20 goals, 1 red card and one penalty missed, bringing the missing team a huge victory nevertheless - this was the story of the last weekend. And Beitar Jerusalem was frustrated once more - after Rafi Cohen of Hapoel Haifa and Avi Perets of Hapoel Beer-Sheva, this time it was Shuli Gilardi of Maccabee Herzliya to stop the leaders and to become "The Keeper Of The Week". Also to mention - several magnificent keepers' saves, another great performance of Hapoel Beer-Sheva and a lot of rain everywhere.
Loss of another 2 points by the leaders during the injury time gave Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa a wonderful opportunity to close the gap; this time, unlike the last week, Hapoel won, defeating Maccabee away in a derby. Hapoel Beer-Sheva and Maccabee Tel-Aviv also collected 3 points each, both in the wonderful performances - the first defeated Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv 3:0, and the second devastated Hapoel Tsafririm Holon 6:0! Hapoel Beit-Shean beat Maccabee Haifa 2:1 at home, and those two teams are now close in the table; incredible! Hapoel Jerusalem defeated Hapoel Tel-Aviv and put it into a really deep trouble, and so did Hapoel Haifa to Hapoel Taibe; those who wanted to look for a surprise in Kiryat-Eliezer, were deeply disappointed. And finally, a dull game between Hapoel Rishon le-Zion and Hapoel Kefar-Saba ended with a draw. And now - let us go to the details.
Beitar Jerusalem collected just 2 points out of 9 possible lastly, and the most incredible thing is that the team plays the same attractive soccer it used to play before. However, it suffers now from the lack of luck and from a really great ability of the rival's keepers. Yesterday, these were mostly two moments to steal the points from Beitar. After 48 minutes of play, Shuli Gilardi registered "The Save Of The Week" and, probably, of the whole season by now - the keeper's cat flight met another good free kick of Itzhak Zohar, David Amsalem was on the rebound to shoot it powerfully from 8 meters, but the keeper flew under the bar to deflect a ball to a corner; what a fantastic double save! And the second moment came in an injury time - Guy Gat bounced a free kick from 25 meters into the box, and in a created confusion the substitute Yair Simhon pushed the ball in from 10 meters. Simhon, who scored 2 goals against Beitar 1.5 seasons ago (Beitar won then 3:2 away in Herzliya), said happily after the game: "There is no player in Israel who isn't excited to play against Beitar Jerusalem, and I am naturally happy that I'm so often the lucky one to score against them".
The German SAT TV was recording the game to make a report about Beitar Jerusalem and the Israeli National team, and was quite surprised with a good quality of play. Both teams played an enjoyable soccer, and nobody could really think Herzliya was the bottom team; it was a great game of Shuli Gilardi, the attacking defender Ilan Bakhar, the midfielder Yaniv Cohen and especially the forward Oleg Naduda, who reminded us finally of his great days in Spartak Moscow. After 11 minutes of play, it was just a cool flight of Itzhak Korenfein who parried a dangerous curved ball of Yaniv Cohen from his left corner at half a height. Later on, Beitar finally scored, when even the skill of Gilardi didn't save Herzliya from the shot of Eli Ohana (who if not?) from within the confusion. But as you already know, the final word was of Yair Simhon. Even so, Eli Ohana and Beitar's coach Eli Cohen declared: "There is no crisis, but just a coincidence that we lose some points without reducing our quality of play". Well, let's wait and see.
In between, Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa managed to defeat its city rival and to close the gap to Beitar Jerusalem down to 2 points. The game was played under a pouring rain, and this was also the reason for the goal scored - a sharp shot of Shlomi Ben-Hemo from 25 meters slipped from under the stomach of Golan Malul, and the race after the rebound, held by the confused keeper and Moti Kakun, was finally won by the latter. This was also the winner; Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa and especially Offer Shitrit were extremely dull, and Hapoel was much better, but didn't create much opportunities. Malul managed to make us forget his mistake with a breathtaking save from the header of Walid Badir, several seconds before the break.
The hot team of the last week, however, is Hapoel Beer-Sheva, and yesterday it showed us another piece of soccer that should be learnt at schools. After 24 minutes, "The Goal Of The Week" was scored - Siad Halilovic, "The Player Of The Week", performed a free kick and rolled a ball slightly to Gadi Hazut who came in a run and shot a flat and sharp bomb from 30 meters to the left corner of Strauber. In the 2nd half, Shai Holtzman enjoyed a great assist of a defender Alexander Solov and overplayed Strauber flatly from inside the box. Later on, Giovanni Rosso rushed into the box and shot flatly to the right corner of Strauber; again, the assistant was Siad Halilovic. Bnei-Yehuda was weak, and very lucky to have Liran Strauber in its net; without his saves from the legs of Basis, Rosso and Halilovic, you may imagine what the score could've been.
Maccabee Tel-Aviv, which is about to face Beitar Jerusalem the next week in Teddy, made us wait for this game very impatiently and expect for lot. Holon had no luck during the first minutes of play - Ronen Feigenbaum was injured after just several minutes, and after 20 minutes of play, Roman Pets was sent off after having overreacted to the dirty foul of Claudio Vorkovic. In my opinion, Vorkovic should've been sent off (or, at least, booked) for this foul, but anyway, a red card for Pets was justified. Maccabee earned also a penalty kick, since all the affair took place inside the guests' box; however, Alexander Zhidkov, the only player in Holon to show some pieces of skill, took a proper corner and parried a hesitant ball shot by Gadi Brumer.
And still, Maccabee scored through a great flat shot of Eli Driks, and here Holon was broken. Haim Hageage scored seconds before the break, and in the 2nd half, those were the rain of nature and the rain of goals simultaneously. Offer Mizrahi, in his best game this season, scored the same number of goals that he managed to score by now during the whole season; and in between, Haim Hageage scored his 2nd goal of the game. Holon is now in a really dangerous zone, and as for Maccabee, it continues to advance.
Another advancing team of the 2nd round, Hapoel Beit-Shean, registered yesterday its 3rd consecutive victory, this time over Maccabee Haifa; what goes on with the Greens? Shimon Danan opened the score with one of the most strange goals this season - a strong wind blow changed the direction of his corner kick and sent the ball to the close corner, the ball hit the bar and then was thrown out by a desperately flying Nir Davidovich, but hit the back of Avishai Zhano and rolled in! Later on, Beit-Shean was better, but missed or found Davidovich in place; and in a counterattack, Amir Turgeman managed to equalize with a great header after the goal pass of the same Zhano from the right wing. And still, Beit-Shean scored the winner, as Boris Matveyev rushed at the right wing and made a great pass to the head of Hanokh Mararo, the man who substituted Shimon Danan; Haifa's defence was stunned, and Mararo leant forward to head it home, despite the flight of Davidovich. Several minutes from time, Hezi Shirazi missed a good opportunity to equalize - a ball was stuck in the huge paddle and misled Haifa's midfielder Kandaurov, but also Beit-Shean's keeper Meir Cohen and his two defenders; finally, Shirazi tried to bounce a ball to the empty net from 22 meters, but it went too high. The Greens have collected just 2 points out of the last 4 games. Scary!
However, there are still two teams to suck even more than the Greens (surprise, it's still possible!). One of them is Hapoel Tel-Aviv, which played a dull game vs Hapoel in Jerusalem. The hosts weren't much better, but had Assaf Tubi to exploit his only goal situation and to score a winner, quarter of an hour from time. Another person to be mentioned is Jerusalem's keeper Jaroslav Baku (to remind you, he came to the capital from Hapoel Tel-Aviv); Baku was great and parried twice deadly balls sent to his net by ... his own defenders! Still, the guys of Yossi Mizrahi won and showed us once again - the predictions before the season are so often too wrong...
Another example of this - Hapoel Taibe, who was predicted to become the surprising team of the League, lost yesterday its 7th consecutive game, collecting after all just 1 point in the last 13 games! The team to defeat it, Hapoel Haifa, wasn't bright itself, but it really seems to be hard not to defeat Taibe. Those were Hisham Zoabi and Zlatko Zupatic late in the 2nd half to score and to leave Taibe's coach Tsvi Rosen and its goaltender, the National Georgian keeper Akakiy Devadze, extremely frustrated one more time. And Hapoel Haifa passed Hapoel Kefar-Saba in the table - the latter achieved just a draw against Hapoel Rishon le-Zion away, when a great calmness of Nissan Capeta neutralized an opener of Offer Cohen with an equalizer.
THE NEXT WEEK: Beitar Jerusalem (1) vs Maccabee Tel-Aviv (4) in Teddy! What can be more exciting? Also, Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa (2) hosts Hapoel Haifa (7), and Maccabee Haifa (9) hosts Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa (5). At the bottom - Hapoel Tel-Aviv (15) hosts Rishon le-Zion (12).
Maccabee Herzliya - Beitar Jerusalem 1:1 (0:0).
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Hosts: Yair Simhon (90).
Guests: Eli Ohana (62).
THE BEST: Oleg Naduda, forward, Maccabee Herzliya.
Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa - HAPOEL PETAKH-TIKWA 0:1 (0:1).
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Hosts: -.
Guests: Moti Kakun (8).
THE BEST: Andrei Christophick, midfielder, Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa.
HAPOEL BEER-SHEVA - Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv 3:0 (1:0).
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Hosts: Gadi Hazut (24), Shai Holtzman (47), Giovanni Rosso (55).
Guests: -.
THE BEST: Siad Halilovic, midfielder, Hapoel Beer-Sheva.
MACCABEE TEL-AVIV - Hapoel Tsafririm Holon 6:0 (2:0).
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Hosts: Eli Driks (37), Haim Hageage (44, 74), Offer Mizrahi (68, 82, 88).
Guests: -.
RED: Roman Pets, defender, Hapoel Tsafririm Holon, 20.
THE BEST: Offer Mizrahi, forward, Maccabee Tel-Aviv.
On the 21st minute Gadi Brumer (Maccabee Tel-Aviv) missed a penalty kick -
Alexander Zhidkov saved.
HAPOEL HAIFA - Hapoel Taibe 2:0 (0:0).
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Hosts: Hisham Zoabi (71), Zlatko Zupatic (80).
Guests: -.
THE BEST: Zlatko Zupatic, midfielder, Hapoel Haifa.
Hapoel Rishon le-Zion - Hapoel Kefar-Saba 1:1 (0:0).
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Hosts: Nissan Capeta (52).
Guests: Offer Cohen (47).
THE BEST: Moshe Sebeg, defender, Hapoel Rishon le-Zion.
HAPOEL BEIT-SHEAN - Maccabee Haifa 2:1 (1:0).
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Hosts: Shimon Danan (27), Hanokh Mararo (80).
Guests: Amir Turgeman (72).
THE BEST: Yehuda Amar, midfielder, Hapoel Beit-Shean.
HAPOEL JERUSALEM - Hapoel Tel-Aviv 1:0 (0:0).
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Hosts: Assaf Tubi (75).
Guests: -.
THE BEST: Dudu Dahan, midfielder, Hapoel Jerusalem.
THE WEEK'S TEAM:
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Shuli Gilardi
(Maccabee Herzliya)
Moshe Sebeg Alexander Solov Walid Badir Hagai Kol
(Rishon le-Zion) (Hapoel Beer-Sheva) (Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa) (Hapoel Jerusalem)
Yehuda Amar Dudu Heffer Noam Shoham Siad Halilovic
(Hapoel Beit-Shean) (Hapoel Beer-Sheva) (Mcb. Tel-Aviv) (Hapoel Beer-Sheva)
Oleg Naduda Offer Mizrahi
(Maccabee Herzliya) (Maccabee Tel-Aviv)
Hapoel Beer-Sheva - 3.
Maccabee Tel-Aviv, Maccabee Herzliya - 2.
Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa, Hapoel Jerusalem,
Hapoel Rishon le-Zion, Hapoel Beit-Shean - 1.
PLACE TEAM G W T L Goals Points
1 (1) Beitar Jerusalem 19 14 4 1 38-11 46
2 (2) Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa 19 13 4 2 37-19 43
3 (3) Hapoel Beer-Sheva 19 13 1 5 30-17 40
4 (4) Maccabee Tel-Aviv 19 10 5 4 33-19 35
5 (5) Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa 19 9 4 6 23-18 31
6 (6) Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv 19 8 6 5 20-20 30
7 (8) Hapoel Haifa 19 8 3 8 25-22 27
8 (7) Hapoel Kefar-Saba 19 7 5 7 21-21 26
9 (9) Maccabee Haifa 19 5 8 6 21-21 23
10 (10) Hapoel Jerusalem 19 7 2 10 19-27 23
11 (11) Hapoel Beit-Shean 19 6 4 9 16-18 22
12 (12) Hapoel Rishon le-Zion 19 5 4 10 18-32 19
13 (13) Maccabee Herzliya 19 5 2 12 10-19 17
14 (14) Hapoel Tsafririm Holon 19 3 7 9 12-24 16
15 (15) Hapoel Tel-Aviv 19 3 6 10 10-20 15
16 (16) Hapoel Taibe 19 3 1 15 12-37 10
IN BRACKETS - the places of the teams before this week.
BEST PLAYER: Siad Halilovic, midfielder, Hapoel Beer-Sheva.
TOP SCORERS: Eli Ohana (Beitar Jerusalem) 12(0) 1
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Yaniv Offri (Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa) 11(0)
Offer Shitrit (Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa) 11(2)
Moti Kakun (Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa) 11(4) 1
Alon Mizrahi (Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv) 11(4)
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Avi Nimni (Maccabee Tel-Aviv) 9(3)
*********************************************************
Istvan Salloi (Beitar Jerusalem) 8(0)
Itzhak Zohar (Beitar Jerusalem) 8(2)
Shai Holtzman (Hapoel Beer-Sheva) 8(3) 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 |
| Beitar Jerusalem (1) | Maccabee Tel-Aviv (4) |
| Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa (2) | Hapoel Haifa (7) |
| Hapoel Taibe (16) | Hapoel Beer-Sheva (3) |
| Maccabee Haifa (9) | Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa (5) |
| Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv (6) | Maccabee Herzliya (13) |
| Hapoel Kefar-Saba (8) | Hapoel Beit-Shean (11) |
| Hapoel Tsafririm Holon (14) | Hapoel Jerusalem (10) |
| Hapoel Tel-Aviv (15) | Hapoel Rishon le-Zion (12) |
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