ISRAELI NATIONAL LEAGUE (LEAGUE A), WEEK 16, 01/02/1997.
13 goals, 2 red cards and 1 extremely beautiful ... own goal - an extremely dull harvest of
the first week after a long recess. Some other points to mention - great performances of
Beitar Jerusalem and Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa, a great keeping skill of Rafi Cohen and especially
Liran Strauber, and quite the good debutes of Gabor Marton in Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa, of Nir
Sevilla in Beitar Jerusalem, and of Bogdan Ujebyak and Cobi Refua in Hapoel Kefar-Saba.
Just 2 minutes from the start, a header of Shmuel Levi after a corner of Itzhak Zohar was
parried by Golan Malul, and Istvan Salloi was on the rebound, seeing his ball parried by
Malul again; the ball hit the hand of Morad Magamedov, and there was surely a place for the
penalty kick, but Yaacov Ben-Hemo decided otherwise - he claimed that the ball had passed
the goal line, and so there was a place for counting the goal. Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa wasn't
broken and registered two quite dangerous shots - this of Alon Offir (21) hit the bar, and
a tremendous kick of Sharon Tsofin from 30 meters (23) found Korenfein in his best. And then
it was Beitar again, scoring another 2 goals before the break. First, it was Salloi again to
get a ball from David Amsalem and to pass it to Nir Sevilla, who had no problems to score
from this situation in his very first game in Beitar. And later, it was Amsalem again who
penetrated greatly at the left wing and passed the ball to the head of Salloi who slid it
home, "Goal Of The Week" as chosen by the TV show "Ha'Daka Ha'91". The 2nd half was pretty
redundant, as neither of the teams created any chances near the other's net; but even so,
Beitar proved once again beyond any doubt this year it could be compared to no other team in
the National League. Even in the absence of Eli Ohana and Ronen Harazi, Istvan Salloi scored
twice, and his Hungarian partner Istvan Pisont was fantastic and got an award of "The Player
Of The Week".
Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa was also good enough to defeat Hapoel Jerusalem at home without any big
problems. It started with a penetration of Beni Kozoshvili at the right wing; he centered the
ball, and Moti Kakun registered a perfect header from 14 meters to the right low corner of
Jaroslav Baku, despite the desperate flight of the latter. Andrei Christophick, "The Man Of
The Game", made a pass into the box after another 15 minutes, and Yaniv Offri rushed towards
it to head the ball home powerfully, leaving Baku no chance, 2:0. In the 2nd half, Baku saved
the ball of Eli Abrabanel in one-to-one (73), and registered "The Save Of The Week" 3 minutes
before that - Christophick saw the hesitance of Baku and centered a great ball from the
right wing, Offri volleyed it home in a turn from 12 meters, but Baku used all his height of
2 meters to stretch and to parry the ball with his fingertips from the line. And still, Offri
scored another goal - Gabor Marton (in a great debute after his move from Hapoel Kefar-Saba)
performed a free kick, and the forward stood there to touch the ball with his stretched leg,
3:0. The last goal, however, showed Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa could make mistakes, too, and made me
laugh to death about this "Comedy Of Errors" - during a rare attack of Hapoel Jerusalem,
both teams lost the ball to each other 5 times (!) in a tiny square, and finally, Ilan
Boaron, trying to send the ball away, shot a wonderful curved ball instead under the right
crossbar of Shai Hess despite the desperate flight of the latter. What a goal! :-) But the
last line was the 3:1 victory to the runners-up, who aren't ready to fight against even a
bigger gap from the leader.
The task of Hapoel Beer-Sheva was even harder, as it was playing against the great defence of
Maccabee Herzliya (look in the table at the number of goals they've conceded!), led by a
secure Shuli Gilardi in its net. Gilardi stopped a dangerous ball of Siad Halilovic after 28
minutes, but 4 minutes later on, he wasn't concentrated enough - a penetration of Shai
Holtzman at the right wing resulted in centering a ball to the head of Giovanni Rosso, and
Gilardi didn't react. However, Beer-Sheva's 2nd keeper, Avi Perets (Shaul Smadja, the first
keeper, broke his leg during the vacation), conceded a stupid equalizer before the break - a
long pass of Amit Levi, coming to Herzliya from Maccabee Tel-Aviv, found the head of Ilan
Bakhar who threw a ball over the hesitating keeper, 1:1. During the 2nd half, it was Gilardi
who saved his net several times, for example, after the threatening shots of Hazut, Holtzman
and Halilovic; and in between, a perfectly scored goal of Tsabar Daniel was disallowed by
Haim Lipkovich because of an offside that wasn't there at all. And still, Beer-Sheva scored a
winner through its substitute Oren Sagron - Shai Holtzman sent a header to Sagron, and the
latter turned around to shoot a great flat ball to the right low corner of Gilardi, 14 meters
from the net; the flying keeper could do nothing, 1:2.
Maccabee Tel-Aviv has now the gap of 8 points even from the 3th place (!); this time it
failed to beat Hapoel Haifa at home, the game ending with no goals. After a dreadful 1st
half of the Yellows, Eli Driks appeared as a substitute and made his team play much better;
still, those were his bar, Avi Nimni's post and mostly a great skill of Rafi Cohen in Haifa's
net to leave the situation scoreless. This game of Rafi made the National team coach Shlomo
Sherf consider again his invitation to the National team towards the friendly game against
Germany (February 26th); the problem, however, is that neither Itzhak Korenfein of Beitar
Jerusalem nor Golan Malul of Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa, the 2 keepers preferred by Sherf, are
disappointing by now.
Another keeper to show a brilliant performance yesterday was Liran Strauber of Bnei-Yehuda
Tel-Aviv, our "Keeper Of The Week". Bnei-Yehuda was playing at home against the weaker squad
of Hapoel Beit-Shean, but the reality was different - Beit-Shean was attacking, and Strauber
preserved the nil draw for his disappointing squad. The keeper parried 2 dangerous balls of
the wonderful Sergen Culakovic (42, 61) and a dangerous header of Shimon Danan (63); he also
threw the ball of Eitan Taib from the goal-line during the dying seconds of the game. It
turned out Hapoel Beit-Shean had really improved during the recess, and as for Bnei-Yehuda -
let's see it in its next game, against Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa away.
It's ridiculous to talk a lot about the game between Maccabee Haifa and Hapoel Tel-Aviv, the
latter with Dror Kashtan instead of Moshe Sinai - there were just 4 opportunities during the
game, 2 for each side, and they were parried by Nir Davidovich of Maccabee Haifa and Shavit
Elimelekh of Hapoel Tel-Aviv. And Hapoel Rishon le-Zion defeated Hapoel Taibe away - it was
a good performance of Sagi Strauss in Rishon's net, and on the other hand, Nissan Capeta shot
a sharp ball early in the game to beat Akakiy Devadze, the new keeper of Taibe and also the
National keeper of Georgia. Rishon vastly improved its position, and Taibe is now even deeper
under the red line; however, its new coach Tsvi Rosen is still quite optimistic.
Last but not the least, it was the game between Hapoel Tsafririm Holon and Hapoel Kefar-Saba,
in Holon. The guests opened the score after a great header of Cobi Refua (passing there from
Bnei-Yehuda), but the hosts equalized with a shot of Oren Nissim from inside the box. Oren
Hageage of the guests was sent off 11 minutes from time, but the hosts still failed to score,
a 1:1 draw to leave both teams satisfied.
NEXT WEEK: There are several quite interesting games - Hapoel Haifa (7) vs Beitar Jerusalem
(1), Hapoel Beer-Sheva (3) vs Maccabee Tel-Aviv (5), Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa (4) vs Bnei-Yehuda
Tel-Aviv (6). A very important game is played at the table bottom - Hapoel Beit-Shean (14)
vs Hapoel Taibe (16).
BEITAR JERUSALEM - Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa 3:0 (3:0).
-----------------------------------------------------
Hosts: Istvan Salloi (2, 39), Nir Sevilla (36).
Guests: -.
RED: Noam Keisi, midfielder, Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa, 42.
THE BEST: Istvan Pisont, midfielder, Beitar Jerusalem.
HAPOEL PETAKH-TIKWA - Hapoel Jerusalem 3:1 (2:0).
---------------------------------------------------
Hosts: Moti Kakun (20), Yaniv Offri (35, 75).
Guests: OG (Ilan Boaron, 80).
THE BEST: Andrei Christophick, midfielder, Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa.
Maccabee Herzliya - HAPOEL BEER-SHEVA 1:2 (1:1).
--------------------------------------------------
Hosts: Ilan Bakhar (43).
Guests: Giovanni Rosso (32), Oren Sagron (78).
THE BEST: Shai Holtzman, forward, Hapoel Beer-Sheva.
Maccabee Tel-Aviv - Hapoel Haifa 0:0.
--------------------------------------
Hosts: -.
Guests: -.
THE BEST: Eli Driks, forward, Maccabee Tel-Aviv.
Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv - Hapoel Beit-Shean 0:0.
-----------------------------------------------
Hosts: -.
Guests: -.
THE BEST: Liran Strauber, keeper, Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv.
Maccabee Haifa - Hapoel Tel-Aviv 0:0.
--------------------------------------
Hosts: -.
Guests: -.
THE BEST: Krasimierz Muskal, midfielder, Hapoel Tel-Aviv.
Hapoel Tsafririm Holon - Hapoel Kefar-Saba 1:1 (0:0).
-------------------------------------------------------
Hosts: Oren Nissim (72).
Guests: Cobi Refua (52).
RED: Oren Hageage, defender, Hapoel Kefar-Saba, 79.
THE BEST: Oren Nissim, forward, Hapoel Tsafririm Holon.
Hapoel Taibe - HAPOEL RISHON LE-ZION 0:1 (0:1).
-------------------------------------------------
Hosts: -.
Guests: Nissan Capeta (18).
THE BEST: Meir Azran, midfielder, Hapoel Rishon le-Zion.
THE WEEK'S TEAM:
----------------
Liran Strauber
(Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv)
Golan Deri Gabor Marton Roman Pets David Amsalem
(Hap. Beit-Shean) (Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa) (Tsafririm Holon) (Beitar Jerusalem)
Meir Azran Andrei Christophick Shai Holtzman Istvan Pisont
(Rishon le-Zion) (Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa) (Hapoel Beer-Sheva) (Beitar Jerusalem)
Eli Driks Istvan Salloi
(Maccabee Tel-Aviv) (Beitar Jerusalem)
Beitar Jerusalem - 3.
Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa - 2.
Hapoel Beer-Sheva, Maccabee Tel-Aviv, Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv,
Hapoel Rishon le-Zion, Hapoel Tsafririm Holon, Hapoel Beit-Shean - 1.
PLACE TEAM G W T L Goals Points
1 (1) Beitar Jerusalem 16 14 2 0 36- 8 44
2 (2) Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa 16 11 4 1 34-17 37
3 (3) Hapoel Beer-Sheva 16 11 1 4 25-13 34
4 (4) Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa 16 8 3 5 21-17 27
5 (5) Maccabee Tel-Aviv 16 7 5 4 22-18 26
6 (6) Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv 16 7 5 4 18-17 26
7 (7) Hapoel Haifa 16 7 2 7 22-19 23
8 (8) Maccabee Haifa 16 5 7 4 18-16 22
9 (9) Hapoel Kefar-Saba 16 6 3 7 18-19 21
10 (12) Hapoel Rishon le-Zion 16 5 2 9 16-29 17
11 (10) Hapoel Jerusalem 16 5 1 10 16-26 16
12 (11) Hapoel Tsafririm Holon 16 3 6 7 12-17 15
13 (13) Hapoel Tel-Aviv 16 3 5 8 9-17 14
14 (15) Hapoel Beit-Shean 16 3 4 9 10-16 13
15 (14) Maccabee Herzliya 16 4 1 11 8-17 13
16 (16) Hapoel Taibe 16 3 1 12 12-31 10
IN BRACKETS - the places of the teams before this week.
BEST PLAYER: Istvan Pisont, midfielder, Beitar Jerusalem.
TOP SCORERS: Eli Ohana (Beitar Jerusalem) 11(0)
Yaniv Offri (Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa) 11(0) 2
Offer Shitrit (Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa) 11(2)
Alon Mizrahi (Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv) 11(4)
*********************************************************
Moti Kakun (Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa) 10(4) 1
*********************************************************
Istvan Salloi (Beitar Jerusalem) 8(0) 2
Itzhak Zohar (Beitar Jerusalem) 8(2)
Avi Nimni (Maccabee Tel-Aviv) 8(3)
*********************************************************
Shai Holtzman (Hapoel Beer-Sheva) 7(3)
*********************************************************
Eli Abrabanel (Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa) 6(0)
Yaniv Avvargeal (Hapoel Kefar-Saba) 6(1)
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 |
| Hapoel Haifa (7) |
Beitar Jerusalem (1) |
| Hapoel Rishon le-Zion (10) |
Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa (2) |
| Hapoel Beer-Sheva (3) |
Maccabee Tel-Aviv (5) |
| Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa (4) |
Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv (6) |
| Hapoel Jerusalem (11) |
Maccabee Haifa (8) |
| Hapoel Tel-Aviv (13) |
Hapoel Kefar-Saba (9) |
| Maccabee Herzliya (15) |
Hapoel Tsafririm Holon (12) |
| Hapoel Beit-Shean (14) |
Hapoel Taibe (16) |
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