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| Previous, Week 29 | Main Page | Soccer Page | 1997-98, History | Season, Summary |
33 goals (the record of this season), 2 red cards shown, 1 own goal, 4 penalties awarded and 3 scored, and finally, 4 comebacks and 2 big victories - this was the story of the last weekend of this season. But who will remember those statistics in a couple of years?.. What will be remembered are the following facts - Beitar Jerusalem is a Champion, and in a real photo-finish, Hapoel Beer-Sheva is the 2nd team that relegates to the Country League.
The Israeli soccer players seemed to have learnt from the last week events, and therefore the crucial games were incredibly thrilling. Beitar Jerusalem scored a magnificent goal through Istvan Pisont and managed to preserve the score even in 10 men; the game was clearly two-sided, and though Beitar was a better and a more active squad, its players failed to beat the excellent Golan Malul more than once. Hapoel Tel-Aviv took a 3:0 lead in Ashkelon, but the local Hapoel returned with 2 goals of its own; it wasn't enough for Ashkelon to take any points, but it wasn't enough for Tel-Aviv as well to become the Champions. And Hapoel Rishon le-Zion finished the 1st half with a goal of Moshe Sebeg, but Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv returned and hit twice, the last goal of Cobi Refua during the dying seconds bringing the salvation to the team of Yaacov Grondman; in this light, the last minute goal of Yossi Benayoun, who finally managed to find the net of the excellent Nir Davidovich, was meaningless. The tearjerking sights of Beer-Sheva will be remembered in Israel for long, as well as the euphory of Beitar and its fans.
The rest of the games didn't change anything, but brought us no less than 23 goals. Hapoel Haifa defeated Hapoel Beit-Shean at home, 5:2; the last week of the season brought Ronen Harazi a hat-trick, and he entered "The Best Scorers' List". Maccabee Tel-Aviv devastated Maccabee Ironi Ashdod at home, 7:1! And there were 2 great comebacks - Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa, closing at home a 2 goal deficit vs Hapoel Jerusalem and winning 3:2, and Maccabee Herzliya that recovered from Hapoel Kefar-Saba's early home goal and answered twice, the 2nd goal of Igal Entebbi becoming "The Goal Of The Week".
But let's return to the Championship struggle. Pressed by an early goal of Hapoel Tel-Aviv in Ashkelon, Beitar found itself missing the good chances time and again at the start; for example, Malul saved his net (10), and the rebound of Yossi Abuksis kissed the right post of the keeper. Still, it was a beautiful combination that brought Beitar a winner (28) - David Amsalem raised the ball to Yossi Abuksis 30 meters from the net, Abuksis headed it weakly to Istvan Salloi, the latter sent the ball with one touch beyond his back into the box (what a great goal pass!), and Istvan Pisont overran Noam Keisi and used a touch, similar to Ivan Zamorano's a week ago, to overplay Malul, 1:0. The numerous opportunities of both teams followed, Beitar creating most of them, but found Golan Malul in a great day. The pulse of Beitar's players and fans became higher and more nervous after a red card shown by Meir Levi (excellent) to Beitar's defender Tomer Azulai; however, the score didn't change. Congratulations to Beitar Jerusalem! Let this team represent the country with dignity in the Champions' League!
Hapoel Tel-Aviv, our representative in the UEFA Cup, was hoping for a different result in Jerusalem, while doing its own part of the job as well. A shot of Shalom Tikwa (4) from outside the box gave the favourites an early advantage, but then the game suddenly became calmer. Seconds before the break, a free kick of Mario Masterovic made the score bigger for the favourites; 19 minutes after the break, it was a great skill of Shalom Tikwa who fooled the hosts' defender Janusz Tomka and raised the ball above Rakhamim to make the score 3:0. However, the positive news from Jerusalem didn't come, and Hapoel Tel-Aviv seemed to lose its faith; Boaz Meir reduced the score (71), and Cobi Hadadi, formerly in Hapoel Tel-Aviv, shot precisely from a penalty spot, 3:2. This was the final score, and the fans of Hapoel Tel-Aviv entered the field and thanked their team for a wonderful season - indeed, it was just a Vice-Championship, but who could expect that much from the last season outsider?
And let's go now to the relegation story. Hapoel Rishon le-Zion hosted Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv and, despite the fact that the game was important only to its rivals, attacked vehemently throughout all the 1st half; to Bnei-Yehuda's real luck, its unexperienced 2nd keeper Yaniv Wahaba was in a good day and managed to stop Rafi Cohen (17, 65, 66 and 88). Bnei-Yehuda had several attacks of its own, and we'll remember mostly the free kick of Sahar Mizrahi from 17 meters (35), finding Sagi Strauss parrying the ball from under his left crossbar in an unearthy save. Moshe Sebeg finally broke the stubborn resistance of Wahaba (45); however, 14 minutes after the break, the shot of Ron Nakhman hit the defender of Rishon and misled Sagi Strauss, equalizing the score - and afterwards, it was a great save of Strauss from Cobi Refua's header. And then the last minute came - Sahar Mizrahi rolled the ball into the box, and Refua bombed it from 7 meters, leaving Sagi Strauss near him and Hapoel Beer-Sheva tens of kilometers away no chance. 2:1, and Bnei-Yehuda didn't depend on Beer-Sheva anymore; and the celebrations were great, as if Bnei-Yehuda had returned to the glorious days of Mizrahi - Revivo - Kudritskiy - Abuksis - Amsalem.
Hapoel Beer-Sheva, in the other crucial game, was pretty positive vs Maccabee Haifa and created one chance after another; however, the misses and the excellent performance of Nir Davidovich in Haifa's net frustrated the Southerners time after time. A goal of Yossi Benayoun (23), after a goal pass of Amir Avigdor, was rightly disallowed because of an offside; later on, Marco Di Constanza and Dudu Heffer were stopped by Davidovich. In the 2nd half, an incredible slalom of Yossi Benayoun left all the guests' defence behind, and his shot beat Davidovich, but hit his right post; on the other hand, a counterattack of Haifa nearly brought a mortal goal on Beer-Sheva, but Shaul Smadja managed to stop Rajid Bransi in one-to-one. Davidovich made the same to Benayoun (80), and in several more minutes, he flew breathtakingly to parry a difficult header of Amir Avigdor to a corner, "The Save Of The Week". But several seconds from time, Davidovich was misled by a shot of Marco Di Constanza, and Eliran Elkayam handplayed the ball away from the goal-line; a rebound was scored by Slavisa Cula, but the referee Arik Haimovich disallowed the goal, sent Elkayam off and awarded the hosts a penalty kick. Yossi Benayoun shot a weak ball, and Davidovich dived well to parry it; however, the wonderboy was on the rebound and pushed the ball in, scoring the sad winner.
Cobi Refua couldn't know how meaningful his goal was; Yossi Benayoun couldn't know as well how meaningless his one would become... Running to the fences in euphory, he saw the bitter expressions on the fans' faces and immediately understood his goal wouldn't change a sentence Beer-Sheva was doomed to; and the joy changed to the bitter tears in seconds. The scenes in Beer-Sheva were awful - the crying fans and players, the violent actions towards the bus of Maccabee Haifa, and the atmosphere of despair... Let's hope this team will return soon to the National League, though I wonder whether the team that lost 0:10 to a mediocre European team of Roda, should really be there...
And let's now go to the "meaningless" games, starting with the one of Hapoel Beit-Shean in Haifa, vs the local Hapoel. Hapoel Beit-Shean, stained the last week as "collaborators", wanted to do its best and indeed tried; however, Hapoel Haifa wanted to finish the season on a major note, and so left the guests no chance. Ronen Harazi started his goalship after 21 minutes of play, but 2 minutes from the break, a great header of Alon Halfon beat ... his own keeper, Avi Perets, 1:1. 6 minutes after the break, Avi Perets rolled the ball by mistake to Sergen Culakovic, and the latter had no problems to score and to surprise the fans; however, in just a minute a combination of Najouan Grayib and Ronen Harazi equalized the score. From that moment on, it was just Hapoel Haifa on the pitch. Harazi scored his third goal, 21 minutes from time, and in another 5 minutes, those were the "fixing" goal of Alon Halfon and the incredible bomb of Miroslav Bicinic from 25 meters under the bar of Meir Cohen, 5:2. Hapoel Haifa finishes the wonderful, but unfortunately Europeless season, and let's hope that they register some decent performances in the Intertoto Cup.
Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa, playing at home vs Hapoel Jerusalem, was 2 goals behind after just 13 minutes of play - both goals were scored by the excellent Assaf Tubi, after 2 harsh mistakes of Gabor Marton. However, Jerusalem didn't know how to keep the score. Eli Abrabanel could beat Liran Strauber immediately after the break (47), using a great pass of Beni Kozoshvili; in another 6 minutes, Abrabanel was stopped rudely inside the box - and Moti Kakun scored from a penalty spot, 2:2. And 18 minutes from time, a comeback was completed, when Eran Prizant used a goal pass of Manor Hassan and headed the winner in, 3:2.
Maccabee Tel-Aviv has finished its failed season at a quite high 6th place, beating the pathetic Maccabee Ironi Ashdod at home, 7:1! Nir Klinger's header hit the bar and dropped after the goal-line, 1:0 (31); Tibor Balog of Ashdod still managed to temporarily equalize the score (33), before Ephraim Tsafrir used a bad save of Guy Nakhshon and sent a flying header from 2 meters into an empty net, 2:1. And in the 2nd half, it was a real rain of goals, all of the former Empire. Haim Hageage (55) managed to overplay the tall defence of Ashdod and to head the ball in; and in another 8 minutes, a good shot of Guy Tsarfati made the score already humiliating, 4:1. The goals of Ben Luz (79) and Elek Nyilas (82) were good as well, but Ben Luz stole the performance with his last one (88), a great shot from 30 meters under the left crossbar of Nakhshon, 7:1. It's a real pity Ashdod spoiled a great season during the last weeks, and it's a shame Maccabee Tel-Aviv couldn't play all the season the way it played lastly.
And finally, it was the comeback of Maccabee Herzliya over Hapoel Kefar-Saba, when Herzliya managed to catch the 8th place. Niv Tal opened the score for the hosts (4), after a good pass of Francisco Washington de Santos; however, a foul on Tsakhi Zanetti inside Kefar-Saba's box sent Vassili Ivanov to the penalty spot, and the Russian defender calmly equalized. 8 minutes from time, it was a breathtaking shot of Igal Entebbi from Hagi point that started descending after the stretched hands of the surprised Eran Scheinsinger and finally kissed the net under his left crossbar, "The Goal Of The Week".
The Championship is over, but the season is still not - this Tuesday, there will come a Cup final in Ramat-Gan, between Maccabee Haifa and Hapoel Jerusalem. And then, the European Cup finals - and the World Cup, something we all wait so impatiently for. Good-bye, but not farewell! And enjoy the great games!
BEITAR JERUSALEM - Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa 1:0 (1:0).
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Hosts: Istvan Pisont (28).
Guests: -.
RED: Tomer Azulai, defender, Beitar Jerusalem, 89.
THE BEST: Istvan Pisont, midfielder, Beitar Jerusalem.
Hapoel Ashkelon - HAPOEL TEL-AVIV 2:3 (0:2).
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Hosts: Boaz Meir (71), Cobi Hadadi (87 pen).
Guests: Shalom Tikwa (4, 64), Mario Masterovic (45).
THE BEST: Shalom Tikwa, midfielder, Hapoel Tel-Aviv.
HAPOEL HAIFA - Hapoel Beit-Shean 5:2 (1:1).
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Hosts: Ronen Harazi (21, 52, 69), Alon Halfon (71), Miroslav Bicinic (74).
Guests: OG (Alon Halfon, 43), Sergen Culakovic (51).
THE BEST: Ronen Harazi, forward, Hapoel Haifa.
HAPOEL BEER-SHEVA - Maccabee Haifa 1:0 (0:0).
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Hosts: Yossi Benayoun (90).
Guests: -.
RED: Eliran Elkayam, midfielder, Maccabee Haifa, 90.
THE BEST: Nir Davidovich, keeper, Maccabee Haifa.
On the 90th minute Yossi Benayoun (Hapoel Beer-Sheva) missed a penalty kick -
Nir Davidovich saved. Yossi Benayoun himself was on the rebound to score.
HAPOEL PETAKH-TIKWA - Hapoel Jerusalem 3:2 (0:2).
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Hosts: Eli Abrabanel (47), Moti Kakun (53 pen), Eran Prizant (72).
Guests: Assaf Tubi (6, 13).
THE BEST: Eli Abrabanel, midfielder, Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa.
MACCABEE TEL-AVIV - Maccabee Ironi Ashdod 7:1 (2:1).
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Hosts: Nir Klinger (31), Ephraim Tsafrir (41), Haim Hageage (55),
Guy Tsafrati (63), Ben Luz (79, 88), Elek Nyilas (82).
Guests: Tibor Balog (33).
THE BEST: Guy Tsarfati, midfielder, Maccabee Tel-Aviv.
Hapoel Kefar-Saba - MACCABEE HERZLIYA 1:2 (1:1).
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Hosts: Niv Tal (4).
Guests: Vassili Ivanov (36 pen), Igal Entebbi (82).
THE BEST: Igal Entebbi, midfielder, Maccabee Herzliya.
Hapoel Rishon le-Zion - BNEI-YEHUDA TEL-AVIV 1:2 (1:0).
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Hosts: Moshe Sebeg (45).
Guests: Ron Nakhman (59), Cobi Refua (90).
THE BEST: Cobi Refua, forward, Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv.
THE WEEK'S TEAM:
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Nir Davidovich
(Maccabee Haifa)
Raanan Deri Nir Klinger Yuval Naim Najouan Grayib
(Beitar Jerusalem) (Maccabee Tel-Aviv) (Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv) (Hapoel Haifa)
Guy Tsarfati Istvan Pisont Giovanni Rosso Shalom Tikwa
(Maccabee Tel-Aviv) (Beitar Jerusalem) (Hapoel Haifa) (Hapoel Tel-Aviv)
Ronen Harazi Sergen Culakovic
(Hapoel Haifa) (Hapoel Beit-Shean)
Hapoel Haifa - 3.
Beitar Jerusalem, Maccabee Tel-Aviv - 2.
Hapoel Tel-Aviv, Maccabee Haifa,
Hapoel Beit-Shean, Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv - 1.
THE BEST GOAL:
MO: Igal Entebbi.
ALSO - Istvan Pisont, Ben Luz (the 2nd), Miroslav Bicinic.
THE BEST SAVE:
MO: Nir Davidovich, from Amir Avigdor, 85.
ALSO - Sagi Strauss, from Sahar Mizrahi, 35.
PLACE TEAM G W T L Goals Points
1 (1) Beitar Jerusalem 30 20 9 1 71-33 69 EC1
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2 (2) Hapoel Tel-Aviv 30 21 5 4 44-16 68 EC3
3 (3) Hapoel Haifa 30 17 9 4 59-27 60
4 (4) Maccabee Haifa 30 15 7 8 49-34 52 (EC2)
5 (5) Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa 30 12 6 12 41-41 42
6 (7) Maccabee Tel-Aviv 30 10 9 11 42-35 39
7 (6) Hapoel Kefar-Saba 30 10 8 12 39-39 38
8 (11) Maccabee Herzliya 30 9 9 12 37-40 36
9 (8) Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa 30 8 12 10 27-31 36
10 (9) Hapoel Rishon le-Zion 30 10 6 14 42-52 36
11 (10) Hapoel Jerusalem 30 8 10 12 35-45 34 (EC2)
12 (12) Maccabee Ironi Ashdod 30 8 9 13 39-57 33
13 (13) Hapoel Beit-Shean 30 8 7 15 35-51 31
14 (14) Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv 30 8 7 15 26-42 31
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15 (15) Hapoel Beer-Sheva 30 7 9 14 38-57 30
16 (16) Hapoel Ashkelon 30 5 6 19 26-50 21
IN BRACKETS - the places of the teams after the last week.
BEST PLAYER: Shalom Tikwa, forward, Hapoel Tel-Aviv.
TOP SCORERS: Alon Mizrahi (Maccabee Haifa) 18(3)
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Offer Shitrit (Hapoel Tel-Aviv) 17(6)
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Istvan Salloi (Beitar Jerusalem) 16(2)
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Istvan Pisont (Beitar Jerusalem) 15(0) 1
Yossi Benayoun (Hapoel Beer-Sheva) 15(4) 1
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Eli Driks (Maccabee Tel-Aviv) 14(0)
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Assaf Tubi (Hapoel Jerusalem) 13(2) 2
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Nir Sevilla (Beitar Jerusalem) 12(0)
Moti Kakun (Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa) 12(7) 1(1)
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Liron Basis (Hapoel Haifa) 11(0)
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Ronen Harazi (Hapoel Haifa) 10(0) 3
Igal Zrihen (Maccabee Ironi Ashdod) 10(0)
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[3: Hap. Haifa] Sergen Culakovic (Hapoel Beit-Shean) 9(0) 1
Rafi Cohen (Hapoel Rishon le-Zion) 9(0)
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Istvan Hamar (Beitar Jerusalem) 8(0)
Yossi Madar (Maccabee Ironi Ashdod) 8(2)
Eitan Taib (Hapoel Beit-Shean) 8(5)
NOTE - the penalties scored are put in brackets. The last
column means the number of goals scored this week.
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