The Under-17 side defeated Hapoel Haifa 3:1 and won the League Championship on Matchday 25, with 5 contests left in the season. Eliezer Ben Aharon’s squad to date have won 21 games, drew 3 and lost one while scoring 84 goals (the most in the league with an average of 3.36 goals per match) and conceded 20 goals (the least in the league).
Head Coach Ben Aharon spoke about the path to the title: “This is a championship that was built on teamwork. When I received the squad at the start of the season after an average campaign with a very talented side, we knew that the road to a good season would be hard work and some very important elements including playing as a team, supporting one another and working together as a squad which is what we did from day one. We have a quality group of coaches who brought their experience and care to each and every training session and match. I, along with the players enjoyed and learned a tremendous amount.
During the course of the season, the players improved from practice to practice and match to match and that is what brought the results that we see today. To capture the title with five matches remaining shows you how much this group improved from a third place finish last year. In addition, six players also advanced to the European Championships and became very instrumental in the Israel National Team. Despite winning the title, I personally believe we missed out on the State Cup. This is the first time for me after five straight years not to be in the final, so I have a feeling that we missed out.
I’m happy to say that I along with the staff are very proud of how the squad improved so nicely all season long and we’re proud that the players will head to the Under-19 or First Team (training sessions) and that they showed their abilities, understanding and quality. Today, our club is the best place to work and to play at and we have conditions that even some of the First Teams don’t have and I have to say how proud I am to be a part of helping advance players at Maccabi Tel Aviv. The season isn’t over yet and we want to finish with an even bigger gap, so it will be very difficult to break our record.”
Key matches from the season:
Matchday 8: 2:1 win over Maccabi Haifa that pushed the Yellow & Blue ahead at the top of the table.
Matchday 10: 14:0 over Hapoel Haifa. A quality performance that continued the club’s fine play.
Matchday 24: After the side’s first defeat, the Yellow & Blue beat Hapoel Beer Sheva 8:1.
Matchday 25: 3:1 over Hapoel Haifa to secure the championship with five Matchdays remaining.
Rave Assayag leads the league in goals with 21.
