The Toto Youth League is coming closer and closer as Maccabi “Shachar” Tel Aviv is preparing in earnest for the upcoming 2016/17 campaign. Yesterday, the young Yellow & Blue under Head Coach Ori Uzan played a friendly against Nes Ziona and were victorious thanks to goals by Eden Kartzev and Shay Golan in the 2:0 win.

On Wednesday, Maccabi “Shachar” will play their Petach Tikva counterparts in the final preseason match before heading off on August 12th to their training camp in Holland.

The camp will begin with the Heemskerk Tournament where other clubs including Feyenoord, Club Brugge and Malmö will all participate. Following the competition, the players will continue with their training camp that in total will last a total of ten days. Until they depart, the Yellow & Blue will train at Kiryat Shalom under the watchful eye of Professional Director Patrick Van Leeuwen.

After four intensive days that included four matches, Maccabi “Shachar” Tel Aviv is heading back to Israel from the Ramljak Tournament. The young Yellow & Blue finished the competition in 5th place as they defeated the host Dinamo Zagreb, drew with Maribor and came up short against Real Madrid. However, the squad took home 5th place after disposing of Sarajevo 5:2 in their last game.

Right before the players and new Head Coach Ori Uzan begin their break, the brand new Maccabi “Shachar” Captain Tomer Altman spoke to the Official Website about the four days he experienced at the competition: “This was a tournament that was played at the highest level of football with some of the biggest clubs in Europe. This was our second year participating in the tourney and it definitely gave us some terrific experience. The matches were very different than a typical game we would play in Israel in many aspects and I’m sure that it will help us in the future.”

About how they stacked up against the competition:

“We were able to handle ourselves very well and we made progress as each match went by. There’s always a lot of discussion about the physical differences between the Israeli and European players, but I don’t think we saw such a huge gap. We kept up with them technically and we played quality football throughout the tournament, it was really an amazing experience.”

On Ori Uzan taking over the coaching reins:

“We have a new coach. I haven’t worked with him before but some of the guys who are part of the 1999 class have. I’ve only heard good things about him and from what I saw here in Croatia is that he is a professional in every sense of the word and knows how to approach the players. I believe we will have a good season under his direction.”

Being named the captain:

“It’s a huge honor to be named the captain of the Maccabi Tel Aviv Youth Team and I’m very humbled. I hope that I can lead the club to a more successful campaign than last season. Our goal is to win titles and I hope that I can live up to the job and do it as best as possible by giving everything I have.”

Maccabi “Shachar” Tel Aviv ended the Ramljak Tournament in Zagreb in 5th place after beating the hosts Dinamo, drawing with Maribor and falling to Real Madrid sending the Under-19 squad to the 5th vs 6th place match against FK Sarajevo. The Bosnians struck first as they took quick lead in the 10th minute. However, Maccabi came back strong as Yarin Sharabi drew the club even taking a fine cross by Or Dasa.

Two minutes later, Dasa got into the act and gave the young Yellow & Blue a 2:1 lead slotting home a goal from the corner of the box. Sharabi then completed his brace, Netanel Peretz scored his first goal with the youth team and just prior to the break Mahmoud Awesat added the 5th goal to give the club a 5:1 lead.

The second half saw Sarajevo cut the Maccabi “Shachar” advantage to 5:2 but it was too little too late as the Uzan’s charges cruised to the victory and 5th place in the prestigious competition.

Just 24 hours after falling 1:0 to Real Madrid in the opening match of the Ramljak Tournamnet named for Croatian great Mladen Ramljak, Maccabi “Shachar” had the tough task of facing the competition host’s Dinamo Zagreb. Head Coach Ori Uzan made a number of changes to his starting XI as Hen Ozeri was again in goal along with a back four of Moshe Peleg, Bar Galili, Nadav Amran and Ran Vaturi. Prince Thomas, Amit Shapira, Tomer Altman (C), Yarin Sharabi, Or Dasa and Eylon Almog played in the midfield and up front.

Uzan’s troops got off to a great start taking an early lead in the 20th minute. Altman slalomed by a couple of Zagreb players and sent a deep pass to Almog who made sure to score on a one on one situation. Ten minutes later, Almog and Prince Thomas combined on a beautiful double pass as latter added to the Under-19 side’s lead going into the break ahead 2:0.

The hosts halved the Maccabi “Shachar” advantage in the 70th minute but it wasn’t enough as the young Yellow & Blue recorded the important victory in front of over 1,000 people.

Maccabi “Shachar” Tel Aviv kicked off against Real Madrid in Zagreb in their opening round match with new Head Coach Ori Uzan in the sidelines.

Hen Ozeri started in goal with defenders Bar Galili, Nadav Amran, Noam Cohen and Peleg Moshe in front of him. Shay Golan, Eden Kartzev and Tomer Altman played in the midfield while Mahmoud Awesat, Eylon Almog and Or Dasa featured up front.

Maccabi began the game strong as Almog and Moshe each had an opportunity to beat the Blancos keeper but couldn’t find the back of the goal.

However, the Yellow & Blue gave up a goal in the adding half which gave Real Madrid the slim 1:0 win. Maccabi will face Slovenian side Maribor tomorrow evening at 19:00 Israel time in their second tournament match.

Yesterday afternoon, Maccabi “Shachar” Tel Aviv flew to Croatia to take part in the Ramljak Tournament named after Mladen Ramljak which will take place at the Dinamo Zagreb Training Facility. This competition will be new coach Ori Uzan’s first test in charge of the youth club and also a chance to get to know his players before heading out to the summer break.

This morning, the team had a light practice before taking on Real Madrid’s Youth B team at 17:30 who are coached by nine other than club legend Guti. In fact, this same Real Madrid side played in the Champions League Youth League with Maccabi Tel Aviv and mad it all the way to the semifinals of the tournament.

Two of the young Blancos Stars include 17-year old Asraf Hakimi who is part of the Moroccan National Team and Dutchman Mink Peeters the 18-year old who also plays for the Holland Youth National Team.

All the latest updates and match recap can be found right here on the Official Website including match pictures and quotes from the Yellow & Blue coach and players.

The last Matchday of 2015/16 saw Maccabi “Shachar” Tel Aviv take on their city rivals Bnei Yehuda at the Ramle Stadium as Ziv Arie’s side looked to end the year on a high note. The team began the match with the same lineup as last game but gave Moshe Peleg his first start after being calle up from the Under-17 squad.

Prior to kickoff, the club honored some of the players from the 1996 class who would be leaving the Youth Department and moving on including Eliel Peretz, Idan Yogev, Guy Aviv and Shaked Azulay. The players were presented flowers by the club in recognition of their service.

In the 13th minute Tomer Altman began a nice play by chipping the ball into the box right to Eden Kartzev, but his weak chance was saved by the keeper. The Yellow & Blue continued pressuring the Bnei Yehuda goal and their efforts were rewarded with a 21st minute goal. Or Dasa handed Kartzev an intelligent pass who shot right towards the heart of the goal with all of his might for a 1:0 Maccabi lead.

Maccabi continued pressing the Bnei Yehuda defense as Dasa again featured in creating the second goal of the match passing the ball to Almog who pounded the ball behind the Bnei Yehuda keeper good for a 2:0 advantage in the 29th minute.

Shay Golan, Tomer Altman and Eylon Almog all had a chance to increase the lead before the break but the trio couldn’t find the back of the Bnei Yehuda goal.

Coach Ziv Arie made a pair of substitutions to open the second half as Mahmoud Awesat and Ran Vaturi were introduced in favor of Dov Amran and Eylon Almog. Just five minutes after the break Or Dasa went one on one with the Bnei Yehuda keeper and added a goal to his two assists to make the match 3:0 in favor of Maccabi. Shay Konstantin took goal back for the visitors but t was too little too late as the Under-19 side collected the three points to end their campaign that included a trip to the Champions League Youth League.

 

Ori Uzan will coach Maccabi’s Youth team Maccabi Tel Aviv ‘Schahar’ as of next season and will replace Ziv Ariye after three years in the job

Uzan (37) joined Maccabi Tel Aviv’s Youth Department last season after holding positions as Assistant Coach at the senior teams of Maccabi Haifa, Beitar Jerusalem and Hapoel Petah Tikva and guided the U-17’s to the league championship.

The club said: “We would like to thank Ziv Ariye for the three seasons in which he guided Maccabi Tel Aviv ‘Schahar’ to win the championship and was the first coach to guide an Israeli side in UEFA’s Youth Champions league. We wish Ori Uzan success in his new role”.