M: Avi Nimni (14), Eli Driks (24), Alon Brumer (29), Meir Melika (59).
H: Nissan Capeta (87).

GOAL PASSES: M: Yaacov Hillel (14), Haim Hageage (24, 59), Gadi Brumer (29);
             H: Meir Azran (87).


M:  Alexander Uvarov     5.5      H:  Shavit Elimelekh           5
    ------------------------          ----------------------------
    Amit Levi            5.5          Moshe Sebeg                5
    Gadi Brumer            6          Oleg Molokov             4.5
    Amir Shelakh           6          Yaron Ben-Dov            4.5
    Yaacov Hillel        5.5          Dani Albert                5
    ------------------------          ----------------------------
    Alon Brumer          6.5          Sharon Martsiano         4.5
    (Ran Djilovski, 80)               Oren Tassa               4.5
    Nir Klinger          6.5          (Vladimir Greshnev, 46 - 4.5)
    Noam Shoham          5.5          Assaf Dagai              4.5
    (Meir Melika, 36 -     5)         (Dudu Elkaslassi, 61 -   4.5)
    Avi Nimni              6          Meir Azran                 5
    (Ben Luz, 87)                     Oleg Koshlyuk              5
    Haim Hageage         6.5          ----------------------------
    ------------------------          Nir Shikwa               4.5
    Eli Driks              6          (Nissan Capeta, 80)


THE BEST OF THE GAME:  Haim Hageage, midfielder, Maccabee Tel-Aviv.

CORNERS:  Maccabee Tel-Aviv  6, Hapoel Rishon le-Zion  5.

THE REFEREE: Itzhak Ben-Itzhak.      HIS MARK:  9.

NO RED AND NO YELLOW CARDS.

The season ended yesterday, the football final held a day before a great final between Shimon Peres and Benjamin Netanyahu. But here, unlike there, no place was left for doubts. Here the speculations ended with the winner of Itzhak Zohar to the net of Maccabee Haifa, as nobody thought that Rishon le-Zion could be a rival to Maccabee Tel-Aviv. And it wasn't, being totally out of the game and of the sportive interest after just half an hour. Maccabee won the double and joined Manchester United, Auxerre, FC Bruges and Atletico Madrid, the teams which won double this year in Europe. And Hapoel Rishon le-Zion will have to repair a lot if we want to avoid a terrible humiliation of our team in Europe.

Alexander Uvarov made one great save, but was very weak throughout the game; however, a wonderful defence of his and the pathetic attacking line of Rishon left the scene for Maccabee. Much as I hate to say this, I'll still tell that the double is justified, and that no other team deserved to win the Cup. The Yellows of Tel-Aviv passed Hapoel Jerusalem, the toughest team of the Country League and the one to ascend to the National League this year, and then the 3 real finals came. Hapoel Haifa, Beitar Jerusalem and Maccabee Haifa, the 3 outstanding clubs in the Israeli scale, were beaten by one goal margin each. After all that, Maccabee deserved to have an easy final.

One more word before the game is described. Yesterday it was the last game of Itzhak Ben-Itzhak, before the retirement of this 48-years-old referee. No red cards and no yellows were shown, partly because of the Cup final and partly because of this. Menakhem Ashkenazi (The Olympic Cup Final in 1964, Portugal vs North Korea in WC'66) and Avraham Klein (Italy vs Brazil, WC'82) are still remembered all over the World; Ben-Itzhak didn't see the world-wide glory, but was the decent successor of those two, mixing the top quality and the bravery in the most confusing and tough situations. He'll be remembered for long and for good.

FIRST HALF

Maccabee started to press from the very first second, but the first shot was that of Rishon, after 5 minutes - Moshe Sebeg entered the box and managed to shoot, Uvarov was there to take it. A minute afterwards, Nimni took the free kick, too high. This was the start.

On the 8th minute, a conflict between Sharon Martsiano and Alexander Uvarov was registered. A pass of Moshe Sebeg to the box, and Uvarov got out of his net to kick the ball away. Martsiano slipped down Uvarov's legs, and Uvarov reacted by stepping on the forward. Ben-Itzhak managed to stay cool, and both players narrowly escaped the yellow cards.

Haim Hageage, "The Man Of The Game", created yesterday most of Tel-Aviv's goal opportunities. The first one was after 12 minutes when Nir Klinger found himself in one-to-one with Shavit Elimelekh, but found the keeper well-prepared. After just 2 minutes, the score was opened - Yaacov Hillel sent Avi Nimni into the box, Nimni misled Oleg Molokov in a charming way and sent the ball past the diving keeper, 1:0.

Rishon could've equalized after 16 minutes of play, when Dani Albert penetrated greatly on the left wing, centered a little bit and shot a mighty ball from a hard angle; however, Uvarov was there to parry the danger. A ball of Koshlyuk went out after 17 minutes, and then it was Maccabee again. First, Elimelekh dived well to save the flat shot of Alon Brumer (22), but after 2 minutes, Hageage entered the box and sent the ball past Elimelekh to Eli Driks who shot well enough to beat the two defenders, 2:0. Another 5 minutes, and the story was totally over - Gadi Brumer sent the ball to his twin brother, and the latter rushed for 30 meters to beat Shavit Elimelekh finally with a flat shot from a close range. 3:0.

The last minutes of this half were those of Rishon; however, nothing was born out of it. The header of Assaf Dagai (37) and the shots of Oleg Koshlyuk (38) and Meir Azran (44) weren't precise, and Uvarov closed the near corner of his to grasp the ball of Nir Shikwa (42). Beforehand, the same Shikwa missed in front of an empty net, after Uvarov missed a high ball. The only opportunity of Maccabee then came after 39 minutes, when a diving hand of Shavit Elimelekh deflected to a corner a shot of Haim Hageage.

SECOND HALF

Again, Maccabee started better and was the dominating squad. Elimelekh had to get out in time to deny Amit Levi (53) and Avi Nimni (58); the shots of Nimni (50) and Sharon Martsiano, to the other net (57), weren't precise. And then the goal came: Meir Melika got another ball from Haim Hageage and bounced it from 18 meters against the badly positioned Elimelekh. 4:0.

Uvarov gave two more gifts to Rishon, but these were wasted as well. On the contrary, 5:0 was very close after Meir Melika passed the keeper and stayed in front of the empty net (83); however, he tried suddenly to pass a defender, and later on Elimelekh managed to collect the ball.

Nissan Capeta, the substitute coming on the pitch after 80 minutes, was the light-beam in Rishon, as he created the two best opportunities of his team. A shot of his from 25 meters (82) found Uvarov late in his reaction, but hit only the right post. And after 88 minutes, Capeta curved the ball from 12 meters to the right low corner of Uvarov after getting a well-aimed pass from Meir Azran. 4:1.

CUP TOP SCORERS:
        Offer Shitrit (Maccabee Haifa)             5        
        Istvan Pisont (Beitar Jerusalem)           5 (1)    
        ************************************************
        Nir Shikwa (Hapoel Rishon le-Zion)         4
        ************************************************
        Haim Revivo (Maccabee Haifa)               3
        Sergei Kandaurov (Maccabee Haifa)          3 (1)    
        Alon Mizrahi (Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv)        3 (1)    

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