30 goals (the positive record of this season), 3 red cards, 4 penalties (all scored) and 3 own goals (!) - this was the very interesting story of the last weekend, glorified by the beautiful goals and even more by the beautiful keepers' saves. One week before "The Game Of The Season", both the leaders and the runners-up scored 3 times and were victorious. Today, it's estimated that no more tickets are left in the cashiers...
Without the suspended Alexander Uvarov in its net, Maccabee Tel-Aviv could do nothing vs Hapoel Tel-Aviv at home, 0:3; indeed, the referee Amit Klein was totally one-sided and helped the Reds immensely, but nevertheless, just 1 team could win this game according to its development. Beitar Jerusalem returned to scoring first, but was quite lucky to take all the points at home from the brilliant Maccabee Herzliya, 3:2. Hapoel Haifa didn't leave a single chance at all to Hapoel Ashkelon at home, 4:1, and Maccabee Haifa failed to beat Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa away, 1:1; the game, however dull it mostly was, gave us "The Keeper Of The Week", "The Goal Of The Week" and "The Save Of The Week". Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa continued disappointing and lost its 3rd consecutive game, this time 1:2 away to Hapoel Rishon le-Zion, for which the taken 3 points seem to secure yet another season in the National League. Ironi Ashdod was superb at home vs Hapoel Jerusalem, 4:2. Hapoel Beer-Sheva scored first and last in Kefar-Saba, but in between the 2 goals of the Georgian midfielder Bakhva Ambidze divided the points equally. And finally, a very important bottom game between Hapoel Beit-Shean and Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv saw all the points staying in the North-Eastern town, after an extremely hesitant game of the National keeper Rafi Cohen in the guests' net. And now - the details.
Watching yesterday the historical review of the WC'82 in Spain and seeing there the charming Paolo Rossi in his solo performance against Brazil, I couldn't help paying attention to the Israeli connection of this Soccer masterpiece - the referee Avraham Klein, registering a flawless refereeing in the central game, watched by thousands of people at the stadium and billions of people all over the world. This weekend, his son Amit Klein has got a stage much less important, but central nevertheless; unlike his father, however, he managed to make every possible mistake, and all of them in favor of Hapoel. Seconds from the start, Shavit Elimelekh slipped the high ball, and it reached Georgi Daraselia who tried to clear it away, but stepped on it; an utter confusion followed, and Eli Driks reached the ball before Elimelekh whose flying (to the ball) hand knocked him down - Klein was very close to the event and came with an utterly wrong decision, to go on playing! In another 7 minutes, Klein indeed booked Driks for the dirty foul on Asi Domb, but abstained from showing any card to Felix Halfon; the behaviour of the National defender, who kicked and cursed the Yellow forward, was utterly disgusting and quite deserved the red card. Finally, the meeting of the rushing Offer Shitrit and the getting out Alen Mashraki resulted in the most artistic dive of the forward I've seen through the last years; many accredited European "divers" should've learnt from Shitrit, as for Amit Klein it was a clear penalty case, which Shitrit himself coolly converted.
However, there was the normal game as well, and even though 3:0 is in no way justified, Hapoel definitely deserved to take all the points. During the dreadful 1st half of both teams, in which Maccabee slightly dominated during the first minutes of play, the fine saves of Elimelekh from Haim Hageage's header (29) and of Mashraki from Daraselia in one-to-one (36, from another preparation of Shalom Tikwa, who else?) should be mentioned. But during the 2nd half, it was just one team, the Reds of Eli Cohen, all over the pitch. 3 minutes after the break, it was a penetration of Shalom Tikwa between Oren Rothem and Alon Brumer, and the pass came to Offer Shitrit into the box; the forward turned away from his guard and sent a weak but precise ball to the left corner of Mashraki, very hesitant in his dive. The penalty mentioned before made the score 2:0, and Shitrit stayed hungry until the very end. The last effort of his was a penetration on the right wing (87); the forward tried to center the ball, Mashraki parried it badly, and Sebastian Simerotic was on the rebound from the air to score his 4th consecutive goal in the National League, 3:0. The fans of the Reds, humiliated so many times in the derbies throughout the 90-ies, found this game a revenge happening once in a lifetime. And as for Maccabee - every word is redundant, and the deeds have to be done.
The game in Jerusalem indeed gave Beitar all the points and showed once again its threatening Hungarian midline, but the story was Maccabee Herzliya - the tradition of the utterly remarkable games between the 2 clubs was preserved, and Herzliya played its very best game this season, making life hard for the defending Champions. The early warm-up was started by a magnificent mighty scissors kick of Istvan Salloi, collected well by a diving Yehuda Boaron. Istvan Hamar opened the score after 26 minutes of play, with a great solo penetration and a harsh diagonal shot from the box corner to the left low corner of Boaron who dived in vain; 1:0 and the first opener of Beitar since Week 16! However, in just 3 minutes a corner of Oleg Naduda (wonderful) came, and Itzhak Korenfein pushed the ball into his own net, 1:1. Korenfein atoned for his mistake with a breathtaking save from Naduda's lob (33), and in another 5 minutes saw the same mistake happening on the other side - a superb shot of Istvan Pisont found the post of Boaron, and Ellad Koren pushed the ball unfortunately into his own net, 2:1. Boaron yet managed to make another save from Pisont's header, and Herzliya's defender Alex Barmecher sent the rebound into his own post (!); Herzliya was lucky that time, but not later on - Pisont again penetrated greatly for 60 meters (without much disturbance, I should admit) and rolled the ball past Boaron, 3:1. As this was the situation in the dying seconds of the 1st half, nobody had any doubts Herzliya would be broken; instead, just the opposite happened. 5 minutes after the break, the guests' defender Igal Entebbi scored his 2nd goal this season, again a beauty against Beitar - his quick dummy on Sergei Tretyak was followed by a wonderful curved surfer from 20 meters, past the fingertips of desperately diving Korenfein, which touched his right post and went in, 3:2. Before the end, those were the desperate attacks of Oleg Naduda and Ilan Bakhar, but Korenfein, his defence and the misses left the score intact. The 2 opportunities of Beitar were of Pisont - his ball found the post (73), and his precise and mighty header (87) found Boaron in a great save, launching himself under the bar and rolling the ball over the frame with his fingertips. To sum it up: a highly enjoyable game, but Beitar is to be aware of its defensive problems, lest Hapoel Tel-Aviv uses them to the full avail.
Two corners of Liron Basis found the headers of Giovanni Rosso (28) and Najouan Grayib (57), and those were converted into the goals that devastated Hapoel Ashkelon. A corner of the guests, performed by Georgi Anchavadze and finding the temporary equalizer of Dudu Dahan (55), gave Hapoel Ashkelon a sparkle of hope, but the quick strike of Grayib totally demoralized the outsiders. Ashkelon's keeper Asi Rakhamim still made a fine save from the shot of Ronen Harazi, but then Hapoel Haifa substituted Liron Basis for Goran Milenko, and the Croatian midfielder fixed his team another 2 goals in his 10 minutes on the pitch. First, a great foreign combination of Bicinic - Milenko - Rosso - Ulyanov gave the latter a chance for the threatening shot (84), and then, a foul on Milenko resulted in a great free kick of Ran Ben-Shimon (90). Hapoel Haifa still has some hopes for surprising the League, or so it seems. As for Hapoel Ashkelon, they seem to lose their hope to stay in the National League for another season, though 18 points are still to be struggled for in the remaining 6 games.
The game between Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa and Maccabee Haifa was probably the dullest this weekend, but still gave us lots of opportunities, saves and awards. The header of Roman Filipchuk (35) went wide, and Haifa used a counterattack to score, 5 minutes before the break - Golan Deri penetrated well at the right wing, entered the box, rolled the ball backwards, and Hezi Shirazi shot mightily under the bar of Golan Malul, 1:0. The great shot of Idan Tal found Nir Davidovich, "The Man Of The Game" and "The Keeper Of The Week", in a fantastic flight that sent the ball to a corner. In another 10 minutes, it was a threatening bomb of Haim Silbas against his former teammates from 25 meters, but Davidovich made a rare in its beauty flight to meet the ball with his fingertips under the right crossbar and to send it to a corner; the legendary Joel Bats (sp?), one of the favourite keepers of my youth, who helped immensely in making France the team it had been in 80-ies, immediately appeared in my associative thoughts, when I saw this "Save Of The Week". Davidovich managed yet to close well his corner from the shot of Filipchuk, and then those were the attempts of Golan Deri (78) and Alon Mizrahi (79) on the other side, denied superbly by Golan Malul. And still, Petakh-Tikwa's equalizer was scored, 2 minutes from time - a free kick was awarded, 25 meters from Haifa's net. Tsakhi Shemariyahu sent a short pass to Ismail Amar, and the latter scored his 1st goal this year with a curved and mighty shot under the helplessly flying Davidovich's left crossbar, "The Goal Of The Week".
While the Haifa teams still fight for every point, Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa unofficially finished its season, and gives the points freely to everybody who will be insistent enough to demand those. Yesterday, it was the turn of Rishon le-Zion - the game was pretty equal (and dull as well), but when Avi Fletcher was sent off with the 2nd yellow card (54), it became clear the outsiders of Eyal Lakhman would win. A strange back header of Nissan Capeta found the gap between the legs of Shai Hess and opened the score (62); in another 10 minutes, it was an extremely beautiful back diagonal header of the substitute Rafi Cohen to make the score 2:0. Rafi Cohen, "The Man Of The Game", brought his team a lot of motivation and a victorious goal, but also a penalty against and a yellow card - during the last minute of play, he knocked down Guy Shamir in his box, and Moti Kakun scored another penalty of his to reduce the score meaninglessly. Kakun stayed the only person in Petakh-Tikwa who has something to fight for, namely, "The Best Scorers' List".
And if Rafi Cohen of Rishon le-Zion had definitely a great game, Rafi Cohen of Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv has to forget his awful performance vs Beit-Shean, if he wants to defend the Israeli net vs Argentina in April 15th friendly. The National keeper was directly responsible for the 2 goals his team conceded, and the attack, on the other hand, was so dull nobody even thought there seriously of equalizing. And Beit-Shean, on the other hand, had its International squad earning points. 31 minutes in the game, Cohen slipped the powerful ball of Gala Pancheladze, and the Slovenian International forward Primoz Gliha was on the rebound to score an opener, 1:0. In another 8 minutes, the score was signed up - Gliha penetrated at the left wing and sent a ball to Zadko Adic, the latter used a terrible position of Rafi Cohen and released the ball hitting the post, and Sergen Culakovic was on the rebound to push it home, 2:0. Another word should be said about the referee Eyal Tsur and the unofficial "Law No. 18", namely, the law of the common sense in refereeing the game. Indeed, the excellent Gala Pancheladze had a yellow card, and indeed, a 2nd yellow card means sending off. But who the hell ever shows a 2nd yellow card 21 minutes from time, for preparing too long for bringing the ball into the game?.. Well, I'm not a referee, and I don't intend to be one...
Maccabee Ironi Ashdod will meet Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa this Tuesday in the Cup Quarterfinals, and yesterday this Southern team jumped 2 places up to become Petakh-Tikwa's neighbor in the table; I stated after just a couple of weeks in August that Ashdod would finish the season at the top part of the table, and right I seem to be. Yossi Madar sent the ball to Amir Turgeman (19) into the box, and the forward was knocked there down by Stephan Mihei; a penalty was awarded, and Madar himself scored, despite the good flight of Strauber, 1:0. A ball of Laszlo Czeh from Hapoel Jerusalem hit the post of Akakiy Devadze, but the team to score another goal during the dying seconds of the 1st half was again Ashdod - Tibor Balog kidnapped the ball and launched a quick counterattack from his own box, Yossi Madar was sent alone towards the guests' net, Liran Strauber went out and tried to clear the ball away by foot, but it hit Yossi Madar's hand (a controversial moment, but I tend to take the side of the referee Meir Levi who marked to continue playing) and returned to the attacker who rolled it home from 25 meters, 2:0. A penalty of Assaf Tubi, with his 5th goal in the last 4 games, reduced the score to 2:1; it was awarded after the handplay of Gadi Hazut in his box. However, Chaba Horvath scored an unfortunate own goal (53), and Jerusalem failed to recover. The teams still scored one goal each, through Laszlo Czeh (56) and Amir Turgeman (76). The latter's goal started with a great keeper's ball of Akakiy Devadze to pass all the guests' defence, and Naor Galili wasn't tempted to pass the keeper, but made a goal pass instead. Ashdod is the 6th, but for Hapoel Jerusalem it is still a very good season, despite the loss.
And finally, it was the game in Kefar-Saba between the local Hapoel and the outsider, Hapoel Beer-Sheva. The guests still managed to open the score after the shot of Yossi Benayoun and the great goal preparation of Slavisa Cula (8); however, Kefar-Saba's shaky defence was mostly responsible for the goal. Kefar-Saba managed to react mightily, when the two shots of its Georgian midfielder Bakhva Ambidze registered a perfect comeback; however, Ambidze himself was injured (37), and the defender Tamir Ben-Haim was sent off with the 2nd yellow card (33). Beer-Sheva was pressing all the time throughout the 2nd half, using the hesitant game of Eran Scheinsinger in Kefar-Saba's net, but still failing to find it; in between, Shaul Smadja needed all of his experience to deny another Kefar-Saba's goal from Itai Koren (78). Finally, a foreign combination of Christian Okpala - Slavisa Cula caused the latter's header that equalized the score. The bar of the local Washington de Santos (73) should also be mentioned, as well as the right posts of the guests Aris Eliacic (61) and Dudu Heffer (90). After all, Beer-Sheva hasn't lost hope yet, but will definitely need to find the needed points in a quicker pace.
THE NEXT ROUND (in a week): Hapoel Tel-Aviv (1) hosts Beitar Jerusalem (2), in a game NEVER TO BE MISSED!!!!! Hapoel Haifa (3) is hosted by Maccabee Herzliya (9), and Maccabee Haifa (4) plays at home vs Maccabee Ironi Ashdod (6). And there are also 2 very important bottom games, between Hapoel Ashkelon (16) and Hapoel Rishon le-Zion (10), as well as between Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv (14) and Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa (12).
Maccabee Tel-Aviv - HAPOEL TEL-AVIV 0:3 (0:0).
------------------------------------------------
Hosts: -.
Guests: Offer Shitrit (48, 57 pen), Sebastian Simerotic (87).
THE BEST: Offer Shitrit, forward, Hapoel Tel-Aviv.
BEITAR JERUSALEM - Maccabee Herzliya 3:2 (3:1).
-------------------------------------------------
Hosts: Istvan Hamar (26), OG (Ellad Koren, 38), Istvan Pisont (45).
Guests: OG (Itzhak Korenfein, 29), Igal Entebbi (50).
THE BEST: Alon Harazi, defender, Beitar Jerusalem.
HAPOEL HAIFA - Hapoel Ashkelon 4:1 (1:0).
-------------------------------------------
Hosts: Giovanni Rosso (28), Najouan Grayib (57), Dmitriy Ulyanov (84),
Ran Ben-Shimon (90).
Guests: Dudu Dahan (55).
THE BEST: Giovanni Rosso, midfielder, Hapoel Haifa.
Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa - Maccabee Haifa 1:1 (0:1).
---------------------------------------------------
Hosts: Ismail Amar (88).
Guests: Hezi Shirazi (40).
THE BEST: Nir Davidovich, keeper, Maccabee Haifa.
HAPOEL RISHON LE-ZION - Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa 2:1 (0:0).
--------------------------------------------------------
Hosts: Nissan Capeta (62), Rafi Cohen (72).
Guests: Moti Kakun (90 pen).
RED: Avi Fletcher, defender, Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa, 54.
THE BEST: Rafi Cohen, forward, Hapoel Rishon le-Zion.
MACCABEE IRONI ASHDOD - Hapoel Jerusalem 4:2 (2:0).
-----------------------------------------------------
Hosts: Yossi Madar (19 pen, 45), OG (Chaba Horvath, 53),
Amir Turgeman (76).
Guests: Assaf Tubi (50 pen), Laszlo Czeh (56).
THE BEST: Yossi Madar, midfielder, Maccabee Ironi Ashdod.
Hapoel Kefar-Saba - Hapoel Beer-Sheva 2:2 (2:1).
--------------------------------------------------
Hosts: Bakhva Ambidze (25, 29).
Guests: Yossi Benayoun (8), Slavisa Cula (80).
RED: Tamir Ben-Haim, defender, Hapoel Kefar-Saba, 33.
THE BEST: Bakhva Ambidze, midfielder, Hapoel Kefar-Saba.
HAPOEL BEIT-SHEAN - Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv 2:0 (2:0).
-----------------------------------------------------
Hosts: Primoz Gliha (31), Sergen Culakovic (39).
Guests: -.
RED: Gala Pancheladze, midfielder, Hapoel Beit-Shean, 69.
THE BEST: Primoz Gliha, forward, Hapoel Beit-Shean.
THE WEEK'S TEAM:
----------------
Nir Davidovich
(Maccabee Haifa)
Ismail Amar Alon Harazi Asi Domb Dani Albert
(Mcb. Petakh-Tikwa) (Beitar Jerusalem) (Hapoel Tel-Aviv) (H. Rishon le-Zion)
Bakhva Ambidze Giovanni Rosso Yossi Madar Rafi Cohen
(Hapoel Kefar-Saba) (Hapoel Haifa) (Mcb. Ironi Ashdod) (H. Rishon le-Zion)
Offer Shitrit Primoz Gliha
(Hapoel Tel-Aviv) (Hapoel Beit-Shean)
Hapoel Tel-Aviv, Hapoel Rishon le-Zion - 2.
Beitar Jerusalem, Hapoel Haifa, Maccabee Haifa,
Maccabee Ironi Ashdod, Hapoel Kefar-Saba,
Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa, Hapoel Beit-Shean - 1.
THE BEST GOAL:
MO: Ismail Amar.
ALSO - Istvan Hamar, Igal Entebbi, Rafi Cohen.
THE BEST SAVE:
MO: Nir Davidovich, from Haim Silbas, 52.
ALSO - Nir Davidovich, from Idan Tal, 42.
Yehuda Boaron, from Istvan Pisont, 87.
Itzhak Korenfein, from Oleg Naduda, 33.
Shaul Smadja, from Itai Koren, 78.
PLACE TEAM G W T L Goals Points
1 (1) Hapoel Tel-Aviv 24 17 5 2 30-10 56
2 (2) Beitar Jerusalem 24 15 8 1 61-29 53
3 (3) Hapoel Haifa 24 13 8 3 46-22 47
4 (4) Maccabee Haifa 24 13 5 6 42-28 44
5 (5) Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa 24 9 6 9 33-32 33
6 (8) Maccabee Ironi Ashdod 24 8 8 8 33-38 32
7 (6) Hapoel Kefar-Saba 24 8 7 9 29-30 31
8 (7) Hapoel Jerusalem 24 7 9 8 29-33 30
9 (9) Maccabee Herzliya 24 7 7 10 28-32 28
10 (12) Hapoel Rishon le-Zion 24 7 6 11 30-38 27
11 (10) Maccabee Tel-Aviv 24 6 8 10 26-29 26
12 (11) Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa 24 5 11 8 17-24 26
13 (14) Hapoel Beit-Shean 24 6 7 11 25-36 25
14 (13) Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv 24 5 7 12 18-29 22
15 (15) Hapoel Beer-Sheva 24 4 8 12 28-47 20
16 (16) Hapoel Ashkelon 24 4 6 14 19-37 18
IN BRACKETS - the places of the teams after the last week.
BEST PLAYER: Giovanni Rosso, midfielder, Hapoel Haifa.
TOP SCORERS: Alon Mizrahi (Maccabee Haifa) 15(2)
***********************************************************
Istvan Salloi (Beitar Jerusalem) 14(2)
***********************************************************
Nir Sevilla (Beitar Jerusalem) 12(0)
Eli Driks (Maccabee Tel-Aviv) 12(0)
***********************************************************
Istvan Pisont (Beitar Jerusalem) 11(0) 1
Liron Basis (Hapoel Haifa) 11(0)
Assaf Tubi (Hapoel Jerusalem) 11(2) 1(1)
Offer Shitrit (Hapoel Tel-Aviv) 11(3) 2(1)
Moti Kakun (Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa) 11(6) 1(1)
***********************************************************
Yossi Benayoun (Hapoel Beer-Sheva) 9(2) 1
***********************************************************
Yossi Madar (Maccabee Ironi Ashdod) 8(2) 2(1)
***********************************************************
[3: Hap. Haifa] Sergen Culakovic (Hapoel Beit-Shean) 7(0) 1
Igal Zrihen (Maccabee Ironi Ashdod) 7(0)
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) | Beitar Jerusalem (2) |
| Maccabee Herzliya (9) | Hapoel Haifa (3) |
| Maccabee Haifa (4) | Maccabee Ironi Ashdod (6) |
| Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa (5) | Hapoel Beer-Sheva (15) |
| Hapoel Beit-Shean (13) | Hapoel Kefar-Saba (7) |
| Hapoel Jerusalem (8) | Maccabee Tel-Aviv (11) |
| Hapoel Ashkelon (16) | Hapoel Rishon le-Zion (10) |
| Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv (14) | Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa (12) |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Previous, Week 23 | Main Page | Soccer Page | 1997-98, History | Next, Week 25 |