BNEI-YEHUDA TEL-AVIV (A, 13) - Hapoel Haifa (A, 1)  3:2 (0:1).
---------------------------------------------------------------
Hosts:    Yaron Avihail (63), Ronen Feigenbaum (75), Hanokh Mararo (83).
  Goal passes:  -.
| Smadja 5; O. Levi 5, Siton 5, Feigenbaum 5.5, YARON AVIHAIL 6; Fibernik 5
| (Mararo, 46 - 5.5), Schwegger 5, Liberman 5.5, Madar 6 (S. Mizrahi, 46 -
| 5.5); Refua 6 (Galili, 57 - 5), Shirazi 5.5.
********
Guests:   Liron Basis (37, 51).
  Goal passes:  Giovanni Rosso (37).
| Awwat 4.5; Talker 5, Ben-Shimon 4.5, A. Halfon 4, Grayib 5.5; Ami Azulai 5
| (Ilan Tal, 76), Zeituni 4.5, Ulyanov 5, Milenko 5 (Nissim, 35 - 5) (Ben-
| Margi, 65), Rosso 5.5; Basis 6.
********
REFEREE:  Arik Haimovich (7).
AUDIENCE: 3,500, Shkhunat-ha'Tikwa, Tel-Aviv.
********

An incredible result! In a game with 2 awful sides, however different their places in the League are, Hapoel Haifa opened the score first, when Liron Basis rolled the ball past the keeper after the marvellous heel pass of Giovanni Rosso. 6 minutes after the break, Basis used a mistake of Smadja to double the score, and no doubts seemed to be left. However, in the most disastrous game of Haifa's defence (and the keeper) this season, Bnei-Yehuda managed to score 3 incredible goals from the far-ranged shots and registered a perfect comeback. Hapoel Haifa never won a Championship before, but this season they thought seriously about even winning the double. No more.

Maccabee Haifa (A, 4) - BEITAR JERUSALEM (A, 2)  1:5 AET (1:0, 1:1, 1:3).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hosts:    Avishai Zhano (12).
  Goal passes:  Ibrahim Doro (12).
| Vakrat 5.5; Zhano 5.5, A. Harazi 5 (RED, 88), Benado 5, A. Keisi 5; Koppel
| 5.5, Romatko 4 (Silbas, 105), Benayoun 5, Nagar 5, Doro 5 (Pacha, 102); R.
| Harazi 5 (Katan, 78 - 6).
********
Guests:   Nir Sevilla (68), Ilan Bakhar (102), Offer Shitrit (105),
          Istvan Hamar (109), Ellad Yaacobi (119).
  Goal passes:  Offer Shitrit (68), Istvan Hamar (119).
| Korenfein 6; Shelakh 6.5, Tretyak 6.5, Domb 6, R. Deri 5.5 (Shitrit, 61 -
| 7.5); Talesnikov 7, Abuksis 6.5, T. Sandor 7 (M. Hageage, 113), Bakhar 7,
| ISTVAN HAMAR 8; Sevilla 7.5 (Yaacobi, 113).
********
REFEREE:  Dani Koren (8).
AUDIENCE: 13,000, Kiryat-Eliezer, Haifa.
********

Nothing could prepare us for the final result when a lethal double-pass of Avishai Zhano and Ibrahim Doro opened completely the defending Champions' defence and left Korenfein helpless and guilty after just 12 minutes of play. The Greens had several good opportunities during the 1st half, and though Beitar became more and more active with every passing minute, the game stayed pretty equal. 9 minutes from the break, Nir Sevilla sent a clever sliding header to the ground and his left corner, but the breathtaking save of Eyal Vakrat sent the ball to the corner and left the whole stadium stunned.

Dusan Uhrin, who prepared his team quite well relatively to its skill in the last weeks, still overlooked Kashtan's substitution, when Offer Shitrit was sent into the battle - 7 minutes after his entry, a goal pass to Nir Sevilla followed, as Alon Harazi was too late for creating an offside trap, and Vakrat could do nothing for the first time, 1:1. Yaniv Katan substituted Ronen Harazi then and created several great opportunities, in the game which grew better and better with every minute and truly reminded us of Europe where those teams represented the country this season. And 2 minutes from time, Haifa stayed in 10 men - a great pass of Abuksis was about to find Shitrit alone inside the box, and Alon Harazi, in quite a good game of his otherwise, had no other choice but to intercept the arched ball with a hand. Seeing the red card, Harazi won the applauses from both camps of fans, as he nodded, shook the referee's hand and left silently; for Haifa's fans, it was clear he earned his team an extra-time, but looking back, perhaps he should not have done so... Abuksis sent a mighty free kick into the post, but it was just a beginning.

What happened in the extra-time was something unbelievable and perhaps unprecedented anywhere in the world. Vakrat, who gave the best 90 minutes of his career and made us completely forget the absence of the injured National keeper Nir Davidovich, reacted well twice and dived to parry the dangerous balls of Nir Sevilla and Tamas Sandor - but nobody of the tired and outnumbered Green defence was there to deny the rebounds respectively from Ilan Bakhar and Offer Shitrit. Though Vakrat made another magnificent save from Shitrit's far-ranger making its way under the bar, the last 2 goals, after a bounce of Istvan Hamar and a roll of the kid Ellad Yaacobi from a hard angle, were directly his fault - but by then nobody cared too much... Beitar's fans were never happier during this season, standing for a long ovation to the team which gave an objectively fantastic performance. Haifa, on the other hand, suffered from Dusan Uhrin's announcement - the Czech coach, a true professional and a gentleman, a man who brought the Israeli club to the European heights unknown before, took the responsibility on his shoulders and decided to quit. As the last year after the abrupt end of Spiegel's era, it's up to Daniel Brailovsky to hold the team on his shoulders till the season ends - and if the last season he finally achieved his team an European berth, this time it seems to be a much harder assignment.

Hapoel Kefar-Saba (A, 8) - HAPOEL TEL-AVIV (A, 5)  0:3 (0:1).
--------------------------------------------------------------
Hosts:    -.
  Goal passes:  -.
| Strauss 6; I. Koren 4 (Giannakh, 80), Ben-Haim 5, Netser 5, Ganon 5.5; Shum
| 5 (Chichian, 59 - 5), Masterovic 5, A. Itzhak 5.5, Shem-Tov 5, S. Danan 5;
| Avvargeal 5.
********
Guests:   Assaf Tubi (41), Kefir Udi (85), Idan Tal (88).
  Goal passes:  Salim Tuama (85).
| Elimelekh 6; I. Cohen 4.5 (R. Nakhman, 39 - 5.5), Gershon 6.5, M. Ohayon
| 5.5, Ben-Ami 5.5, Hillel 5; Rupenik 6, Tikwa 6.5 (Tuama, 79), Udi 6, IDAN
| TAL 7 (S. Cohen, 89); Tubi 6.
********
REFEREE:  Amit Klein (7).
AUDIENCE: 4,000, Ironi Stadium, Kefar-Saba.
********

A game which started with the attacks of both teams, turned to be completely one-sided after the mighty header of Assaf Tubi shortly before the break. Tel-Aviv, clearly dominant later on, still failed to score until the dying minutes, when the clever far-rangers of Kefir Udi and Idan Tal left Sagi Strauss no chance. The Reds still didn't lose hope to win the Cup.

HAPOEL PETAKH-TIKWA (A, 6) - Maccabee Herzliya (A, 12)  1:0 (0:0).
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Hosts:    Igor Makoveyev (68).
  Goal passes:  Reuven Attar (68).
| Hess 6.5; Maya 6, Kolosevic 5.5, Ihiel 5.5, I. Boaron 6; Badir 6.5,
| Zandberg 6, Abrabanel 6 (Stan, 89), Makoveyev 6, REUVEN ATTAR 7; Kakun 6.
********
Guests:   -.
  Goal passes:  -.
| SHULI GILARDI 7; A. Levi 5 (Mchitarian, 74), Barmecher 5.5, Y. Koretski 6,
| Mishal 5, Entebbi 4.5; Gat 6, Ivanov 6 (Filipchuk, 82), Naduda 5.5 (RED,
| 39), Simhon 6; Vilner 4.5 (Asulin, 46 - 5).
********
REFEREE:  Yaacov Ben-Hemo (6).
AUDIENCE: 5,000, Ironi Stadium, Petakh-Tikwa.
********

In the closest game of this round, Herzliya was badly robbed by the referee Yaacov Ben-Hemo, who sent Oleg Naduda off for a foul hardly justifying even the yellow card. Petakh-Tikwa started pressing afterwards, and finally managed to beat the excellent Shuli Gilardi, after a goal pass of Reuven Attar and a flat shot of Igor Makoveyev. Surprisingly, it was Herzliya with the 2 clear opportunities during the dying seconds, but the great save of Shai Hess and an awful miss of Roman Filipchuk left the score intact.

                         THE 11 OF THE ROUND
                         -------------------
                            Shuli Gilardi
                         (Maccabee Herzliya)

   Amir Shelakh      Sergei Tretyak   Shimon Gershon      Yaron Avihail
(Beitar Jerusalem) (Beitar Jerusalem) (Hap. Tel-Aviv) (Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv)

   Ilan Bakhar         Tamas Sandor        Istvan Hamar         Idan Tal
(Beitar Jerusalem)  (Beitar Jerusalem)  (Beitar Jerusalem)  (Hapoel Tel-Aviv)

                       Nir Sevilla          Offer Shitrit
                    (Beitar Jerusalem)    (Beitar Jerusalem)


7: Beitar Jerusalem             (League A)
2: Hapoel Tel-Aviv              (League A)
1: Maccabee Herzliya            (League A)
1: Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv         (League A)


THE BEST OF THE ROUND:  Istvan Hamar, midfielder, Beitar Jerusalem.


THE BEST CUP SCORERS:
        Lior Asulin       (Maccabee Herzliya)            5(0)
        ***********************************************************
        Yaniv Avvargeal   (Hapoel Kefar-Saba)            4(2)
        ***********************************************************
        Nir Sevilla       (Beitar Jerusalem)             3(0)  1(0)
        Ronen Harazi      (Maccabee Haifa)               3(0)
        Rafi Cohen        (Hapoel Rishon le-Zion)        3(0)
        Offer Shitrit     (Beitar Jerusalem)             3(1)  1(0)

The last digits - goals scored in this round.
In brackets - the penalties scored.


PASSING INTO THE NEXT ROUND:
        Beitar Jerusalem         (A,  2)
        Hapoel Tel-Aviv          (A,  5)
        Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa      (A,  6)
        Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv     (A, 13)

* - the teams that had also participated in the semifinals a year ago
    (which means, this year the stars are completely new).

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