H: Shalom Tikwa (13).
  Penalties (2nd):  Idan Tal             1:0
                    Sebastian Simerotic  2:0
                    Salim Tuama          2:1  (Itzhak Korenfein)
                    Shimon Gershon       3:1
B: Nir Sevilla (6).
  Penalties (1st):  Tamas Sandor         0:0  (Shavit Elimelekh)
                    Asi Domb             0:1  (the bar)
                    Istvan Salloi        1:2
                    Nir Sevilla          1:2  (Shavit Elimelekh)

GOAL PASSES: 	H: NONE;
             	B: NONE.


HAPOEL:	Shavit Elimelekh     7      BEITAR: Itzhak Korenfein     6
        ----------------------              ----------------------
        Felix Halfon         6              Ilan Bakhar        5.5
        Shimon Gershon       6              Sergei Tretyak       6
        Ehud Kahila          6              Asi Domb           5.5
        Moti Ohayon        5.5              Jean Talesnikov    5.5
        Eyal Ben-Ami       5.5              ----------------------
        ----------------------              Amir Shelakh       5.5
        Shakhar Cohen        5              (Raanan Deri, 120)
        Idan Tal           5.5              Yossi Abuksis        6
        Shalom Tikwa         6              Tamas Sandor       5.5
        (Gabor Marton, 102)                 Istvan Hamar         5
        ----------------------              ----------------------
        Sebastian Simerotic  6              Nir Sevilla          6
        Assaf Tubi           5              Offer Shitrit        5
        (Salim Tuama, 72  -  6)             (Istvan Salloi, 58 - 5)


THE BEST OF THE GAME:  Shavit Elimelekh, keeper, Hapoel Tel-Aviv.

THE AUDIENCE:  33,000 spectators, National Stadium, Ramat-Gan, Israel.

CORNERS:  Hapoel Tel-Aviv  4, Beitar Jerusalem  1.

THE REFEREE:  Dani Koren.      HIS MARK:  7.

YELLOW CARDS:  H - Ehud Kahila;
               B - Amir Shelakh, Ilan Bakhar, Tamas Sandor.

NO RED CARDS.

May 17th brought Israel a change of power, with Ehud Barak defeating Benjamin Netanyahu in the Israeli elections. May 19th, the day of the Cup final, was supposed to be the day of revenge - the Likud-associated Beitar Jerusalem was a clear favourite in the game against the Labour-associated Hapoel Tel-Aviv. However, the left victory happened that day as well. The game was great, with a lot of drama and great soccer moments, too, and though the level naturally couldn't be compared to the 2nd game of that evening, Lazio vs Mallorca in the last Cup Winners' Cup in history, it could really serve as a good appetizer.

The score was opened quickly by Beitar, as Tamas Sandor sent Offer Shitrit into the box, and the latter found a chance to shoot flatly; Shavit Elimelekh succeeded only to touch the ball in a dive, and Nir Sevilla rolled it from 5 meters into an empty net. However, the equalizer of Hapoel came quicker than expected - 2 consecutive mistakes of Sergei Tretyak forced Korenfein to make a double save from Tal and Simerotic, but the 3rd rebound of Shalom Tikwa from 18 meters passed through the fence of legs and hands and kissed the net.

Dani Koren was given another chance to lead the important game, and he wasn't flawless; by an utter coincidence (or not?), all his wrong decisions came to harm Beitar Jerusalem, like in the cases of brutal fouls on the penetrating Sevilla (1st half) and Hamar (2nd). However, some decisions of the referee demanded a certain bravery - the precision of those could be checked only after the replays, and the referee proved right then. So it was 4 minutes after the break, when Simerotic bombed the ball to the bar and Assaf Tubi came to roll it in from a rebound; the goal was disallowed for Tubi's offside, and rightly so.

More goals could've been seen if not for the keepers. 3 minutes in the 2nd half, Idan Tal sent the brilliant ball to Simerotic who passed Tretyak with an utter elegance and bombed it from 18 meters; Korenfein, rushing towards the dangerous Slovenian forward and blocking the shot in a brilliant save, became the hero of the moment. Beitar answered 15 minutes later, when a clever one-touch pass of Salloi found the killing header of Nir Sevilla, but Elimelekh flew for several meters to scratch the ball from under his bar.

15 minutes to the end of the regular time, I couldn't help searching for the English shields of commercials at the stadium, asking myself since when Manchester United started playing in Yellow-Black. Jean Talesnikov, not very active until this moment, gained the ball near the midline, passed one defender and then opened a turbo engine. Another defender was left behind, Talesnikov approached the box, used all his force to make his way through 2 other defenders, and finally released a tremendous left-footer from the box edge under Elimelekh's right crossbar. The man who looks like a twin brother of Michel Salgado, intended to score a goal looking like a twin brother of Ryan Giggs' beauty against Arsenal, and as for him, he was perfect in that. Shavit Elimelekh, probably enjoying the show deep inside, thought about business before pleasure, stretching like a cat and flying to send the ball to a corner.

Yossi Abuksis had to rush to his own wedding party after the game, and Eyal Ben-Ami was impatiently waiting for his several days afterwards - one of them was destined to stay disappointed, while the other would have a chance to drink champagne from the silver trophy. Both were too tired and nervous to participate in the penalty shoot-out, leaving the hard assignment to their teammates. Tamas Sandor started first with a shot to his right at half a height, Shavit Elimelekh dived there and touched the ball with his fingertips. When Idan Tal's bomb nested under the right crossbar of Korenfein, the thoughts about the Red triumph began crawling into my mind.

Asi Domb misled Elimelekh, but nearly broke the bar; Simerotic, on the other hand, took a deep breath, placed the ball under the other crossbar and crossed himself in relief. The hope shortly returned to the Yellows, when Istvan Salloi left Elimelekh stand still with his misleading weak shot, and Korenfein made a stunning save from the shot of Salim Tuama. But then, Nir Sevilla shot an awful penalty, and Shavit Elimelekh dived well and palmed it away. Hapoel stood just one shot from another European season.

Shimon Gershon, taking on himself all the responsibility in the world, came to the ball securely and again shot it high and out of Korenfein's reach. The celebrations were long, and the people to joy especially were Eyal Ben-Ami and Shalom Tikwa, with his first trophy in a long and fruitful career. Felix Halfon, the captain, was also in ecstasy. Good luck in Europe, Hapoel!

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

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

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