19 goals, 3 red cards and one crucial penalty missed - this was the harvest of Week 06 for the Israeli soccer. Both leaders, Maccabee Haifa and Beitar Jerusalem, gained their points a hard way, with 10 players each; still, they remain unbeaten, and their meeting in a fortnight seems to be "The Game Of The Season". Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa makes a third consecutive nil draw (!), but still remains high; Beer-Sheva starts to threaten the top, at last. The most attractive football, as usual in the latest period, is shown by Hapoel Haifa and Maccabee Tel-Aviv; on the other hand, Hapoel Kefar-Saba and Hapoel Rishon le-Zion are in a big-big trouble. Maccabee Herzliya improved greatly, and so did Hapoel Tsafririm Holon; still, they lost and are threatened at the bottom. The smallest number of goals scored this season - but several fantastic ones and a great performance of Bonnie Ginzburg in Bnei-Yehuda net, giving the Oranges their first victory.
Maccabee Haifa is the 1st, but it plays a dull soccer; yesterday just 4 men on the pitch did something to earn the points, one of them being sent off for that. After a dreadful 1st half, Edgardo Adinolfi and Offer Shitrit substituted Ronnie Levi and Haim Revivo; and if Adinolfi still isn't fully in, Shitrit takes every chance he gets in both hands. The cooperation of Alon Hazan and Offer Shitrit worked fantastically twice (52, 83), and at the 3rd time Shitrit passed a defender and shot too high against Zhidkov. Holon got 2 penalties, but just one was scored: at the 62nd minute, after Rafi Cohen'd been mistaken in getting the high ball, Moshe Glam saved the certain goal by hand and was sent off, but Rafi Cohen stretched well to parry a shot by Holtzman. Glam: "It's a pity that I'm sent off for the 2nd time this season, but I had no choice. Even in this way, I'm happy to bring 2 points to my team".
Beitar Jerusalem also played several minutes in 10 players, after Ilan Elharar had been sent off for a rude play, but the game was decided a long before that. Istvan Salloi, a player of fantastic skill, swang around the defender and sent a wonderful shot to the right corner of Gilardi (6), a magnificent effort. Herzliya, in its best game this season, scored twice as much as it scored in the last 5 games (!), both goals by Yair Simhon. 17: Simhon passed the keeper, and sent it in from a hard angle; 42: the best goal of the game, as Simhon got a ball and sent it from "Hagi point" (remember, Columbia?) to the high left corner of Korenfein. Still, Salloi and Ronen Harazi managed to score again, entering "The Best Scorers" list and bringing the favourites a victory. Altogether with Salloi and Harazi, the warm words are certainly deserved by Yair Simhon and Nissim Cohen of Herzliya; the latter, at the age of 40.5 (!), made 2 goal passes and was one of the best.
Maccabee Tel-Aviv, running unwearily after the leaders, made it in Petakh-Tikwa, though it wasn't hard. After a good 1st half, Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa was totally devastated after the break, and the guests did it without Avi Nimni, Itzhak Zohar and Evgeniy Kashentsev. Yaacov Hillel was the best on the pitch, and Nir Klinger entered "The Best Scorers" list; still, the game belonged to Amir Shelakh, who scored his first goal in the National League - he prepared the body right, leant to his left and shot a fantastic volley kick to the right high corner of Golan Malul, from 18 meters. By now, "The Goal Of The Season".
Naturally, "The Goal Of The Season" unofficial list of mine reflects well the quality of play of every team, and so by now, Hapoel Haifa plays the most attractive soccer in Israel. 4 beautiful goals of Reuven Attar (!) in this list were added yesterday by two marvellous goals of his teammates. First, it was Felix Halfon with a bomb from an incredibly hard angle, and close to the end, it was Offer Talker with another remarkable effort: getting the ball 25 meters from the net and being pursued by a defender, he managed to bounce the ball without stopping over Shavit Elimelekh to a high left corner. Halfon was the best on the pitch, since twice he saved his team from a certain goal.
The keeper's performance was presented once again, this time by Bonnie Ginzburg of the Oranges of Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv, whose saves from Andrei Lazovskiy and Moti Eberbaum were deservedly awarded "The Saves Of The Week". His save against Eberbaum after 65 minutes started the counterattack of the guests: Nir Sevilla found the bar, Bentsi Rosenfeld rushed to the ball and found Eran Scheinsinger prepared, and Sahar Mizrahi was there to kick the rebound in above the stretching keeper. Maccabee Herzliya scored more goals than in the 5 previous consecutive weeks; Bnei-Yehuda gained more points than in all those weeks.
Maccabee Yaffa defeated Beitar Tel-Aviv after a great goal of Offer Reuven, who passed Shmuel Avrahami, ran away from Doron Amar, passed the keeper Sagi Strauss and shot in from a hard angle. Hapoel Beer-Sheva registered its 2nd victory, defeating Hapoel Beit-Shean 3:1 at home; Sergei Gusev is in a very good form, all should admit. And Hapoel Tel-Aviv did not score, but neither did Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa; a nil draw, the third consecutive one of Petakh-Tikwa (!), but they are still beaten only once.
Next week: the best performance will be between Beitar Jerusalem and Hapoel Tel-Aviv at Teddy. Very interesting: Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa vs Maccabee Haifa; another nil draw, another dull victory, or finally, something else? Also to be watched: Maccabee Tel-Aviv vs Maccabee Yaffa, Hapoel Haifa vs Hapoel Kefar-Saba, and the battle of outsiders, between Hapoel Tsafririm Holon and Hapoel Rishon le-Zion.
MACCABEE HAIFA - Hapoel Tsafririm Holon 2:1 (0:0).
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Hosts: Offer Shitrit (52, 83).
Guests: Avi Pass (75 pen).
RED: Moshe Glam, defender, Maccabee Haifa, 62.
THE BEST: Alon Hazan, midfielder, Maccabee Haifa.
On the 62nd minute Shai Holtzman (Hapoel Tsafririm Holon) missed the penalty
kick - Rafi Cohen saved.
Maccabee Herzliya - BEITAR JERUSALEM 2:3 (2:2).
-------------------------------------------------
Hosts: Yair Simhon (17, 42).
Guests: Istvan Salloi (6, 44), Ronen Harazi (47).
RED: Ilan Elharar, defender, Beitar Jerusalem, 74.
THE BEST: Istvan Salloi, midfielder, Beitar Jerusalem.
Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa - MACCABEE TEL-AVIV 0:3 (0:0).
------------------------------------------------------
Hosts: -.
Guests: Nir Klinger (53), Amir Shelakh (67), Eli Driks (80 pen).
THE BEST: Yaacov Hillel, defender, Maccabee Tel-Aviv.
Hapoel Rishon le-Zion - HAPOEL HAIFA 0:2 (0:1).
-------------------------------------------------
Hosts: -.
Guests: Felix Halfon (7), Offer Talker (88).
THE BEST: Felix Halfon, defender, Hapoel Haifa.
Hapoel Tel-Aviv - Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa 0:0.
--------------------------------------------
Hosts: -.
Guests: -.
THE BEST: Yossi Madar, midfielder, Hapoel Tel-Aviv.
HAPOEL BEER-SHEVA - Hapoel Beit-Shean 3:1 (1:0).
-------------------------------------------------
Hosts: Sergei Gusev (7, 52), OG (Boris Krimus, 88).
Guests: Nassim Agbariya (82).
THE BEST: Sergei Gusev, forward, Hapoel Beer-Sheva.
MACCABEE YAFFA - Beitar Tel-Aviv 1:0 (1:0).
---------------------------------------------
Hosts: Offer Reuven (37).
Guests: -.
THE BEST: Yuriy Moroz, defender, Maccabee Yaffa.
Hapoel Kefar-Saba - BNEI-YEHUDA TEL-AVIV 0:1 (0:0).
-----------------------------------------------------
Hosts: -.
Guests: Sahar Mizrahi (65).
RED: Guy Messika, defender, Hapoel Kefar-Saba, 74.
THE BEST: Bonnie Ginzburg, keeper, Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv.
THE ROUND'S TEAM:
-----------------
Bonnie Ginzburg
(Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv)
Felix Halfon Yuriy Moroz Stav Elimelekh Yaacov Hillel
(Hapoel Haifa) (Maccabee Yaffa) (Hapoel Beer-Sheva) (Maccabee Tel-Aviv)
Alon Hazan Nissim Cohen Istvan Salloi Sergei Gusev
(Maccabee Haifa) (Maccabee Herzliya) (Beit. Jerusalem) (Hapoel Beer-Sheva)
Offer Shitrit Yair Simhon
(Maccabee Haifa) (Maccabee Herzliya)
Maccabee Haifa, Maccabee Herzliya, Hapoel Beer-Sheva - 2.
Hapoel Haifa, Maccabee Yaffa, Beitar Jerusalem,
Maccabee Tel-Aviv, Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv - 1.
PLACE TEAM G W T L Goals Points
1 (1) Maccabee Haifa 06 5 1 0 13- 4 16
2 (2) Beitar Jerusalem 06 5 1 0 14- 6 16
3 (3) Maccabee Tel-Aviv 06 5 0 1 15- 6 15
4 (5) Hapoel Haifa 06 4 1 1 15- 6 13
5 (4) Hapoel Tel-Aviv 06 4 1 1 9- 6 13
6 (10) Hapoel Beer-Sheva 06 2 3 1 9- 7 9
7 (6) Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa 06 2 3 1 7- 5 9
8 (7) Beitar Tel-Aviv 06 2 1 3 10-10 7
9 (8) Hapoel Beit-Shean 06 2 1 3 8-10 7
10 (9) Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa 06 2 1 3 10-16 7
11 (14) Maccabee Yaffa 06 2 0 4 7-13 6
12 (15) Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv 06 1 2 3 8-13 5
13 (11) Hapoel Tsafririm Holon 06 1 1 4 9-13 4
14 (12) Maccabee Herzliya 06 1 1 4 3- 8 4
15 (13) Hapoel Rishon le-Zion 06 1 0 5 4- 9 3
16 (15) Hapoel Kefar-Saba 06 0 1 5 5-14 1
BEST PLAYER: Alon Hazan, midfielder, Maccabee Haifa.
TOP SCORERS: Reuven Attar (Hapoel Haifa) 8(2)
******************************************************
Istvan Salloi (Beitar Jerusalem) 5(0) 2
Nissim Avitan (Hapoel Tel-Aviv) 5(0)
******************************************************
Offer Shitrit (Maccabee Haifa) 4(0) 2
Sergei Gusev (Hapoel Beer-Sheva) 4(0) 2
Nir Klinger (Maccabee Tel-Aviv) 4(0) 1
Sahar Mizrahi (Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv) 4(1) 1
Ronen Harazi (Beitar Jerusalem) 4(1) 1
Yaniv Avvargeal (Beitar Tel-Aviv) 4(0)
Amir Turgeman (Hapoel Haifa) 4(0)
NOTE - the penalties scored are put in brackets. The last
column means the number of goals scored this week.
NEXT ROUND (in a week):
| Hosts | Guests |
| Hapoel Petakh-Tikwa (7) | Maccabee Haifa (1) |
| Beitar Jerusalem (2) | Hapoel Tel-Aviv (5) |
| Maccabee Tel-Aviv (3) | Maccabee Yaffa (11) |
| Hapoel Haifa (4) | Hapoel Kefar-Saba (16) |
| Beitar Tel-Aviv (8) | Hapoel Beer-Sheva (6) |
| Hapoel Beit-Shean (9) | Maccabee Herzliya (14) |
| Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv (12) | Maccabee Petakh-Tikwa (10) |
| Hapoel Tsafririm Holon (13) | Hapoel Rishon le-Zion (15) |
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