"Haifa, Haifa, Maccabee sheli..." The song of the forgotten Championship of the Greens in 1993-94 may spring to life again after the Cup Quarterfinals, as the smoke goes down - the team of Daniel Brailovsky seems to be the clear favourite of the Cup, as Beitar Jerusalem and Hapoel Tel-Aviv are surprisingly out! In the semifinals that will take place in Ramat-Gan on April 21, Maccabee Haifa will meet Maccabee Ironi Ashdod; the second game will see the 2 Cinderellas, Hapoel Beer-Sheva and Hapoel Jerusalem.

The Quarterfinals brought us the usual average of the goals for this year, 17 in 4 games (!); no red cards were seen, and there were 3 games with comebacks (!). And of course, those were the great dramas in 3 games - all of the comeback games required the extra-time, and one went into a penalty shoot-out where, as it's well-known, there are no favorites and underdogs anymore. In the last game, Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa failed to score against Maccabee Ironi Ashdod, but looking at the latest form of Nir Levin's team, that hardly surprised anybody.

So, let's start with the game in Bloomfield, where Hapoel Tel-Aviv hosted Hapoel Jerusalem. The score was surprisingly opened by the guests' Dudi Stolper after 17 minutes of play, when he finished well a goal pass of Assaf Tubi from the right wing and used the bad position of Shavit Elimelekh. Offer Shitrit, in a brilliant game of his own, managed to equalize after 40 minutes of play, coming to a rebound after Liran Strauber had parried the ball of Shalom Tikwa. 15 minutes from the end, Shitrit got the ball in the box, stopped it on the chest and launched a clever ball from 12 meters under the left crossbar of Strauber, 2:1 to the leaders. However, in another 5 minutes there was a corner of Laszlo Czeh, Shavit Elimelekh and the defence froze at their places and let Moti Menakhem head an equalizer, 2:2. Later, 5 minutes into an extra-time, an excellent Laszlo Czeh released a wonderful shot from 20 meters to Elimelekh's far corner and again gave Jerusalem a lead; the Reds were attacking vigorously in order to equalize, and finally managed to do that in the dying seconds of the extra-time, the 3rd goal of nobody else but Offer Shitrit. And the game went into the penalty kicks, where the leaders finally gave up. Offer Shitrit still managed to score the first penalty of the hosts, but Georgi Daraselia failed to find the frame with the 2nd shot; Dudi Stolper, having scored the opener for the guests, failed in his turn to find the frame of Shavit Elimelekh with the 4th shot of the guests, and the score was equal again. The shots of Asi Domb, Shalom Tikwa and Sebastian Simerotic were in, as well as the shots of Laszlo Czeh, Gili Levi and Shlomi Danino on the other side. And then Pinney Balili shot his penalty (the 8th!) into the post, and Liran Strauber, the keeper of Jerusalem and one of the heroes of the dramatic draw, scored the decisive penalty and gave the sign to the joy of the capital fans. One of the Double dreams was shattered; the only consolation of the Reds was that the other Double dream was shattered as well.

And that happened in Beer-Sheva, where the outsiders (and the Cup holders simultaneously, to those who forgot) hosted Beitar Jerusalem. Shaul Smadja saved the shot of Shai Holtzman (6), and the great goal of Istvan Pisont (12) was disallowed by the excellent referee Haim Yaacov, claiming that the wide goal pass of David Amsalem had passed the line before reaching Pisont; and still, Beitar managed to open the score after 32 minutes of play, a corner performed by Jean Talesnikov finding Istvan Hamar 2 meters from the net. However, Beer-Sheva didn't want to give up, and its coach Eliyahu Offer made two great substitutions - Alon Riff instead of Shimon Biton and Christian Okpala instead of Dudu Heffer. 15 minutes in the 2nd half, Riff passed the ball to Yossi Benayoun, the talented youngster made a great diagonal pass into the box to Oren Sagron, and the latter managed to beat Itzhak Korenfein from 12 meters with a mighty diagonal shot, 1:1. And 8 minutes in the extra-time, it was the goal pass of Alon Riff into the direction of Christian Okpala; the Nigerian forward rushed into the box and rolled the ball with his left past Itzhak Korenfein who got out in an extremely bad timing, 2:1! Beitar had several opportunities to equalize later on, but when Smadja stopped Istvan Pisont fantastically in one-to-one, it became clear the surprise would be full. And indeed, it was.

And let us report now about the games finishing in a predictable way. Maccabee Haifa indeed defeated Hapoel Rishon le-Zion at home, 4:2, but had to equalize twice and then needed an extra-time and a superb skill of Alon Mizrahi, our "Player Of The Round", to advance to the semifinals. Sharon Martsiano opened the score after 36 minutes of play, with a tremendous shot from 25 meters under the left crossbar of Nir Davidovich who could just touch the ball. Alon Mizrahi earned the penalty a minute from the break and converted it himself, but during the dying seconds of the half, it was Evgeniy Kashentsev with another goal of Rishon - Nir Davidovich managed to parry his first shot, but Kashentsev was insistent enough and rolled the rebound in from the hard angle. But later on, it was Alon Mizrahi all over - first, he was on the rebound (54) after Sagi Strauss had parried hesitantly the free kick of Ibrahim Doro; and then, already in an extra-time, he bounced the ball over Sagi Strauss after a great solo penetration - the keeper reacted and flew to reach the ball, but parried it just to his bar and in (94). Rishon was attacking most of the time as it had nothing to lose, but during the dying seconds of the game Mizrahi was knocked in Rishon's box by Oleg Molokov, after a quick counterattack; after a personal hat-trick, Mizrahi was generous enough to renounce on shooting the penalty, and Arik Benado thanked his forward and launched the 4th goal in from the white spot. 4:2.

Finally, in Petakh-Tikwa it was Maccabee Ironi Ashdod with a great away victory over Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa; the team of Rami Levi, having never passed into the Quarterfinals before, made another history in its best season ever. The diagonal back header of Naor Galili from 12 meters into the far corner of Shai Hess, after a goal pass of Amir Turgeman, was a real state-of-the-art; 16 minutes from time, it was Tibor Balog with a flat diagonal shot to end the story. In between, Petakh-Tikwa made some pathetic trials to attack - but have you heard the name Akakiy Devadze in Ashdod's net? The National Georgian keeper was reliable as usual.

The semifinals will be held at April 21.

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


Hapoel Tel-Aviv (A,1) - Hapoel Jerusalem (A,7)  3:3 AET (6:7 on pens).
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Hosts:    Offer Shitrit (40, 75, 120).
PENALTIES (first):   Offer Shitrit        1:0
                     Georgi Daraselia     1:1  (missed the frame)
                     Mario Masterovic     2:2
                     Eyal Ben-Ami         3:3
                     Asi Domb             4:3
                     Shalom Tikwa         5:4
                     Sebastian Simerotic  6:5
                     Pinney Balili        6:6  (post)
Guests:   Dudi Stolper (17), Moti Menakhem (80), Laszlo Czeh (95).
PENALTIES (second):  Assaf Tubi           1:1
                     Eyal Avrahami        2:1
                     Amir Gola            3:2
                     Dudi Stolper         3:3  (missed the frame)
                     Laszlo Czeh          4:4
                     Gili Levi            5:5
                     Shlomi Danino        6:6
                     Liran Strauber       7:6

THE BEST: Offer Shitrit, forward, Hapoel Tel-Aviv.


HAPOEL BEER-SHEVA (A,15) - Beitar Jerusalem (A,2)  2:1 AET (0:1, 1:1, 2:1).
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hosts:    Oren Sagron (60), Christian Okpala (98).
Guests:   Istvan Hamar (32).
THE BEST: Alon Riff, midfielder, Hapoel Beer-Sheva.


MACCABEE HAIFA (A,4) - Hap. Rishon le-Zion (A,10)  4:2 AET (1:2, 2:2, 3:2).
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Hosts:    Alon Mizrahi (44 pen, 54, 94), Arik Benado (120 pen).
Guests:   Sharon Martsiano (36), Evgeniy Kashentsev (45).
THE BEST: Alon Mizrahi, forward, Maccabee Haifa.


Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa (A,5) - MACCABEE IRONI ASHDOD (A,6)  0:2 (0:1).
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Hosts:    -.
Guests:   Naor Galili (9), Krasimierz Muskal (74).
THE BEST: Guy Sharabi, defender, Maccabee Ironi Ashdod.





                         THE 11 OF THE ROUND
                         -------------------
                            Shaul Smadja
                         (Hapoel Beer-Sheva)

    Gadi Hazut          Guy Sharabi        Moti Ohayon      Eliran Elkayam
(Mcb. Ironi Ashdod) (Mcb. Ironi Ashdod) (Hapoel Jerusalem) (Maccabee Haifa)

 Jean Talesnikov    Krasimierz Muskal       Alon Riff         Laszlo Czeh
(Beitar Jerusalem) (Mcb. Ironi Ashdod) (Hapoel Beer-Sheva) (Hapoel Jerusalem)

                         Offer Shitrit      Alon Mizrahi
                       (Hapoel Tel-Aviv)  (Maccabee Haifa)


3: Maccabee Ironi Ashdod    (League A)
2: Maccabee Haifa           (League A)
2: Hapoel Jerusalem         (League A)
2: Hapoel Beer-Sheva        (League A)
1: Hapoel Tel-Aviv          (League A)
1: Beitar Jerusalem         (League A)


THE BEST OF THE ROUND:  Alon Mizrahi, forward, Maccabee Haifa.


THE BEST CUP SCORERS:
        Offer Shitrit (Hapoel Tel-Aviv)         5(0)  3
        Alon Mizrahi (Maccabee Haifa)           5(1)  3(1)
        **************************************************
        Ronen Harazi (Hapoel Haifa)             4
        Cobi Refua (Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv)       4
        **************************************************
        Moshe Vaanunu (Maccabee Ahi Nazareth)   3
        Yair Simhon (Hapoel Beer-Sheva)         3

        The second number means the number of goals scored this week.


PASSING INTO THE NEXT ROUND:
        Maccabee Haifa          (A,  4)
        Maccabee Ironi Ashdod   (A,  6)
        Hapoel Jerusalem        (A,  7)
        Hapoel Beer-Sheva       (A, 15) *

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

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