HAPOEL HAIFA - Hapoel Rishon le-Zion  4:0 (1:0).
-------------------------------------------------
Hosts:    Oren Nissim (16, 83), Goran Milenko (61), Ilan Tal (90).
| Awwat 6; Talker 6, A. Halfon 5, Ami Azulai 5, Grayib 5.5; Zeituni 5.5
| (Leibovich, 88), GORAN MILENKO 6.5, Ben-Margi 6, Rosso 6; Nissim 6.5 (Ilan
| Tal, 84), Jovic 5 (Hageage, 57 - 5).
********
Guests:   -.
| Y. Mizrahi 4; G. Deri 5.5, Rothem 4, Agassi 4, Albert 4; Markicevic 5
| (Shikwa, 65), Pitusi 4.5 (Sebeg, 80), A. Brumer 4.5, Capeta 4.5 (Yaron,
| 65), Kabudi 4; Rafi Cohen 5.5.
********
REFEREE:  Eyal Tsur (6).
AUDIENCE: 8,000, Kiryat-Eliezer Stadium, Haifa.
********

Quite a bad game of Hapoel Haifa was still enough for the leaders to defeat a pathetic squad of Hapoel Rishon le-Zion. The only reasonable opportunity before the break belonged to Oren Nissim, who headed the ball in after a bounce of Offer Talker, 1:0. Rishon had several chances to score itself, all stopped by a reliable Dudu Awwat, and 29 minutes from time, the story was over - Goran Milenko, clearly preferring quality over quantity in the goals he scores, took the ball near the midline, passed 2 defenders, rushed into the box, passed there another one and, losing his equilibrium, still rolled the ball between the legs of a pitiful Yaniv Mizrahi, a brilliant 2:0. From there on, just Haifa continued playing, and it scored another 2 goals - it was another roll, this time of Oren Nissim, between Mizrahi's legs, after a great deep pass of Oren Zeituni, and then Nissim's substitute Ilan Tal volleyed the ball during the dying seconds to the exposed corner of Rishon after a right-wing penetration and a good pass of Offer Talker. Hapoel Haifa may need to improve its skill before the derby, but at least its results are satisfying.

HAPOEL BEIT-SHEAN - Maccabee Haifa  2:1 (1:0).
-----------------------------------------------
Hosts:    Marius Cinka (25), Sergen Culakovic (90).
| M. Cohen 7; A. Danan 6, Taib 7, Dudu Dahan 6.5, Sapir 6; Gili Levi 6
| (Hader, 82), Rozosevic 5.5, Pancheladze 6.5, MARIUS CINKA 7; M. Uzan 6.5,
| Culakovic 6.5.
********
Guests:   Yossi Benayoun (49).
| Davidovich 5; Zhano 6.5, A. Harazi 6, Benado 5.5, A. Keisi 6; Koppel 5.5,
| Brzeczek 5 (Katan, 46 - 5), Benayoun 6, Doro 5 (Nagar, 74), Romatko 5
| (Vilner, 67); Pacha 4.5.
********
REFEREE:  Meir Levi (9).
AUDIENCE: 3,500, Ironi Stadium, Beit-Shean.
********

Round 2 was opened with a really huge surprise, but although some people would explain it with "the change of guard" in Maccabee Haifa (Alon Mizrahi left, Victor Pacha and Jerzy Brzeczek still didn't get accustomed to the new team, Ronen Harazi couldn't play because of some bureaucratic problems) I'd blame one person most of all - the National keeper Nir Davidovich. A great pass of Gala Pancheladze found Marius Cinka, the new buy of Beit-Shean, rushing at the right wing with Adoram Keisi; Davidovich all of a sudden decided to get out and to help his defender, lost the race, and Cinka had no problems to roll the ball past the keeper into an empty net from a nearly lost opportunity. 2 headers of Yossi Benayoun found the brilliant saves of Meir Cohen, "The Keeper Of The Week", and the shot of Radovan Romatko missed the frame; still, after the break Avishai Zhano's perfect high ball passed all the defence and found the secure diving header of Benayoun, 1:1. The Greens continued to press all over, but seconds before the final whistle, they overlooked a quick and lethal counterattack. Pancheladze kidnapped the ball from Arik Benado and passed it to the right wing, Cinka ("The Man Of The Week") ran forward and found Sergen Culakovic inside the box, and the latter, very surprised with the freedom he had, still recovered on time and bounced the ball over the hesitantly diving Davidovich, 2:1. Not the best result Maccabee could hope for, just before the derby.

BEITAR JERUSALEM - Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa  2:0 (0:0).
-----------------------------------------------------
Hosts:    Asi Domb (49), Offer Shitrit (59).
| Korenfein 6; Bakhar 6 (S. Levi, 83), Tretyak 5.5, Domb 6, E. Mizrahi 6.5;
| Shelakh 6.5, Talesnikov 5.5, TAMAS SANDOR 7, Hamar 6; Sevilla 5.5 (Salloi,
| 58 - 5.5), O. Shitrit 6.
********
Guests:   -.
| Goresh 5.5; I. Amar 5, Magamedov 5.5, S. Tsofin 5, Partieli 5; Ben-Yosef
| 5.5, Lusek 5 (Malihi, 75), Petrosian 6 (RED, 65), Shemariyahu 5 (R.
| Sharabi, 58 - 5), E. Levi 5 (G. Itzhak, 65); Bransi 5.5.
********
REFEREE:  Arik Haimovich (8).
AUDIENCE: 10,000, Teddy Stadium, Jerusalem.
********

Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa, quite dull since Idan Tal left for Hapoel Tel-Aviv, couldn't present a decent rivalry to Beitar Jerusalem, but then again, the hosts couldn't find their thread of play before the break. Shortly after it, it was a badly fisted away ball of the young keeper Dudu Goresh, in his National League debut, and after Istvan Hamar's bounce back into the box and a certain confusion there, the defender Asi Domb finally pushed the ball in, 1:0. 10 minutes later on, it was a pass of Hamar from the left wing and a clever header of Offer Shitrit, catching Goresh moving into an opposite direction. The referee Arik Haimovich disallowed the goal of Tamas Sandor from the goal pass of Nir Sevilla (33), for a dubious offside, and later on, he sent off Arthur Petrosian of the guests (65) with a dubious 2nd yellow card. Beitar had several other chances to score, but failed to make the margin bigger.

HAPOEL PETAKH-TIKWA - Hapoel Jerusalem  2:0 (1:0).
---------------------------------------------------
Hosts:    Moti Kakun (30), Reuven Attar (61).
| SHAI HESS 6; Kozoshvili 5, Kolosevic 6, Ihiel 5.5, Ben-Ishai 5 (I. Boaron,
| 76); Stan 5, Badir 6, Abrabanel 6 (Shamir, 85), Hassan 5.5, Attar 5 (Rosen,
| 87); Kakun 6.
********
Guests:   -.
| Strauber 5.5; S. Amar 5 (M. Salman, 33 - 4.5), T. Azulai 5, A. Sason 4.5,
| S. Danino 4.5; Y. Avrahami 4.5, Zeladzevic 4.5, Costelnik 6, Shnorman 4.5
| (Aharon, 63), Menakhem 4.5; Valentinic 4.5 (Liani, 67).
********
REFEREE:  Haim Yaacov (6).
AUDIENCE: 4,300, Ironi Stadium, Petakh-Tikwa.
********

In a dull game, the guests nearly scored twice - first, it was Avi Ihiel, Petakh-Tikwa's defender, who tried to return the ball to his keeper, but hit the post with an arched trajectory (20), and then (56), the shot of Sandy Valentinic near the empty net was so awful that Kozoshvili cleared it from the line. In between, it was another deadly header of Moti Kakun (30) to open the score, after a corner kick performed by Manor Hassan. Reuven Attar was mediocre, but returned some of his dignity to himself with a flawlessly performed free kick from 22 meters under the right crossbar of Strauber (61).

MACCABEE TEL-AVIV - Maccabee Ironi Ashdod  4:0 (2:0).
------------------------------------------------------
Hosts:    Kefir Edri (24), Alexei Kosolapov (38), Avi Nimni (54),
          Andrzej Kubica (60).
| Uvarov 6; A. Offir 6, Emenalo 6, Balbul 5.5 (Driks, 64), Ben-Dayan 5.5;
| Kosolapov 5.5, Tsarfati 6, Edri 5.5 (O. Haim, 79), D. Revivo 6 (Luz, 74),
| Nimni 6; ANDRZEJ KUBICA 6.5.
********
Guests:   -.
| Devadze 5 (Zelig, 65); Hazut 5, Masouli 5, Y. Azulai 4.5, Spire 4.5; Balog
| 4.5, Y. Offir 4.5, A. Sharabi 5, Naveda 5 (Martsiano, 76); Zrihen 4 (RED,
| 65), Turgeman 4.5 (Fadida, 46 - 5).
********
REFEREE:  Dani Koren (8).
AUDIENCE: 6,000, National Stadium, Ramat-Gan.
********

Maccabee Ironi Ashdod, the threat of the big shots at home, can lose to just anybody away; and Maccabee Tel-Aviv isn't just any team, that's why the margin went the way it went. Kefir Edri scored from a clear offside after David Revivo's pass, but this goal expressed the clear superiority of the hosts in those minutes, even though they weren't perfect as well. 7 minutes before the break, it was the great flat shot of Alexei Kosolapov from 22 meters to the right corner of Akakiy Devadze who was slightly late in diving. Devadze was still one of the most decent players of Ashdod with several good saves, including the great flight to carry away Avi Nimni's header (57); he was injured then, and substituted by Shimon Zelig who didn't concede. 3 minutes before this save, Devadze could do nothing against the flat bomb of Avi Nimni, and 3 minutes afterwards, it was the header of Andrzej Kubica which the injured keeper failed to stop. 25 minutes from time, it was an elbow of Igal Zrihen to the face of Guy Tsarfati, and the guests' forward was sent off.

Maccabee Yaffa - HAPOEL TEL-AVIV  0:1 (0:1).
---------------------------------------------
Hosts:    -.
| Zoidze 5.5; Rishti injured (M. Sason, 20 - 5.5), Dan Levi 5.5, Rabinovich
| 5, Moyal 5.5, Abu-Kishak 5.5; G. Hershlikovich 5.5 (Kahil, 86), G. Nakhman
| 5 (Shakruka, 80), Elmakeis 5.5, Djilovski 5; Bukhari 5.5.
********
Guests:   Assaf Tubi (15).
| Shallo 5; F. Halfon 4.5, Gershon 5, Kahila 5.5, Ben-Ami 5; Avi Azulai 5.5
| (Israel Cohen, 86), Marton 5.5 (Z. Kabeda, 76), Tikwa 5.5, Idan Tal 5; Udi
| 5 (Simerotic, 46 - 4.5), Tubi 5.
********
REFEREE:  Shmuel Steiff (7).
AUDIENCE: 3,500, Gaon Stadium, Yaffa.
********

In one of the most awful games lastly seen in Israel, Hapoel Tel-Aviv managed to score its only goal after a great pass of Gabor Marton, the new and important purchase of Eli Cohen, to Assaf Tubi, who didn't fail in front of Zoidze. Marton and another hot name of the Reds, Idan Tal, weren't bad for the start, and Tal even had a great chance to score alone in front of Zoidze, but missed the frame. The biggest chance of Yaffa belonged to the defender Morad Abu-Kishak, who managed to volley the ball away 7 meters from the guests' empty frame and buried the hopes of Yaffa to reach a decent result.

Maccabee Herzliya - Hapoel Tsafririm Holon  0:0.
-------------------------------------------------
Hosts:    -.
| Gilardi 6; A. Levi 5, Ivanov 6, Y. Koretski 6, Entebbi 5; Gat 5, Naduda
| 4.5, Zanetti 4 (Mishal, 83), Mchitarian 5 (Simhon, 56 - 4.5), Shabo 4.5;
| Vilner 4.5 (Dantziger, 65).
********
Guests:   -.
| Pashko 5; Fleeter 5 (Ben-Barukh, 46 - 5), Fur 5, Sokher 6, Avigdor 5
| (Zaric, 46 - 5); Khen 5 (Buzaglo, 65), SHLOMI DAHAN 6, Beni Hadad 5,
| Daraselia 5.5, Flash 5.5; Siasiah 5.
********
REFEREE:  Nir Baabour (7).
AUDIENCE: 800, Ironi Stadium, Herzliya.
********

In the game probably worse than the above-mentioned one, the two teams didn't seem at all to return from the recess. There was one decent save of Gilardi from the shot of Shlomi Dahan, and 19 minutes from time, it was the only real chance of the game - Nedzad Zaric's shot hit the left post of Gilardi, and the rebound of Samson Siasiah was high from 3 meters; Siasiah and his teammates claimed the Nigerian forward was caught and knocked down by Yaacov Koretski, but the referee clearly outlooked this outrageous fact.

BNEI-YEHUDA TEL-AVIV - Hapoel Kefar-Saba  3:0 (1:0).
-----------------------------------------------------
Hosts:    Hezi Shirazi (45, 58), Offer Levi (68).
| Smadja 6.5; O. Levi 6.5, Y. Abuksis 6.5, Siton 5.5, Y. Avihail 5.5;
| Schwegger 5.5, Fibernik 5, Liberman 6 (Barkolin, 83), Madar 7; HEZI SHIRAZI
| 7 (Mararo, 87), Refua 6 (Galili, 70).
********
Guests:   -.
| Strauss 5; R. Glam 4.5, Ben-Haim 5.5, Netser 4.5 (Giannakh, 60 - 5), I.
| Koren 6, Ganon 5.5; Catalyn 5 (I. Haim, 60 - 5), Shum 6, S. Danan 5, Niv
| Tal 5 (Avvargeal, 46 - 5.5); Ungur 5.5.
********
REFEREE:  Amit Klein (8).
AUDIENCE: 1,500, Shkhunat-ha'Tikwa Stadium, Tel-Aviv.
********

This result came as a certain surprise, but Bnei-Yehuda looked quite positive, with Hezi Shirazi and Offer Levi, as well as with Eilon Schwegger in its defence. An opener from Shirazi's header, after Yossi Madar's preparation, came just seconds before the break, and Kefar-Saba seemed broken and never returned to be its usual self. Offer Levi's header was continued by Shirazi's diving header (58), and 10 minutes afterwards, it was the unstoppable header of Offer Levi himself under the bar of Sagi Strauss. If Bnei-Yehuda can defeat Maccabee Herzliya away in its next game, it can look forward with a big-big hope. As for Kefar-Saba and its deterioration, any words are redundant.

                               THE WEEK'S TEAM:
                               ----------------
                                  Meir Cohen
                              (Hapoel Beit-Shean)

    Offer Levi          Eitan Taib         Yossi Abuksis      Eitan Mizrahi
(Bnei-Yehuda T.-A.) (Hapoel Beit-Shean) (Bnei-Yehuda T.-A.) (Beit. Jerusalem)

    Yossi Madar         Marius Cinka      Goran Milenko     Tamas Sandor
(Bnei-Yehuda T.-A.)  (Hapoel Beit-Shean)  (Hapoel Haifa)  (Beit. Jerusalem)

                      Hezi Shirazi           Andrzej Kubica
                 (Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv)    (Maccabee Tel-Aviv)

Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv             - 4.
Hapoel Beit-Shean                - 3.
Beitar Jerusalem                 - 2.
Hapoel Haifa, Maccabee Tel-Aviv  - 1.





  PLACE           TEAM                G   W   T   L    Goals  Points

  1  (1)  Hapoel Haifa               16  13   2   1    36- 6    41
  2  (2)  Maccabee Haifa             16  11   2   3    37-13    35
  3  (3)  Beitar Jerusalem           16  11   1   4    45-20    34
  4  (4)  Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa        16  10   1   5    32-20    31
  5  (5)  Maccabee Tel-Aviv          16   9   3   4    39-18    30
  6  (7)  Hapoel Tel-Aviv            16   7   5   4    23-17    26
  7  (9)  Hapoel Tsafririm Holon     16   6   5   5    22-13    23
  8  (6)  Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa      16   6   5   5    27-22    23
  9  (8)  Hapoel Jerusalem           16   7   2   7    23-27    23
 10 (10)  Maccabee Ironi Ashdod      16   5   5   6    25-30    20
 11 (11)  Hapoel Kefar-Saba          16   5   2   9    20-39    17
 12 (12)  Hapoel Rishon le-Zion      16   4   4   8    25-38    16
 13 (13)  Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv       16   4   3   9    21-35    15
 14 (14)  Maccabee Herzliya          16   3   3  10    14-25    12
 15 (15)  Hapoel Beit-Shean          16   3   2  11    13-47    11
 16 (16)  Maccabee Yaffa             16   1   1  14     8-40     4

IN BRACKETS - the places of the teams after the last week.



BEST PLAYER:    Marius Cinka, forward, Hapoel Beit-Shean.


TOP SCORERS:    Offer Shitrit        (Beitar Jerusalem)        15(1)  1(0)
                **********************************************************
                Moti Kakun           (Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa)     14(1)  1(0)
                Alon Mizrahi         (Maccabee Haifa)          14(2)
                **********************************************************
                Amir Turgeman        (Maccabee Ironi Ashdod)   13(6)
                **********************************************************
                Andrzej Kubica       (Maccabee Tel-Aviv)       12(3)  1(0)
                **********************************************************
                Victor Pacha         (Maccabee Haifa)           9(0)
                      (9 goals in Hapoel Jerusalem)
                Avi Nimni            (Maccabee Tel-Aviv)        9(2)  1(0)
                Giovanni Rosso       (Hapoel Haifa)             9(3)
                **********************************************************
                Yossi Benayoun       (Maccabee Haifa)           8(0)  1(0)
                Nir Sevilla          (Beitar Jerusalem)         8(0)
                **********************************************************
                Samson Siasiah       (Hapoel Tsafririm Holon)   7(0)
                Rafi Cohen           (Hapoel Rishon le-Zion)    7(0)
                Cobi Refua           (Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv)     7(0)
                Adrian Ungur         (Hapoel Kefar-Saba)        7(0)
                Udi Kabudi           (Hapoel Rishon le-Zion)    7(0)
                Rajid Bransi         (Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa)    7(2)
                Yaniv Avvargeal      (Hapoel Kefar-Saba)        7(4)

                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
Maccabee Haifa (2)	Hapoel Haifa (1)
Hapoel Rishon le-Zion (12)	Beitar Jerusalem (3)
Hapoel Tel-Aviv (6)	Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa (4)
Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa (8)	Maccabee Tel-Aviv (5)
Hapoel Tsafririm Holon (7)	Maccabee Yaffa (16)
Hapoel Jerusalem (9)	Hapoel Beit-Shean (15)
Maccabee Ironi Ashdod (10)	Hapoel Kefar-Saba (11)
Maccabee Herzliya (14)	Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv (13)

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