Maccabi “Shachar” Tel Aviv 3:0 Bnei Yehuda
The Under-19 side hosted Bnei Yehuda on Matchday 18 of the Israel Youth Premier League Ligat Ha’Al and won 3:0 thanks to goals by Netanel Peretz, Mufleh Shalata and Eylon Almog. The victory was the team’s 9th in 10 games as they sit in 2nd place, just a point off the top of the table. For the Match Report Click Here

Maccabi “Oded” Tel Aviv 0:0 Hapoel Raanana
The Under-17 squad welcomed Hapoel Raanana to Kiryat Shalom on Matchday 17 and split the points after a goalless draw which kept Maccabi “Oded” in first place with a gap of 9 points over the 2nd place club. Head Coach Eliezer Ben Aharon summed up his side’s performance: “We ended the second match of the second round in a goalless draw and we missed some excellent chances throughout the contest. Raanana played as expected with 10 players behind the ball, didn’t push forward and only had one attempt on our goal. When we prepared for the match, we told the team that in order to break down a bunker you have to think outside of the box and perform actions that they won’t expect very quickly. The chances we had were a result of what we preached and practiced but we couldn’t score. We are familiar with games like these when the ball just refuses to go in and the opposition surprises us with a goal on a counter attack. That fortunately didn’t happen due to our defensive efficiency and how we prepared for the match which was to watch out for Raanana’s long balls. This is the type of game where whatever you’ll do, the ball won’t go in. The second round is always more difficult than the first for the top clubs and we can see that after the top 3 teams didn’t win this Matchday. Next week, hopefully we will play better and score.”

Maccabi “Eli Fuchs” Tel Aviv 3:2 Hapoel Tel Aviv Yashin
After last Matchday’s win along with a midweek State Cup victory, the Under-16 side continued its fine play with a Derby win over Hapoel on Matchday 18. The win keeps the young Yellow & Blue in 5th place, 5 points off of the top of the table. Or Roizman, Tal Torjman and Yali Lazar all scored. Head Coach Raymond Atteveld commented following the match: “It’s always great to defeat Hapoel. Unlike our previous matches we didn’t get into a deficit situation and we scored first. We were the better side but we weren’t patient enough to find the open man and if we would have been a bit more patient we would have had more chances. In any case we had enough opportunities to win 3:2 and we missed a chance in the last minute to score a 4th goal when the ball hit the bar. I want to congratulate the players who had a long week with a league match, winning on penalties on Wednesday in the Cup after overtime at Pardes Hana and on today’s important Derby victory. All in all it was a good week and the players worked hard while learning some new things that we had the chance to see in action on the pitch. It wasn’t a simple game as it was between two good teams, but we were a bit better and won the contest. I’m happy for the Club and for Maccabi.”

Maccabi “Eldad” Tel Aviv 5:0 Hapoel Kiryat Ono
The Under-15 South team continued to score in bunches as Ori David’s squad defeated Kiryat Ono 5:0 and have scored 23 goals while giving up none over their last 3 matches. The win keeps Maccabi “Eldad” in first place as Elad Kaplan x2, Ohad Mizrahi x2 and Amit Kodman all scored. David summed up the win: “We played good football against a team that didn’t push forward and we were able to find a way to score some quality goals.”

Maccabi Emek Hefer Avraham 0:2 Maccabi “Ilan” Tel Aviv
The Under-15 North squad headed north for a tough away battle on Matchday 16 and fell to Emek Hefer which left them in 4th place. Head Coach Asaf Heber explained: “Unfortunately we didn’t play well and we came to half chances that we couldn’t take advantage of. We gave up a goal at the start of the second half and we weren’t able to come back. The opponent was much more aggressive despite the fact that we controlled the match and we were punished for a defensive mistake and when you don’t score when you do have an opportunity you will pay for it later.”