26 goals, 2 red cards, 1 penalty and 2 own goals - this was the harvest of this week, giving us several goals of real beauty and a wonderful top game, held in Jerusalem, where Beitar won and saved an interest in our League. Maccabee Herzliya and Bnei-Yehuda registered the important victories, while Hapoel Haifa made only a draw in Holon and still could be happy for that outcome. And now - everything detailed.
During the 1st half there were two pretty equal teams at Teddy stadium, showing some sparkles of a good football and threatening each other's net. A left-foot volley bomb by Avi Nimni was headed away by Ehud Kahila, who got a medical treatment afterwards; Eli Driks stopped the ball on the chest and released a shot from inside the box, denied by Itzhak Korenfein; and Evgeniy Kashentsev, pressing the keeper in the last minute of the 1st half, deflected the ball from the leg of Korenfein, but ... near the post. On the other hand, Alexander Uvarov parried marvellously 2 balls, of Eli Ohana and Istvan Pisont, from his high left corner, and Eli Ohana's goal was disallowed because of a dubious offside. Well, it was the equal game with a slight advantage to Tel-Aviv, though the opportunities of Jerusalem were just as dangerous.
In the 2nd half, there it was just one team on the pitch, and after only 2 minutes it scored one of the best goals of this Championship so far. Amir Shelakh lost the ball to Istvan Pisont, and the Hungarian midfielder found Eli Ohana before the box. Ohana looked around and bounced a clever ball to his left into the box, where David Amsalem shot it powerfully with his left without stopping. The ball went to the left low corner of Uvarov, passing the stretched hands of the flying keeper. 1:0.
The 2nd goal was strange in a certain way, but deserved, as it was Beitar all over. Yossi Abuksis passed on a right wing, entered the box and centered the ball; nobody reached it in a fence of legs, except Eitan Mizrahi, shooting from outside the box. Uvarov reacted and jumped, but Ron Nakhman tried to help his keeper and kicked the ball away; it hit Ronen Harazi and went to the net, changing the direction. Uvarov, being on the ground, managed to react and to stretch as far as he could. In vain, 2:0.
Maccabee caught a very bad day, and Alexander Uvarov was definitely its best on the pitch, parrying in addition the deadly ball of Abuksis and closing him well in one-to-one. And as for Beitar, it was David Amsalem with his constant penetrations on the left wing, a good defensive job and a wonderful goal to be seen time and again. He's our "Player Of The Week".
Not conceding a single goal in any 1st half beforehand, Hapoel Haifa found itself suddenly 3 goals down (!) in Holon after just 27 minutes of play, and the most disappointing was the fact that these were the only counterattacks of Holon amongst the constanr pressure of Haifa. Nevertheless, Haifa managed to equalize in another half an hour; the goal of Reuven Attar was fantastic, as he shot the mighty free kick from a side line of the box to the far post of Alexander Zhidkov and in. At the end, both teams could see themselves disappointed; Hapoel Haifa lost the good chance to gain the 2nd place, and Holon missed the points so crucial for its League survival.
Lacking very much in the derby game the last week, Haim Revivo and Alon Hazan returned to the pitch and made all the difference, the first with his usual couple of goals and the second with a mighty free kick from 16 meters to a high corner of Eran Scheinsinger. Even so, the team should be disappointed with the shameful way it played during the 2nd half, and the spectators were whistling a lot. The next week, against Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa away, it should better be a different story.
Maccabee Herzliya jumped two places up, but the victory it registered over Maccabee Yaffa was somewhat inconvincing. It started pretty well, as Yuriy Moroz deflected a ball to his own net just before the break, and then Oleg Naduda scored to an empty net, after Boris Beloshapka parried the ball of Offer Mizrahi. But then it was twice Roman Hmel, the new Ukrainean forward of Yaffa, equalizing with 2 good shots; first, he stopped the ball on his chest and volleyed a left-footer past Shuli Gilardi, and then he beat the keeper again in a one-to-one situation. The victory came through the converted penalty kick of the victim himself, Offer Mizrahi, after he had been knocked down in the box by the same Roman Hmel.
The surprise of the week was undoubtedly in Petakh-Tikwa, where Bnei-Yehuda defeated the hosts, Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa. Alon Mizrahi, returning to the stadium of his youth, scored the first just before the break, and it seems like the best Israeli forward of 1992, 1993, 1994 and the scorer of the historical winner in Parma finally regains his form. Avi Fletcher equalized with a tremendous free kick from 25 meters to the right corner of Bonnie Ginzburg at half a height, but then came Igor Shkvyrin and Nir Sevilla and finished the story. The hosts could just reduce the score, through the header of Eli Abrabanel several minutes from time. As for another team from "Em ha'Moshavot", Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa, it gave us the worst game of the week, a scoreless draw against Hapoel Tel-Aviv away, but it can still hold the honorable 5th place.
Seizing his head after the last minutes' missed penalty in Beit-Shean a week ago, Yossi Gordana stated he owed his team, Hapoel Rishon le-Zion, a point. It took him only a week to return the debt, as after a corner and a header of Assaf Dagai, it was Gordana who jumped over everybody and headed the ball home above Shaul Smadja, again 2 minutes from time. Rishon was clearly better and mostly attacked, but Beer-Sheva scored first, through Rami Eliyahu.
And in Beit-Shean Hapoel opened the score, after Beitar Tel-Aviv's keeper Sagi Strauss went out of the box with a ball in his hands, and David Perets converted a free kick in a great way to the hosts' advantage. But then Beit-Shean was reduced to 9 men, and Beitar managed to equalize, while Ronen Schweig beat Meir Cohen, and Dani Malkin deflected it home, trying to save in vain. Even being 11 against 9, Beitar didn't manage to achieve more than a draw, and this means the team has a lot of work to do during the recess.
NEXT WEEK (the last before the recess of 4 weeks): the biggest interest comes in the 2 games of Haifa against Petakh-Tikwa, Hapoels meeting in Haifa and Maccabees contesting in Gush Dan. A wonderful game is expected between Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv and Beitar Jerusalem; these 2 teams never disappointed me with their face-to-face games during the last years, and the game of February 20, 1993 (3:1 to Bnei-Yehuda, 3 goals of unforgettable Niko Kudritskiy against one of Ilan Elharar) was one of the best I've ever seen in Israel. Also to be watched - Maccabee Tel-Aviv vs Hapoel Beit-Shean, a probable shock to return as a deja-vu.
BEITAR JERUSALEM - Maccabee Tel-Aviv 2:0 (0:0).
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Hosts: David Amsalem (47), Ronen Harazi (69).
Guests: -.
THE BEST: David Amsalem, defender, Beitar Jerusalem.
Hapoel Tsafririm Holon - Hapoel Haifa 3:3 (3:2).
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Hosts: Shai Holtzman (8), Hezi Shirazi (19), Denecz Eszenyi (27).
Guests: Amir Turgeman (30), Reuven Attar (35), Ran Ben-Shimon (57).
THE BEST: George Weber, midfielder, Hapoel Haifa.
MACCABEE HAIFA - Hapoel Kefar-Saba 3:1 (3:0).
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Hosts: Haim Revivo (15, 17), Alon Hazan (25).
Guests: Cobi Refua (68).
THE BEST: Haim Revivo, midfielder, Maccabee Haifa.
Hapoel Tel-Aviv - Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa 0:0.
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Hosts: -.
Guests: -.
THE BEST: Guy Sharabi, defender, Hapoel Tel-Aviv.
MACCABEE HERZLIYA - Maccabee Yaffa 3:2 (1:0).
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Hosts: OG (Yuriy Moroz, 44), Oleg Naduda (51), Offer Mizrahi (79 pen).
Guests: Roman Hmel (57, 68).
THE BEST: Israel Cohen, defender, Maccabee Herzliya.
Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa - BNEI-YEHUDA TEL-AVIV 2:3 (0:1).
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Hosts: Avi Fletcher (49), Eli Abrabanel (87).
Guests: Alon Mizrahi (43), Igor Shkvyrin (59), Nir Sevilla (60).
THE BEST: Nir Sevilla, forward, Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv.
Hapoel Rishon le-Zion - Hapoel Beer-Sheva 1:1 (0:0).
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Hosts: Yossi Gordana (88).
Guests: Rami Eliyahu (70).
THE BEST: Dani Albert, defender, Hapoel Rishon le-Zion.
Hapoel Beit-Shean - Beitar Tel-Aviv 1:1 (1:0).
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Hosts: David Perets (23).
Guests: OG (Dani Malkin, 59).
RED: Eitan Taib, defender, Hapoel Beit-Shean, 52.
Nini Assor, defender, Hapoel Beit-Shean, 58.
THE BEST: Meir Cohen, keeper, Hapoel Beit-Shean.
THE ROUND'S TEAM:
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Meir Cohen
(Hapoel Beit-Shean)
Ronen Adlen Arik Benado Nir Shitrit David Amsalem
(Bnei-Yehuda) (Beitar Jerusalem) (Bnei-Yehuda) (Beitar Jerusalem)
Nir Sevilla Haim Revivo George Weber Igor Shkvyrin
(Bnei-Yehuda) (Maccabee Haifa) (Hapoel Haifa) (Bnei-Yehuda)
Eli Ohana Hezi Shirazi
(Beitar Jerusalem) (Hapoel Tsafririm Holon)
Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv - 4.
Beitar Jerusalem - 3.
Maccabee Haifa, Hapoel Beit-Shean,
Hapoel Haifa, Hapoel Tsafririm Holon - 1.
PLACE TEAM G W T L Goals Points
1 (1) Maccabee Tel-Aviv 14 11 1 2 34-11 34
2 (3) Beitar Jerusalem 14 10 3 1 32-13 33
3 (2) Hapoel Haifa 14 10 2 2 33-13 32
4 (4) Maccabee Haifa 14 9 4 1 38-17 31
5 (5) Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa 14 8 2 4 25-21 26
6 (8) Maccabee Herzliya 14 7 1 6 15-14 22
7 (6) Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa 14 5 6 3 20-16 21
8 (7) Hapoel Tel-Aviv 14 6 3 5 16-17 21
9 (9) Hapoel Beer-Sheva 14 4 4 6 18-16 16
10 (10) Hapoel Rishon le-Zion 14 4 2 8 12-19 14
11 (11) Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv 14 4 2 8 17-27 14
12 (13) Hapoel Beit-Shean 14 3 3 8 13-28 12
13 (14) Hapoel Tsafririm Holon 14 3 2 9 19-31 11
14 (12) Hapoel Kefar-Saba 14 3 2 9 12-26 11
15 (15) Maccabee Yaffa 14 3 0 11 12-29 9
16 (16) Beitar Tel-Aviv 14 2 3 9 16-34 9
BEST PLAYER: David Amsalem, defender, Beitar Jerusalem.
TOP SCORERS: Haim Revivo (Maccabee Haifa) 12(0) 2
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Amir Turgeman (Hapoel Haifa) 11(0) 1
Reuven Attar (Hapoel Haifa) 11(3) 1
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Eli Driks (Maccabee Tel-Aviv) 9(1)
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Nir Klinger (Maccabee Tel-Aviv) 8(0)
Roman Filipchuk (Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa) 8(0)
Moti Kakun (Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa) 8(2)
Sergei Kandaurov (Maccabee Haifa) 8(3)
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Eli Ohana (Beitar Jerusalem) 7(0)
Najouan Grayib (Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa) 7(1)
Ronen Harazi (Beitar Jerusalem) 7(1) 1
NOTE - the penalties scored are put in brackets. The last
column means the number of goals scored this week.
NEXT ROUND (in a week):
| Hosts | Guests |
| Maccabee Tel-Aviv (1) | Hapoel Beit-Shean (12) |
| Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv (11) | Beitar Jerusalem (4) |
| Hapoel Haifa (3) | Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa (7) |
| Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa (5) | Maccabee Haifa (4) |
| Hapoel Beer-Sheva (9) | Maccabee Herzliya (6) |
| Maccabee Yaffa (15) | Hapoel Tel-Aviv (8) |
| Beitar Tel-Aviv (16) | Hapoel Rishon le-Zion (10) |
| Hapoel Kefar-Saba (14) | Hapoel Tsafririm Holon (13) |
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