ISRAELI NATIONAL LEAGUE (LEAGUE A), ROUND 1 SUMMARY, 1997-98

As usual, some summaries of the first round of this year's National League are made. As usual, the ones to make them are "Yedioth Ahronoth" (YA), myself (MO), "Shirim u-Shearim" (SS) and "Ha'Daka Ha'91" (91). Hopefully, you will enjoy those summaries.


THE PLAYER OF THE ROUND

YA: Yossi Abuksis, midfielder, Beitar Jerusalem.

MO: I would agree to that choice. The contenders were all the foreigners: Georgi Daraselia (midfielder, Georgia, Hapoel Tel-Aviv), Istvan Pisont (midfielder, Hungary, Beitar Jerusalem), Sergei Kandaurov (midfielder, Russia, Maccabee Haifa).


THE COACH OF THE ROUND

YA: Eli Cohen, Hapoel Tel-Aviv.

SS: Dror Kashtan, Beitar Jerusalem.

MO: A hard choice. I would probably go for Eli Cohen and Eli Gutman of Hapoel Haifa, and then I'll mention Dror Kashtan. It should be mentioned Eli Cohen is our "Winter Coach" for the 3rd consecutive time.


THE TEAM OF THE ROUND

YA: Beitar Jerusalem.

MO: Of course, there is just one team to deserve this award - Beitar Jerusalem. The team that finished the round with no losses, scoring 36 goals in 15 games and having 3 players in "The Best Scorers List". It showed the most attractive soccer, and the best results.


THE 11 OF THE ROUND 

YA:
                               Sagi Strauss
                          (Hapoel Rishon le-Zion)

   Avi Azulai         Asi Domb          Gabor Marton        David Amsalem
(Hapoel Tel-Aviv) (Hapoel Tel-Aviv) (Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa) (Beitar Jerusalem)

  Istvan Pisont        Yossi Abuksis      Giovanni Rosso   Sergei Kandaurov
(Beitar Jerusalem)   (Beitar Jerusalem)   (Hapoel Haifa)   (Maccabee Haifa)

                       Nir Sevilla       Georgi Daraselia
                    (Beitar Jerusalem)   (Hapoel Tel-Aviv)

Beitar Jerusalem       - 4.
Hapoel Tel-Aviv        - 3.
Hapoel Haifa           - 1.
Maccabee Haifa         - 1.
Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa    - 1.
Hapoel Rishon le-Zion  - 1.


SS:
                            Shavit Elimelekh
                            (Hapoel Tel-Aviv)

   Shmuel Levi        Shimon Gershon         Asi Domb        Najouan Grayib
(Beitar Jerusalem)   (Hapoel Tel-Aviv)   (Hapoel Tel-Aviv)   (Hapoel Haifa)

  Istvan Pisont      Yossi Abuksis    Giovanni Rosso       Alon Hazan
(Beitar Jerusalem) (Beitar Jerusalem) (Hapoel Haifa) (Maccabee Ironi Ashdod)

                       Alon Mizrahi     Georgi Daraselia
                     (Maccabee Haifa)   (Hapoel Tel-Aviv)

Hapoel Tel-Aviv        - 4.
Beitar Jerusalem       - 3.
Hapoel Haifa           - 2.
Maccabee Haifa         - 1.
Maccabee Ironi Ashdod  - 1.

MO: Just 5 people find themselves in both abovementioned choices, which means that our League didn't have this time the clear 11 heroes. I would go this time for the choice of "Shirim u-Shearim", with some doubts over 2 positions. Alon Hazan or Sergei Kandaurov? That's hard to tell. And as for the keepers - Shavit Elimelekh indeed conceded just 6 goals in 15 games (!), but this was mostly according to his defence, as well as in case of Golan Malul (Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa) and Dudu Awwat (Hapoel Haifa). The 2 keepers who brought their teams numerous points with their own hands were Sagi Strauss (Hapoel Rishon le-Zion) and Akakiy Devadze (Maccabee Ironi Ashdod). I'd go for Strauss, with giving the Georgian National keeper a honorable mentioning.


THE REFEREE OF THE ROUND

YA: Meir Levi.

MO: Meir Levi is indeed a good referee, but who can forget him a terrible mistake of overlooking the handshot of Alon Harazi (Beitar Jerusalem) against Maccabee Haifa? I'd go for Alon Yaffet, the new referee who registered several really superb performances.


THE DISCOVERY OF THE ROUND

YA: Shimon Gershon, defender, Hapoel Tel-Aviv.

SS: Agreed.

MO: Agreed. Rafi Cohen (forward, Hapoel Rishon le-Zion) and Moris Uzan (forward, Hapoel Beit-Shean) could be the competitors, as well as the promising forward Yossi Benayoun of Hapoel Beer-Sheva.


THE MOST JUSTIFIED PURCHASE OF THE ROUND

YA: Asi Domb, defender, Hapoel Tel-Aviv, from Beitar Jerusalem. Also to be mentioned - Alon Hazan (midfielder, Maccabee Ironi Ashdod, from Hapoel Tel-Aviv) and Giovanni Rosso (midfielder, Hapoel Haifa, from Hapoel Beer-Sheva).

MO: Agreed. Also - Alon Mizrahi (forward, Maccabee Haifa, from Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv), Akakiy Devadze (keeper, Maccabee Ironi Ashdod, from Hapoel Taibe).


THE BEST FOREIGNER OF THE ROUND

YA: Istvan Pisont (Hungary), midfielder, Beitar Jerusalem.

SS: Agreed.

MO: Agreed. And again, there were several rivals: Sergei Tretyak (defender, Ukraine and Beitar Jerusalem), Sergei Kandaurov (midfielder, Ukraine and Maccabee Haifa), Giovanni Rosso (midfielder, Croatia and Hapoel Haifa), Akakiy Devadze (keeper, Georgia and Maccabee Ironi Ashdod), Georgi Daraselia (midfielder, Georgia and Hapoel Tel-Aviv).


THE GREATEST DISAPPOINTENT OF THE ROUND (TEAM).

YA: Maccabee Tel-Aviv.

SS: Maccabee Tel-Aviv.

91: Maccabee Tel-Aviv and Hapoel Beer-Sheva.

MO: Agreed with 91.


THE GREATEST DISAPPOINTMENT OF THE ROUND (PLAYER).

YA: Rodrigo Goldberg, forward, Maccabee Tel-Aviv.

MO: Agreed.


THE GOAL OF THE ROUND

YA: Miroslav Bicinic, Hapoel Haifa, 2:1 vs Maccabee Tel-Aviv (2:1).

91: Agreed. The other competitors were, in no particular order:

MO: Agreed. Let me cite here my description of the goal from Week 03: "However, the biggest hero of Haifa was Miroslav Bicinic, a Croatian coming to Hapoel Haifa from the German team Duisburg and capturing the Red fans' hearts after his first 73 minutes here. Glam headed away Rosso's pass from the left wing, exactly to Bicinic who stood 10 meters outside the box; the Croatian midfielder raised his left foot and sent a breathtaking curved volley that stopped just under the left crossbar of the desperately flying Uvarov, "The Goal Of The Week". Bicinic himself said after the game: "I was dreaming all the night about opening my Israeli career with a goal, but even in my dream the goal hadn't been that beautiful".


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