NOTE: This note has nothing to do with the quarterfinals, but is still important. Nissim Cohen of Maccabee Herzliya turns today, April 7, 41 years old, and I'd like to congratulate him and to wish him a lot of health and continuity. Maccabee Herzliya makes a very successful season, and Nissim Cohen is a very important part of it, even in his advanced age.

13 goals in 4 games, 11 yellow cards and no red ones, and 2 penalties scored. This was the story of the quarterfinals. No big surprises were registered - well, the time of surprises has passed at these stages of the Cup.

Beitar Jerusalem lost another "Game Of The Season", and now the battle between it and Hapoel Haifa in the League about the UEFA Cup place will be harder than usual; on the other hand, Maccabee Tel-Aviv won in Teddy and is in a wonderful position for winning double. Maccabee Haifa is its double rival, presenting a pretty dull game, but still defeating Maccabee Shaarayim 4:1 in Herzliya; Haim Revivo, inspired by his son's birth, went on scoring, and Amir Guz, despite the 4 goals conceded, was again the central person of the game. In the other games, Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv and Hapoel Rishon le-Zion were struggling better than their opponents, and this spirit of struggle brought them to the semifinals, a success for both teams. And one more thing - I had again a problem of choosing "The Keeper Of The Round", but after giving it some thought, the award went to Shavit Elimelekh of Hapoel Rishon le-Zion, ahead of Alexander Uvarov (Maccabee Tel-Aviv), Bonnie Ginzburg (Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv), Sagi Strauss (Beitar Tel-Aviv) and Amir Guz (Maccabee Shaarayim).

The central game at Teddy stadium in Jerusalem showed us two great teams in the 1st half, with the attacks this way and that way. The first miss was of Eli Driks (7), who's gotten a great pass from Ron Nakhman, passed Ehud Kahila and bounced the ball above the bar in one-to-one. On the other hand, there were several nice kicks of Yossi Abuksis, missing the frame, and a great effort of Eitan Mizrahi (40), touching the crossbar and going out. The keepers did a good job, too - Alexander Uvarov denied the shot of David Amsalem in one-to-one (29) and the shot of Pisont (31), and Itzhak Korenfein stopped the ball by Nimni (38) and denied Driks in one-to-one (43).

The 2nd half, however, left just one team on the pitch, Maccabee Tel-Aviv. The ball of Noam Shoham found Eli Driks with his flying header from 5 meters, but Korenfein registered "The Save Of The Week", parrying it to the bar (53); Sergei Tretyak (64) denied another header by Driks from being converted into a goal, by a wonderful back scissors kick to clear the ball off the line. And then it came: Ron Nakhman (69) bounced the ball into the box, the scissors kick effort of Nir Klinger failed, but the ball misled Sergei Tretyak and jumped towards Avi Nimni, who stopped it on the chest and shot above Korenfein from 4 meters, 1:0.

Beitar tried still to do something, but Uvarov denied Amsalem in one-to-one (86), and then Salloi shot from inside the box right into Shura's hands. On the other hand, Itzhak Zohar registered "The Miss Of The Year" (93), no exaggeration here, when he stood 10 meters from the empty not and missed the frame! Nevertheless, Maccabee was the winning side.

Maccabee Haifa, as I've mentioned before, had a pretty dull game, but still, it was enough to score 4 times and to have Amir Guz making several great saves, and we didn't mention still the bar of Offer Shitrit. Sergei Kandaurov entered "The Cup Scorers List", and Haim Revivo went on scoring and caused a penalty kick; beforehand, Revivo was denied by Guz several times. Shaarayim wasn't bad at all, scoring from the penalty spot and nearly scoring one more time. And we should mention also the referee, Yosef Benishti, who made 2 mistakes - first, the penalty of Shaarayim was unjust, as the foul of Alon Harazi on Yehuda Benodis was outside the box, and second, one of Shaarayim defenders handplayed in his box, with no referee's reaction.

Bnei-Yehuda was better than Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa, struggled for every ball, and this was the reason for its promotion to the semifinals. Petakh-Tikwa was broken by an own goal of Sharon Tsofin just before the break, and the bright game of Nir Sevilla and Sahar Mizrahi went on making the difference. Roman Filipchuk could just reduce the score from the penalty spot.

Beitar Tel-Aviv scored at the early stages of the game, after just 5 minutes, but then it was Rishon with 2 wonderful headers of Nir Shikwa, the first before the break and the second at the beginning of an extra-time. Sagi Strauss denied Dani Albert (10) and Nir Shikwa (31), and the ball of Moshe Seveg (40) went to the post; on the other hand, Shavit Elimelekh made a lot of important saves, and the best was after 118 minutes, when he parried a ball by Shlomi Amar from 20 meters to a corner.

The semifinals will be held at May 21, and the seeding is this Friday.

Beitar Jerusalem - MACCABEE TEL-AVIV  0:1 (0:0).
-------------------------------------------------
Hosts:    -.
Guests:   Avi Nimni (69).
THE BEST: Gadi Brumer, defender, Maccabee Tel-Aviv.


Maccabee Shaarayim (League C) - MACCABEE HAIFA  1:4 (0:1).
-----------------------------------------------------------
Hosts:    Ronnie Maman (71 pen).
Guests:   Moshe Glam (22), Sergei Kandaurov (48, 76 pen), Haim Revivo (82).
THE BEST: Amir Guz, keeper, Maccabee Shaarayim.


Beitar Tel-Aviv - HAPOEL RISHON LE-ZION  1:2 AET (1:1, 1:1, 1:2).
------------------------------------------------------------------
Hosts:    Arik Shriki (5).
Guests:   Nir Shikwa (44, 94).
THE BEST: Nir Shikwa, forward, Hapoel Rishon le-Zion.


BNEI-YEHUDA TEL-AVIV - Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa  3:1 (1:0).
---------------------------------------------------------
Hosts:    OG (Sharon Tsofin, 45), Alon Mizrahi (70), Vassili Moukan (73).
Guests:   Roman Filipchuk (81 pen).
THE BEST: Nir Sevilla, forward, Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv.





                             THE 11 OF THE ROUND
                             ------------------
                               Shavit Elimelekh
                            (Hapoel Rishon le-Zion)

  Ron Nakhman      Gadi Brumer          Dani Albert           Moshe Glam
(Mcb. Tel-Aviv)  (Mcb. Tel-Aviv)  (Hapoel Rishon le-Zion)  (Maccabee Haifa)

   Haim Hageage      Sahar Mizrahi    Sergei Kandaurov     Arik Shriki
(Maccabee Tel-Aviv)  (Bnei-Yehuda)    (Maccabee Haifa)  (Beitar Tel-Aviv)

                   Nir Shikwa              Nir Sevilla
             (Hapoel Rishon le-Zion)  (Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv)


3: Maccabee Tel-Aviv      (League A)
3: Hapoel Rishon le-Zion  (League A)
2: Maccabee Haifa         (League A)
2: Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv   (League A)
1: Beitar Tel-Aviv        (League A)


THE BEST OF THE ROUND: Nir Sevilla, forward, Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv.


CUP TOP SCORERS:
        Offer Shitrit (Maccabee Haifa)             5        
        Istvan Pisont (Beitar Jerusalem)           5 (1)    
        ********************************************************
        Nir Shikwa (Hapoel Rishon le-Zion)         3        2
        Sergei Kandaurov (Maccabee Haifa)          3 (1)    2(1)
        Alon Mizrahi (Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv)        3 (1)    1


THE TEAMS IN 1/2 FINALS:
        Maccabee Tel-Aviv      (A,  1) - Def. Champion
        Maccabee Haifa       * (A,  2) - Def. Cup Holder
        Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv   (A,  9)
        Hapoel Rishon le-Zion  (A, 10)

* - last year also in the semifinals.

The League and the current position there are shown in brackets.

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