Just 13 goals, no red cards and one crucial penalty given for no foul - this was the harvest of the week to end the two thirds of this Championship. I can't say that the Championship battle stays really tense, but as for the battle for the 2nd place - it's fully open now, and the culmination is expected the next week, when the two contenders meet in Beer-Sheva face-to-face.
Beitar Jerusalem was slightly better at home than Maccabee Tel-Aviv, but managed to win just after an awful refereeing mistake of Yaacov Ben-Hemo. Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa failed to beat Hapoel Haifa at home, due to awful misses and a good performance of the National keeper Rafi Cohen, our "Keeper Of The Week"; it's great to see Rafi again in the form he used to be in during his best times. On the contrary, Hapoel Beer-Sheva exploited fully the weakness and the position of its rival, Hapoel Taibe, beating it 3:0 away. Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa defeated the deteriorating Maccabee Haifa in Kiryat-Eliezer, 3:1; who would've talked about that before the season started? Hapoel Kefar-Saba stopped the success of Hapoel Beit-Shean with the victory of its own, 2:0 at home; and as for Maccabee Herzliya, it defeated Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv away through the header of Alex Barmecher after the corner performed by Oleg Naduda. And the two bottom games ended with a draw - a nil one in Bloomfield, where Hapoel Tel-Aviv hosted Hapoel Rishon le-Zion, and a 1:1 in Holon, between the hosts and Hapoel Jerusalem. And now - to the details.
The game between the leaders and the defending Double holders wasn't as great and full of goals as expected, but still gave the spectators several enjoyable moments. However, these were the keepers to preserve the nets dry - Itzhak Korenfein parried a bomb of Noam Shoham from under the bar (35) and a lethal header of Eli Driks (85), and on the other side, Alexander Uvarov registered a perfect flight to deny a great shot of Istvan Pisont from 18 meters (67). And the game would've ended scorelessly unless for the huge mistake of Yaacov Ben-Hemo - after 65 minutes of play, Eli Ohana entered the box after a wonderful goal pass of Yossi Abuksis and threw himself above the ball and above Uvarov. The replay showed beyond any doubt Uvarov had an impact neither with the ball nor with Ohana, but the diving of the National captain was perfectly performed, and Ben-Hemo bought the pretence. As Itzhak Zohar had been substituted beforehand, Yossi Abuksis took the penalty kick; Uvarov took a proper direction, but let the ball go under his left hand and in. A very important victory to Beitar Jerusalem, helped by the referee.
Strange but true, Beitar was helped indirectly by another refereeing mistake, made by Avner Cohen in the game between Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa (the hosts) and Hapoel Haifa (the guests) - there, Andrei Christophick of Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa was knocked down by Georgi Kovac inside Haifa's box, with no referee's reaction. But after all, Petakh-Tikwa had many other chances to score, but all were missed or denied by wonderful Rafi Cohen. On the other hand, Haifa had 2 opportunities of its own to score, but the header of Mario Oliveira, its new Brazilian forward, found the bar of Shai Hess (8), and Offer Talker found later on Hess' right post (12). A nil draw, and if Haifa has nothing to worry about, Petakh-Tikwa has something to lose the next week.
And why is that? Because of the unstoppable Hapoel Beer-Sheva, defeating this time Hapoel Taibe - 3:0 away. It started with Taibe's attacks, but Avi Perets saved his team several times. And after half an hour, the first goal of Beer-Sheva came - Dudu Heffer performed a corner from the left, Giovanni Rosso shot a perfect back scissors kick parried by Akakiy Devadze, and a ball badly cleared came to Heffer again who entered the box and shot a great curved ball to the far right post of Taibe and in, "The Goal Of The Week". After just a moment, a far-ranged keeper's ball of Avi Perets reached Shai Holtzman in Taibe's box, and the best forward of Beer-Sheva threw it over the defender with one touch and over the keeper with another one, 2:0. The 3rd goal came after 73 minutes of play, when a pass of Giovanni Rosso after his penetration at the left wing found the substitute Liron Basis inside the box with nothing else left but to score, 3:0. It's interesting to mention this game suffered from the referee's mistake, too, though not crucial - still in the 1st half, Shai Holtzman was knocked down clearly inside Taibe's box, only to be booked by Yosef Benishti for "pretence"! Something has to be done with the Israeli referees. Anyway, Beer-Sheva is now in a great position towards the continuation of struggles, and on the other hand, nothing already seems to rescue Hapoel Taibe from the relegation in 10 weeks.
One of the surprises of this season - Maccabee Haifa will probably join Taibe! Indeed, it's still early to talk about that, but the Greens are approaching the dangerous zone slowly but steadily. Yesterday they lost to Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa at home, 1:3. The score was opened with a wonderful free kick of Alon Offir (14), from 19 meters under the left crossbar of Nir Davidovich. The man to go on with the trend was Guy Itzhak - first, he used a great assist of Ismail Amar to roll the ball between Davidovich's legs (19), and then he made a great personal effort before the break, passing one defender on the right wing, misleading Sergei Belianchuk inside Haifa's box and then shooting a great curved ball (similar to Heffer's) to the far post of Nir Davidovich and in. Haifa's defence was non-existent, and Arik Benado and Alon Harazi were just the pale shadows of themselves, if we should judge their regular level according to their game against Germany. Just seconds before the final whistle, Haifa somehow reduced the score - Golan Malul parried the ball shot by Amir Turgeman, and the substitute Hezi Shirazi pushed the ball in. 3:1, the final result.
A certain surprise was registered in Shkhunat-ha'Tikwa, where Maccabee Herzliya took all the points from Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv after a header of Alex Barmecher 6 minutes from time - Oleg Naduda raised a corner from his right wing, and Barmecher was positioned well enough to head the ball in under Liran Strauber and Eilon Schwegger. Bnei-Yehuda should still thank its young keeper, Liran Strauber, for leaving it in the game with several cool saves. And however ironic it may sound, the extremely dull game still produced one great moment - 3 minutes after the break, Amir Avigdor swang his defender and shot a wonderful curved ball to the far right corner of Shuli Gilardi at half a height, but the experienced Herzliya's keeper jumped acrobatically to caress the ball with his stretched right hand and to deflect it to the post. In my opinion, "The Save Of The Week" that reminds a little bit of Uvarov's historic superb save several years ago against Maccabee Haifa.
Hapoel Kefar-Saba is already not a surprise, catching a steady place at the upper part of the table. Yesterday it defeated Hapoel Beit-Shean, 2:0 at home. First, Offer Cohen used the bad save of Meir Cohen and pushed the ball in; and later on, Yaniv Avvargeal shot the ball over the keeper, after a mistake of Jamil Hader and a wonderful preparation of the Brazilian forward Washington de Santos. In between, Meir Cohen made several saves and didn't let the score grow. And 15 minutes from the final whistle, Beit-Shean could've equalized, but Eran Scheinsinger parried greatly the shot of Sergen Culakovic.
Some words are also to be said about the two last games. No goals were scored in Bloomfield, between Hapoel Tel-Aviv and Hapoel Rishon le-Zion. And in Holon, a wonderful left-footer of Yossi Ballas from 18 meters to the right post and in was answered later on by an equalizer of Jerusalem, through the header of Moti Ohayon. Jerusalem seems to be save by now, even passing Maccabee Haifa in the table, and Holon still has to struggle in order to stay in the National League for one more season.
NEXT WEEK: Hapoel Beer-Sheva (3, 43 pts) hosts Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa (2, 44 pts) in a game with no compromises. The games between Maccabee Tel-Aviv (4) and Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv (6), and the derby of Haifa should also be mentioned. There will also be several important bottom games: Hapoel Beit-Shean (11) vs Hapoel Tel-Aviv (15), Maccabee Herzliya (12) vs Hapoel Taibe (16).
BEITAR JERUSALEM - Maccabee Tel-Aviv 1:0 (0:0).
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Hosts: Yossi Abuksis (65 pen).
Guests: -.
THE BEST: Yossi Abuksis, midfielder, Beitar Jerusalem.
Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa - Hapoel Haifa 0:0.
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Hosts: -.
Guests: -.
THE BEST: Rafi Cohen, keeper, Hapoel Haifa.
Hapoel Taibe - HAPOEL BEER-SHEVA 0:3 (0:2).
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Hosts: -.
Guests: Dudu Heffer (30), Shai Holtzman (31), Liron Basis (73).
THE BEST: Giovanni Rosso, midfielder, Hapoel Beer-Sheva.
Maccabee Haifa - MACCABEE PETAKH-TIKWA 1:3 (0:3).
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Hosts: Hezi Shirazi (88).
Guests: Alon Offir (14), Guy Itzhak (19, 45).
THE BEST: Guy Itzhak, midfielder, Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa.
Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv - MACCABEE HERZLIYA 0:1 (0:0).
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Hosts: -.
Guests: Alex Barmecher (84).
THE BEST: Alex Barmecher, defender, Maccabee Herzliya.
HAPOEL KEFAR-SABA - Hapoel Beit-Shean 2:0 (0:0).
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Hosts: Offer Cohen (56), Yaniv Avvargeal (78).
Guests: -.
THE BEST: Yaniv Avvargeal, forward, Hapoel Kefar-Saba.
Hapoel Tsafririm Holon - Hapoel Jerusalem 1:1 (0:0).
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Hosts: Yossi Ballas (52).
Guests: Moti Ohayon (70).
THE BEST: Yossi Ballas, midfielder, Hapoel Tsafririm Holon.
Hapoel Tel-Aviv - Hapoel Rishon le-Zion 0:0.
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Hosts: -.
Guests: -.
THE BEST: Tomacz Czibola, midfielder, Hapoel Rishon le-Zion.
THE WEEK'S TEAM:
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Rafi Cohen
(Hapoel Haifa)
Avi Sandor Gabor Marton Alex Barmecher David Amsalem
(Hapoel Kefar-Saba) (Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa) (Mcb. Herzliya) (Beitar Jerusalem)
Yossi Abuksis Dudu Heffer Guy Itzhak Giovanni Rosso
(Beitar Jerusalem) (Hapoel Beer-Sheva) (Mcb. Petakh-Tikwa) (Hap. Beer-Sheva)
Yaniv Avvargeal Shai Holtzman
(Hapoel Kefar-Saba) (Hapoel Beer-Sheva)
Hapoel Beer-Sheva - 3.
Beitar Jerusalem, Hapoel Kefar-Saba - 2.
Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa, Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa,
Hapoel Haifa, Maccabee Herzliya - 1.
PLACE TEAM G W T L Goals Points
1 (1) Beitar Jerusalem 20 15 4 1 39-11 49
2 (2) Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa 20 13 5 2 37-19 44
3 (3) Hapoel Beer-Sheva 20 14 1 5 33-17 43
4 (4) Maccabee Tel-Aviv 20 10 5 5 33-20 35
5 (5) Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa 20 10 4 6 26-19 34
6 (6) Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv 20 8 6 6 20-21 30
7 (8) Hapoel Kefar-Saba 20 8 5 7 23-21 29
8 (7) Hapoel Haifa 20 8 4 8 25-22 28
9 (10) Hapoel Jerusalem 20 7 3 10 20-28 24
10 (9) Maccabee Haifa 20 5 8 7 22-24 23
11 (11) Hapoel Beit-Shean 20 6 4 10 16-20 22
12 (13) Maccabee Herzliya 20 6 2 12 11-19 20
13 (12) Hapoel Rishon le-Zion 20 5 5 10 18-32 20
14 (14) Hapoel Tsafririm Holon 20 3 8 9 13-25 17
15 (15) Hapoel Tel-Aviv 20 3 7 10 10-20 16
16 (16) Hapoel Taibe 20 3 1 16 12-40 10
IN BRACKETS - the places of the teams before this week.
BEST PLAYER: Yossi Abuksis, midfielder, Beitar Jerusalem.
TOP SCORERS: Eli Ohana (Beitar Jerusalem) 12(0)
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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)
Alon Mizrahi (Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv) 11(4)
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Shai Holtzman (Hapoel Beer-Sheva) 9(3) 1
Avi Nimni (Maccabee Tel-Aviv) 9(3)
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Istvan Salloi (Beitar Jerusalem) 8(0)
Itzhak Zohar (Beitar Jerusalem) 8(2)
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) | Hapoel Tsafririm Holon (14) |
| Hapoel Beer-Sheva (3) | Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa (2) |
| Maccabee Tel-Aviv (4) | Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv (6) |
| Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa (5) | Hapoel Kefar-Saba (7) |
| Hapoel Haifa (8) | Maccabee Haifa (10) |
| Hapoel Rishon le-Zion (13) | Hapoel Jerusalem (9) |
| Hapoel Beit-Shean (11) | Hapoel Tel-Aviv (15) |
| Maccabee Herzliya (12) | Hapoel Taibe (16) |
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