shuki Nagar, 12.
ALSO - Alexander Uvarov, from Offer Talker, 23.
PLACE TEAM G W T L Goals Points
1 (1) Hapoel Tel-Aviv 18 11 5 2 18- 8 38
2 (2) Beitar Jerusalem 18 10 7 1 41-18 37
3 (3) Hapoel Haifa 18 9 7 2 31-16 34
4 (4) Maccabee Haifa 18 10 4 4 32-20 34
5 (5) Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa 18 8 4 6 25-21 28
6 (6) Hapoel Kefar-Saba 18 7 4 7 22-23 25
7 (7) Hapoel Jerusalem 18 6 7 5 22-23 25
8 (8) Maccabee Ironi Ashdod 18 6 7 5 23-28 25
9 (9) Maccabee Herzliya 18 5 7 6 23-22 22
10 (10) Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa 18 4 9 5 14-17 21
11 (11) Maccabee Tel-Aviv 18 4 7 7 19-22 19
12 (12) Hapoel Rishon le-Zion 18 4 5 9 22-30 17
13 (13) Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv 18 3 7 8 15-22 16
14 (14) Hapoel Beit-Shean 18 3 6 9 16-28 15
15 (15) Hapoel Ashkelon 18 3 5 10 16-28 14
16 (16) Hapoel Beer-Sheva 18 2 7 9 20-33 13
IN BRACKETS - the places of the teams after the last week.
BEST PLAYER: Gabi Sapir, defender, Hapoel Kefar-Saba.
TOP SCORERS: Eli Driks (Maccabee Tel-Aviv) 11(0)
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Alon Mizrahi (Maccabee Haifa) 10(1)
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Istvan Pisont (Beitar Jerusalem) 9(0)
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Liron Basis (Hapoel Haifa) 8(0)
Istvan Salloi (Beitar Jerusalem) 8(1)
Moti Kakun (Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa) 8(4)
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Nir Sevilla (Beitar Jerusalem) 7(0)
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Igal Zrihen (Maccabee Ironi Ashdod) 6(0)
Assaf Tubi (Hapoel Jerusalem) 6(1)
Yossi Benayoun (Hapoel Beer-Sheva) 6(2)
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[4: Beit-Shean] Moris Uzan (Maccabee Herzliya) 5(0) 1
Sergei Kandaurov (Maccabee Haifa) 5(0)
Rafi Cohen (Hapoel Rishon le-Zion) 5(0)
Laszlo Czeh (Hapoel Jerusalem) 5(0)
Offer Shitrit (Hapoel Tel-Aviv) 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 a week):
| Hosts | Guests |
| Hapoel Tel-Aviv (1) | Maccabee Haifa (4) |
| Hapoel Haifa (3) | Beitar Jerusalem (2) |
| Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa (5) | Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa (10) |
| Hapoel Jerusalem (7) | Hapoel Kefar-Saba (6) |
| Hapoel Beer-Sheva (16) | Maccabee Ironi Ashdod (8) |
| Maccabee Herzliya (9) | Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv (13) |
| Hapoel Rishon le-Zion (12) | Maccabee Tel-Aviv (11) |
| Hapoel Ashkelon (15) | Hapoel Beit-Shean (14) |
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