20 goals, 3 red cards, 1 penalty saved by the keeper during the game and 5 saved during the penalty shoot-outs, 1 own goal and 1 game still to be played later on - this was the harvest of the 1/8 Israeli Cup finals. And in 4 games, the extra-time was needed, the two of them finished later on with the after-match penalties after the scoreless 120 minutes; the penalty shoot-outs revealed 2 wonderful keepers, Shavit Elimelekh of Hapoel Tel-Aviv (our "Keeper Of The Round") and Avi Perets of Hapoel Beer-Sheva. Both of Petakh-Tikwa teams are out, and one of them was eliminated by Hapoel Tel-Aviv, quite surprisingly. Haifa goes on into the next round with just one team out of two, and it's also the destiny of Jerusalem. And in the other 3 games, 16 goals were scored (!); the two of the games registered the dramatic comebacks of the winners, and one of the games showed us Beitar Jerusalem in its best, especially Eli Ohana (our "Player Of The Round") with his personal hat-trick. 5 players of Beitar (!) were marked high enough to be included into "The 11 Of The Round". And now - finally, the details.

Maccabee Herzliya can indeed be proud with scoring twice to the net Itzhak Korenfein of Beitar Jerusalem, but it was eliminated by the leaders, conceding 5 goals in an extremely weak day of Shuli Gilardi and a day of magnificent performances shown by Istvan Salloi and Eli Ohana. After just 5 minutes, a great combination of Zohar - Ohana - Salloi opened the score. The only other event worthwhile mentioning in the 1st half was the shot of Oleg Naduda in an injury time, parried superbly by Korenfein; and when the 2nd half started, it was Beitar again to score - this time Salloi made a pass from the right wing to the head of Ohana who had no problem against the hesitanse of Gilardi, 2:0. The best Israeli forward of this season managed to turn around later on, pressed by the 2 defenders, and to shoot it to the far corner of helpless Gilardi, 3:0.

From that moment until the end, the teams exchanged goals. Roman Filipchuk reduced the score from a pass of Sahar Mizrahi (67), but a minute later, it was Istvan Salloi again to give a goal pass to Ohana who scored, 4:1. Oleg Naduda scored the 2nd goal of Herzliya after another 9 minutes, after a pass of the same Sahar Mizrahi. And the last accord was of Beitar's two substitutes - Eitan Mizrahi gave a ball to Shmuel Levi, and the latter managed to bounce the ball over Gilardi from 15 meters. 5:2, the final score. Herzliya shouldn't be disappointed too much, because it played against the best team in Israel this year; and Beitar showed us once again the tiny crisis it had been in was just temporary to make the team even stronger.

Hapoel Beer-Sheva, playing without Siad Halilovic, was dull away vs Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa that didn't shine itself; so, the game of the two top teams was a disappointment, presenting us nothing else but the two superb keepers, Golan Malul of the hosts and Avi Perets of the guests. And so, the scoreless game went into an extra-time and then eventually into a penalty shoot-out, and here the guests were luckier. Avi Perets stopped the ball shot by Haim Shabo, and then registered a superb acrobatic flight to deny the shot of Offer Shitrit; and on the other hand, all the scorers of Beer-Sheva were precise. The Princes of Negev own the victory to my colleague (when I play soccer with friends, I like to be a keeper, and when Avi Perets isn't busy with his soccer activities, he studies Computer Science in Ben-Gurion University of Beer-Sheva), and continue to advance; and for Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa, another season is over.

The game between Hapoel Tel-Aviv and Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa brought us a surprise. Indeed, Petakh-Tikwa was playing without Gabor Marton, Andrei Christophick and Yaniv Offri, but it should've still played better; most of its attacks were stopped by the wonderful Shavit Elimelekh in the hosts' net. And on the other hand, nobody ever doubted that Hapoel Tel-Aviv had no attack this season; and even if it created some situations, Shai Hess was always there to leave the hosts frustrated. And so the game went to the after-match penalties. Here Shavit Elimelekh parried the 3rd shot of Manor Hassan, and the last shot of Hapoel could've finished the story, in the situation of 4:4; however, the same Shavit Elimelekh shot badly, and Shai Hess saved the matchball. Nevertheless, it took Elimelekh just another two shots to calm down - after conceding the penalty of Walid Badir, he stopped the shot of Avi Fletcher. Tomer Eliyahu was the last one to shoot, and his resultive shot made him another hero of the Reds. So, the League success can possibly not match the Cup advancement. Something else to add - we should mark here the brave behaviour of Felix Halfon, who was injured severely several minutes before the end of the regular time and even lost his consciousness for some moments, but then refused to be substituted and played all the extra-time with a huge bandage on his head.

The bloody story of this round continued in Haifa - after 27 minutes of play, the forward Hisham Zoabi of Hapoel Haifa and the keeper Liran Strauber of Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv collided with their heads. Zoabi had to be substituted after another 40 minutes of play as a result of a light brainshake he suffered from; and as for Strauber, who will play the next year in the Austrian club Sturm Graz together with the legendary Italian forward Giuseppe Giannini, this prominent keeper had finished the season, having broken his jaw and an eye-bone and being driven immediately to the RAMBAM hospital. Haifa could've used this fact, but it was weak and didn't threaten the substitute keeper of the guests, Guy Nakhshon. And then, during the extra-time, a magnificent move of Avi Tikwa made him stand at one-to-one with Rafi Cohen, and Tikwa had no problem to score. Haifa finally started to attack, but it was again the counter-attack of Offer Levi on the right wing to make this wonderful defender earn a penalty in the third consecutive game (!); and Alon Mizrahi (who else?) scored from the penalty spot. 2:0, the final score.

And now - to the comebacks. Alexander Zhidkov managed to parry greatly the 2 dangerous free kicks of Gadi Brumer (8, 28), and then Hapoel Tsafririm Holon opened the score surprisingly with the mighty shot of Victor Moroz after 29 minutes of play. After another 29 minutes, Holon enlarged the score - a mistake of the Brumer twins enabled Moroz to score his 2nd goal against his former team. But Avraham Grant had Domagio Kosic coming from the bench after 61 minutes of play, and the referee Itzhak Ben-Itzhak awarding his team a very dubious penalty, after Kosic fell inside the box near Oren Zeituni. Avi Nimni scored a reducer from a penalty spot, and in another 3 minutes (67), Nir Klinger gave a ball to Offer Mizrahi who passed Roman Pets and equalized. And then everything went easier for Maccabee Tel-Aviv; 10 minutes from time it managed to score a winner - it was an own goal of Oren Zeituni, who continued the wide ball of Kosic to his own net. The destiny was cruel to Holon, and Maccabee Tel-Aviv proved us once more that they are the winners, even if the referee helped them a little bit.

Another comeback was registered in Beit-Shean - there, the early opener of Assaf Tubi for the guests, Hapoel Jerusalem, was answered with 3 goals of the hosts, the team that reached the quarterfinals for the first time in its history. After just 4 minutes, Golan Deri was knocked down by Dudu Dahan in the guests' box to earn the penalty, but he himself shot just to see Jaroslav Baku in a great stretching parrying the ball to the post and then taking it tight into his hands. And then the goal came on the other side - 2 great passes of Michel Dayan made Assaf Tubi shoot dangerously twice, and if at first it was Eitan Taib to scissor the ball away from the goal-line, at the second attempt the score was opened.

However, Beit-Shean didn't give up - on the contrary. A far-ranger of Yehuda Amar still in the 1st half hit Dudu Dahan on its way and deflected to the net of Baku, 1:1. And after the break, those were the representatives of Beit-Shean in "The 11 Of The Round", Golan Deri and Sergen Culakovic, scoring twice and bringing the deserved victory to the Valley.

And finally, the only game to be played on Wednesday posed certain problems before Maccabee Haifa, but it was still experienced enough to eliminate Hapoel Ashkelon (from the Country League!) in an injury time. Ashkelon presented us a great defensive line and a perfect Asi Rakhamim in its net; but when Haifa opened the score with a dubious goal by Hezi Shirazi (did he use his hand? Negative, according to the referee Arik Haimovich), the guests were broken. The 2nd goal was scored in another two minutes, with a far-ranged killer of Sergei Belianchuk. However, Ashkelon seems to be mature and skillful enough to get acclimatized quickly in the National League it's securely heading to.

The one left game between Hapoel Taibe (A,16) and Hapoel Kefar-Saba (A,6) will give us, in a little bit more than a week, the name of the last team advancing to the quarterfinals. Those will take place at April 15th.

*****************************************************************************
 In brackets you can see the League of the team and its current place there.
*****************************************************************************


BEITAR JERUSALEM (A,1) - Maccabee Herzliya (A,12)  5:2 (1:0).
--------------------------------------------------------------
Hosts:    Istvan Salloi (5), Eli Ohana (52, 58, 68), Shmuel Levi (80).
Guests:   Roman Filipchuk (67), Oleg Naduda (77).
THE BEST: Eli Ohana, forward, Beitar Jerusalem.


Hapoel Tel-Aviv (A,15) - Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa (A,3)  0:0 AET (6:5 on pens).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hosts:    -.
PENALTIES (second):  Yossi Madar       1:1
                     Felix Halfon      2:2
                     Alon Hazan        3:2
                     Eyal Ben-Ami      4:3
                     Shavit Elimelekh  4:4  (Shai Hess)
                     Sergei Pogodin    5:5
                     Tomer Eliyahu     6:5
Guests:   -.
PENALTIES (first):   Moti Kakun        1:0
                     Beni Kozoshvili   2:1
                     Manor Hassan      2:2  (Shavit Elimelekh)
                     Ilan Boaron       3:3
                     Eli Abrabanel     4:4
                     Walid Badir       5:4
                     Avi Fletcher      5:5  (Shavit Elimelekh)

RED:      Nissim Avitan, forward, Hapoel Tel-Aviv, 111.
THE BEST: Shavit Elimelekh, keeper, Hapoel Tel-Aviv.


Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa (A,5) - Hapoel Beer-Sheva (A,2)  0:0 AET (2:4 on pens).
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hosts:    -.
PENALTIES (first):   Ismail Amar     1:0
                     Haim Shabo      1:1  (Avi Perets)
                     Alon Offir      2:2
                     Offer Shitrit   2:3  (Avi Perets)
Guests:   -.
PENALTIES (second):  Shai Holtzman   1:1
                     Ilan Vaaknin    2:1
                     Gadi Hazut      3:2
                     Giovanni Rosso  4:2

RED:      Sharon Bukhnik, defender, Hapoel Beer-Sheva, 65.
THE BEST: Avi Perets, keeper, Hapoel Beer-Sheva.


Hapoel Tsafririm Holon (A,14) - MACCABEE TEL-AVIV (A,4)  2:3 (1:0).
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Hosts:    Victor Moroz (29, 58).
Guests:   Avi Nimni (64 pen), Offer Mizrahi (67), OG (Oren Zeituni, 80).
THE BEST: Victor Moroz, midfielder, Hapoel Tsafririm Holon.


Hapoel Haifa (A,8) - BNEI-YEHUDA TEL-AVIV (A,7)  0:2 AET (0:0, 0:0, 0:1).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hosts:    -.
Guests:   Avi Tikwa (97), Alon Mizrahi (115 pen).
RED:      Mario Oliveira, midfielder, Hapoel Haifa, 116.
THE BEST: Avi Tikwa, midfielder, Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv.


HAPOEL BEIT-SHEAN (A,11) - Hapoel Jerusalem (A,9)  3:1 (1:1).
--------------------------------------------------------------
Hosts:    Yehuda Amar (42), Golan Deri (63), Sergen Culakovic (69).
Guests:   Assaf Tubi (21).
THE BEST: Golan Deri, defender, Hapoel Beit-Shean.
On the 4th minute Golan Deri (Hapoel Beit-Shean) missed a penalty kick -
Jaroslav Baku saved.


MACCABEE HAIFA (A,10) - Hapoel Ashkelon (B,1)  2:0 AET (0:0, 0:0, 2:0).
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hosts:    Hezi Shirazi (101), Sergei Belianchuk (103).
Guests:   -.
THE BEST: Asi Rakhamim, keeper, Hapoel Ashkelon.


Hapoel Taibe (A,16) - HAPOEL KEFAR-SABA (A,6)  0:2 (0:1).  (Played 29/03).
----------------------------------------------------------
Hosts:    -.
Guests:   Washington de Santos (39), Yaniv Avvargeal (47).
THE BEST: Offer Cohen, midfielder, Hapoel Kefar-Saba.





                         THE 11 OF THE ROUND
                         -------------------
                          Shavit Elimelekh
                          (Hapoel Tel-Aviv)

    Golan Deri        Sergei Tretyak     Arik Benado      David Amsalem
(Hapoel Beit-Shean) (Beitar Jerusalem) (Maccabee Haifa) (Beitar Jerusalem)

  Yossi Abuksis       Domagio Kosic      Victor Moroz      Istvan Salloi
(Beitar Jerusalem) (Maccabee Tel-Aviv) (Tsafririm Holon) (Beitar Jerusalem)

                    Sergen Culakovic        Eli Ohana
                   (Hapoel Beit-Shean)  (Beitar Jerusalem)


5: Beitar Jerusalem             (League A)
2: Hapoel Beit-Shean            (League A)
1: Maccabee Tel-Aviv            (League A)
1: Maccabee Haifa               (League A)
1: Hapoel Tsafririm Holon       (League A)
1: Hapoel Tel-Aviv              (League A)


THE BEST OF THE ROUND:  Eli Ohana, forward, Beitar Jerusalem.


THE BEST CUP SCORERS:
        Eli Ohana (Beitar Jerusalem)            5     3
        Victor Moroz (Hapoel Tsafririm Holon)   3     2
        Alon Mizrahi (Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv)     3(2)  1(1)


PASSING INTO THE NEXT ROUND:
        Beitar Jerusalem        (A,  1) *
        Hapoel Beer-Sheva       (A,  3)
        Maccabee Tel-Aviv       (A,  4) *
        Hapoel Kefar-Saba       (A,  6)
        Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv    (A,  7) *
        Maccabee Haifa          (A, 10) *
        Hapoel Beit-Shean       (A, 11)
        Hapoel Tel-Aviv         (A, 15)

* - the teams that had also participated in the quarterfinals a year ago.

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