25 goals (the record of this season), 1 red card, 3 penalties shot and just 1 scored - this was the story of the last weekend. But most of all, those were the two very interesting questions to be solved - the Champion is clear, and the relegating squads are known, too. So, Beitar Jerusalem is officially celebrating, and Hapoel Tsafririm Holon joined Hapoel Taibe in a sad journey to the Country League. Besides, those were the great performances of Rafi Cohen and Sagi Strauss at their nets, and a resurrection of Reuven Attar, our "Man Of The Week", with 3 goals and 1 goal pass. And what the goals! Still, the goal to steal "The Goal Of The Week" award was a masterpiece of Gabor Marton, but it didn't help his team much.
Hapoel Jerusalem was a decent rival to its big sister from the capital and achieved a pretty respectful 1:1 draw in Jerusalem derby; however, this didn't matter much, and the whole game was one huge celebration. Beitar won the title before its own game actually started, as Hapoel Beer-Sheva failed to defeat Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa away (0:0), and Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa was devastated by Maccabee Haifa and Reuven Attar away (2:5!). Hapoel Rishon le-Zion caused a 4th consecutive defeat to Maccabee Tel-Aviv (!), 2:1; there, a wonderful performance of Sagi Strauss, a penalty missed by Avi Nimni and an awful mistake by Gadi Brumer and Alexander Uvarov made the whole difference between the hosts and the guests. Hapoel Beit-Shean and Maccabee Herzliya made a 1:1 draw, quite meaningless to both of the teams. Hapoel Kefar-Saba and Hapoel Haifa were down against respectively Hapoel Taibe at home and Hapoel Tsafririm Holon away, but managed to score 2 goals each and to cause another disappointments to the relegating squads. And finally, the great joy was in Bloomfield as well as in Teddy - there, Hapoel Tel-Aviv defeated Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv 4:1 and promised itself another season in the National League. And now - the details.
12,000 spectators in Teddy stadium in Jerusalem were able to see a wonderful derby between the fresh Champions, Beitar Jerusalem, and a proud side of Hapoel Jerusalem which didn't want to lose. This derby wasn't over, as tens of people rushed into the field minutes from the end to celebrate; and still, before the actual start of "riots" it was an enjoyable game, 2 goals and lots of moments. Stephan Mihei managed to save the ball shot by Eitan Mizrahi (39) and Jaroslav Baku saved his net twice, from the shots of Eli Ohana (9) and Ronen Harazi (34); however, a magnificent combination of Salloi - Harazi - Ohana and a mighty finish of the latter left Baku no chance, one minute before the break. Still in celebrations, Beitar overlooked a quick counterattack of Dayan - Schweig - Eyal Avrahami, when the latter shot a powerful flat ball past Korenfein to equalize the score. In the 2nd half, Harazi headed a dangerous ball near the post (60), Baku dived incredibly to throw away the misleading ball of Zohar (65), and an impact between Baku and Ohana inside the box was overlooked by the referee Amit Klein (68); on the other hand, Korenfein registered a superb save from the legs of Assaf Tubi at one-to-one (70). The last chance was of Nir Sevilla (88), but his header went to the ground and then was cleared away from the goal-line. And then the joy of the fans burst out to cover the field, and the game was over. Congratulations to Beitar Jerusalem - no team deserved the Championship this season more than the Yellow-Blacks!
However, the last weekend the job was partly done by the others - neither Hapoel Beer-Sheva nor Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa won. As for Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa, it suffered for the two reasons - an unexplicable weakness of Shai Hess and a magnificent performance held by Reuven Attar. After 20 minutes of play, Hezi Shirazi shot from a hard angle, Hess closed his corner to parry the ball to the center, and Attar came with an unstoppable left-foot volley from 18 meters to send the rebound under the left crossbar of the guests. Another 13 minutes have passed, and Attar shot diagonally without stopping from the box edge after getting the ball from Offir Koppel; Hess misinterpreted the trajectory, and the ball hit his right hand and rolled in near the far post. Attar, Kandaurov, Shirazi and Rajid Bransi, the new youngster bought from Nazareth-Illit, were very threatening at those moments; however, the reducer came before the break in favor of Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa. Eli Abrabanel shot into the box, and Moti Kakun screwed himself inside and overthrew the ball past the flying Nir Davidovich; 18th goal of Kakun, and just 1:2.
The break passed, and the fantastic game continued with a no less fantastic equalizer of Gabor Marton, after 56 minutes of play. Eli Abrabanel sent a corner kick from the left wing of the attack; his bounce was powerful and went outside the box, and Marton stood there, 22 meters from the net, raised his right foot and shot an incredible volley, kissing the left crossbar of Davidovich and going in. What an effort! Eli Ohana and Oren Sagron have now a foreign competitor for scoring "The Goal Of The Season", and the choice is going to be very hard, in my opinion.
Petakh-Tikwa seemed to have found the right way, especially after Marton headed the ball to the bar (59). However, he was then lacking in the defensive line, and Haifa used it for a lethal counterattack. Adoram Keisi rushed on the left wing, entered the box, passed Marton who managed lately to return, and passed the ball back to Attar - Reuven shot without stopping again, and this time it was a flat killer to pass under the hand of Shai Hess. 3:2. Here Petakh-Tikwa was broken, and Haifa added another 2 goals to sweeten the victory. A great pass of Sergei Kandaurov found Hezi Shirazi, and the latter passed Shai Hess who had got out of the box, and rolled the ball in from a hard angle (64). And finally, Attar himself found Avishai Zhano at the right wing of Haifa's attack, and Zhano shot flatly to the far corner of Hess, signing the score. 5:2 to Haifa, like in the better times.
Hapoel Beer-Sheva knew about this result from Friday, but its game vs Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa away lacked somehow the spirit of winners so needed. The hosts had the best opportunity, when Offer Shitrit was knocked down by Dudu Heffer inside Beer-Sheva's box; however, the referee Haim Lipkovich was mistaken and booked Shitrit for pretence, a bad decision. Beer-Sheva had several opportunities, most of them denied by Golan Malul; but the final line says that the game was quite dull. The goalless result also shows it beyond any doubt.
Dov Remler, Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa's coach, confessed 2 games ago the secret wish of his players and of himself was to finish the Championship before Maccabee Tel-Aviv. Petakh-Tikwa managed to register just 1 victory and 3 draws during the last games, but the players should not worry - Maccabee Tel-Aviv lost yesterday for the 4th consecutive time! This time, 1:2 to Rishon le-Zion away. Sagi Strauss, "The Man Of The Game" and "The Keeper Of The Week", saved fantastically the far-ranger of Noam Shoham under the bar (22) and the dangerous high ball of Avi Nimni (34); in another minute, Nimni was kicked down in Rishon's box by Assaf Shemesh, but shot the penalty himself to the post. And in another 7 minutes, Gadi Brumer ran towards his own net and passed the ball weakly to Alexander Uvarov, the keeper stayed stuck and did not get out to fetch the ball, and the same Assaf Shemesh used this awful misunderstanding between the two to screw his leg between them and to push the ball in, scoring one of the most ridiculous goals of the season, 1:0. Maccabee really wanted to equalize and finally managed to do that with a shot of the young Guy Tsarfati after 74 minutes of play. However, the last word was still of Rishon, when Eitan Shalom sent Dani Albert in one-to-one state against Uvarov, and the hosts' defender shot the ball that the tall keeper of Maccabee managed just to touch in a desperate diving. 2:1, and the first ever victory of Rishon over Maccabee Tel-Aviv. Well, when Maccabee plays that way, it's no miracle at all.
In the game between Hapoel Kefar-Saba and Hapoel Taibe, Eran Scheinsinger managed somehow to stop Evgeniy Kashentsev at one-to-one (30); however, the Belarus striker used the next mistake of the hosts' defence and that time bounced the ball above the rushing keeper to his far corner, 1:0 to Taibe. Yaacov Hillel, former Kashentsev's teammate in Maccabee Tel-Aviv, produced the goal pass, as the two still play in one team. Kefar-Saba had a great opportunity to make the score even still before the break - Offir Ben-Haim knocked the wonderful Yaniv Avvargeal down inside the box, and Yaniv himself shot from the penalty spot, but Akakiy Devadze read the direction well and parried it. However, after the break Avvargeal paid for his miss with a goal pass from inside the box; Devadze parried it badly, and Bogdan Ujebyak was at the right place at the right time to push the rebound in, 1:1. And after another 17 minutes, Cobi Refua used another great goal pass of Yaniv Avvargeal and scored with a flat shot from inside the box. Taibe is still unable to win, even knowing about its relegation; as for Kefar-Saba, this team should be praised for its sportive spirit showed until the very end.
The similar scenario happened in Holon - there a temporary freezing of Rafi Cohen and his defence gave Yossi Ballas of Hapoel Tsafririm Holon an opportunity to head the ball in after just 10 minutes of play, from the preparation header of David Perets. Holon had several other chances to score still in the 1st half, but Rafi Cohen denied Itzhak Swissa and Victor Moroz, and then dived incredibly well to parry a challenging curved header of Oren Nissim from 14 meters. And in the 2nd half, the picture was different. 7 minutes after the break, Alon Caplan got the ball from Georgi Kovac and shot a simple ball from 16 meters; Maayan Mashiakh fell to catch the ball, but missed it, and the ball fell out of its hand to kiss the net, 1:1. In another 11 minutes, the sad story of Tsafririm in the National League this season was over - Kovac performed a corner kick, and Hisham Zoabi raised himself into the air 13 meters from the net and headed Haifa's winner home. 2:1 to Haifa; Holon was forced to join Hapoel Taibe in the relegation list.
In Bloomfield, Hapoel Tel-Aviv played its game of "make or break" against Bnei-Yehuda, and it was clear the Reds wanted to succeed much more than their opponents. After just 14 minutes of play, Eyal Ben-Ami exploited a bad timing of Liran Strauber to get out of his net, and his volley shot to an empty net found just the leg of Yuval Naim and went in from there, 1:0. Yossi Madar, "The Man Of The Game", scored another goal after another 8 minutes, and the story seemed to be over. Alon Mizrahi still managed to reduce the score from the penalty spot, 2 minutes before the break, after he himself had been knocked down by Tomer Eliyahu; Mizrahi was probably the only one who at least tried to play his normal game for Bnei-Yehuda, but his efforts alone weren't enough. In the 2nd half, an exercise of Kefir Udi on Shuki Nagar made the latter touch the ball by hand near the midline; the ball just hit the hand without any deliberate intention of Nagar, but Meir Levi didn't use his logics and showed the miserable defender his 2nd yellow card. Here Bnei-Yehuda was totally broken. After another 2 minutes, it was the shot of Krasimierz Muskal from 17 meters under the left crossbar of Strauber to whistle unstoppably, 3:1. Finally, Yossi Madar sealed the score 3 minutes from time, after a goal pass of Shalom Tikwa who returned to the pitch after a long injury just 12 minutes before as a substitute. The celebrations in Bloomfield could hardly be described in words.
And finally, it was a game in Beit-Shean between Hapoel Beit-Shean and Maccabee Herzliya, the game to decide absolutely nothing for both of the teams. Yehuda Amar opened the score after 33 minutes of play, when his header from 5 meters after the preparation of Oleg Koshlyuk beat Yehuda Boaron. After another 26 minutes, Roman Filipchuk equalized with a mighty header from 7 meters after Igal Entebbi's preparation. 1:1 that didn't disappoint any team.
THE NEXT WEEK (in a week): the only question to remain unsolved by now is the question of the European berth. So, Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa (2) hosts Hapoel Kefar-Saba (7), and Hapoel Beer-Sheva (3) hosts Hapoel Haifa (8).
Hapoel Jerusalem - Beitar Jerusalem 1:1 (1:1).
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Hosts: Eyal Avrahami (45).
Guests: Eli Ohana (44).
THE BEST: Ronen Schweig, midfielder, Hapoel Jerusalem.
MACCABEE HAIFA - Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa 5:2 (2:1).
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Hosts: Reuven Attar (20, 33, 59), Hezi Shirazi (64), Avishai Zhano (83).
Guests: Moti Kakun (44), Gabor Marton (56).
THE BEST: Reuven Attar, midfielder, Maccabee Haifa.
Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa - Hapoel Beer-Sheva 0:0.
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Hosts: -.
Guests: -.
THE BEST: Oren Sagron, forward, Hapoel Beer-Sheva.
HAPOEL RISHON LE-ZION - Maccabee Tel-Aviv 2:1 (1:0).
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Hosts: Avi Shemesh (42), Dani Albert (88).
Guests: Guy Tsarfati (74).
THE BEST: Sagi Strauss, keeper, Hapoel Rishon le-Zion.
On the 35th minute Avi Nimni (Maccabee Tel-Aviv) missed a penalty kick -
the ball hit the left post of Sagi Strauss.
HAPOEL KEFAR-SABA - Hapoel Taibe 2:1 (0:1).
---------------------------------------------
Hosts: Bogdan Ujebyak (47), Cobi Refua (64).
Guests: Evgeniy Kashentsev (36).
THE BEST: Yaniv Avvargeal, forward, Hapoel Kefar-Saba.
On the 44th minute Yaniv Avvargeal (Hapoel Kefar-Saba) missed a penalty
kick - Akakiy Devadze saved.
Hapoel Tsafririm Holon - HAPOEL HAIFA 1:2 (1:0).
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Hosts: Yossi Ballas (10).
Guests: Alon Caplan (52), Hisham Zoabi (63).
THE BEST: Rafi Cohen, keeper, Hapoel Haifa.
HAPOEL TEL-AVIV - Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv 4:1 (2:1).
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Hosts: Eyal Ben-Ami (14), Yossi Madar (22, 87), Krasimierz Muskal (67).
Guests: Alon Mizrahi (43 pen).
RED: Shuki Nagar, defender, Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv, 65.
THE BEST: Yossi Madar, midfielder, Hapoel Tel-Aviv.
Hapoel Beit-Shean - Maccabee Herzliya 1:1 (1:0).
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Hosts: Yehuda Amar (33).
Guests: Roman Filipchuk (59).
THE BEST: Yehuda Amar, midfielder, Hapoel Beit-Shean.
THE WEEK'S TEAM:
----------------
Sagi Strauss
(Hapoel Rishon le-Zion)
Felix Halfon Yaron Ben-Dov Avishai Zhano Eyal Ben-Ami
(Hapoel Tel-Aviv) (Hapoel Rishon le-Zion) (Maccabee Haifa) (Hapoel Tel-Aviv)
Eyal Avrahami Sergei Kandaurov Ronen Schweig Yossi Madar
(Hapoel Jerusalem) (Maccabee Haifa) (Hapoel Jerusalem) (Hapoel Tel-Aviv)
Reuven Attar Rajid Bransi
(Maccabee Haifa) (Maccabee Haifa)
Maccabee Haifa - 4.
Hapoel Tel-Aviv - 3.
Hapoel Rishon le-Zion, Hapoel Jerusalem - 2.
PLACE TEAM G W T L Goals Pts
1 (1) Beitar Jerusalem 28 20 5 3 58-17 65 EC1
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2 (2) Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa 28 17 6 5 52-30 57 (EC3)
3 (3) Hapoel Beer-Sheva 28 18 3 7 43-23 57 (EC2/3)
4 (4) Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa 28 13 9 6 38-22 48
5 (5) Maccabee Tel-Aviv 28 13 6 9 46-32 45 (EC2)
6 (6) Maccabee Haifa 28 11 9 8 40-32 42
7 (7) Hapoel Kefar-Saba 28 11 7 10 32-31 40
8 (8) Hapoel Haifa 28 11 6 11 31-32 39
9 (10) Hapoel Rishon le-Zion 28 10 6 12 32-45 36
10 (9) Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv 28 9 8 11 29-38 35
11 (11) Hapoel Jerusalem 28 9 6 13 29-38 33
12 (12) Hapoel Beit-Shean 28 8 7 13 25-30 31
13 (13) Maccabee Herzliya 28 9 4 15 18-26 31
14 (14) Hapoel Tel-Aviv 28 6 9 13 19-30 27
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15 (15) Hapoel Tsafririm Holon 28 4 9 15 16-39 21
16 (16) Hapoel Taibe 28 4 2 22 18-61 14
IN BRACKETS - the places of the teams before this week.
BEST PLAYER: Reuven Attar, midfielder, Maccabee Haifa.
TOP SCORERS: Moti Kakun (Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa) 18(4) 1
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Alon Mizrahi (Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv) 17(8) 1(1)
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Offer Shitrit (Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa) 15(3)
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Eli Ohana (Beitar Jerusalem) 14(1) 1
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Itzhak Zohar (Beitar Jerusalem) 13(3)
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Yaniv Offri (Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa) 12(0)
Avi Nimni (Maccabee Tel-Aviv) 12(4)
*********************************************************
Shai Holtzman (Hapoel Beer-Sheva) 11(4)
*********************************************************
Istvan Salloi (Beitar Jerusalem) 10(0)
Yaniv Avvargeal (Hapoel Kefar-Saba) 10(4)
*********************************************************
Guy Itzhak (Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa) 9(0)
Hezi Shirazi (Maccabee Haifa) 9(0) 1
(2 in H. Haifa) Amir Turgeman (Maccabee Haifa) 9(0)
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 Rishon le-Zion (9) |
| Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa (2) | Hapoel Kefar-Saba (7) |
| Hapoel Beer-Sheva (3) | Hapoel Haifa (8) |
| Maccabee Herzliya (13) | Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa (4) |
| Maccabee Tel-Aviv (5) | Hapoel Beit-Shean (12) |
| Maccabee Haifa (6) | Hapoel Tsafririm Holon (15) |
| Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv (10) | Hapoel Jerusalem (11) |
| Hapoel Tel-Aviv (14) | Hapoel Taibe (16) |
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