A last-gasp goal by derby opponents Hapoel Tel Aviv hands Maccabi's U19s only their third defeat of the season

In the midst of a run of fine form that reached nine consecutive wins in all competitions, Maccabi Tel Aviv "Shachar" met Hapoel Tel Aviv on Saturday for the second derby of the U19 Premier League season. The first encounter ended in a clear 0-4 victory in "Shachar"'s favour, and with 14 points now separating the sides in the table expectations ran high in the Maccabi camp. But as we all know, in a derby expect the unexpected, especially if the home encounter is moved for security reasons to neutral territory, in this case Ramla. And that's exactly what happened, as Hapoel Tel Aviv battled from a goal down in the first half to first equalise and then, in virtually the last play of the match, score the winning goal to earn, for the time being at least, municipal bragging rights.

It took 22 first-half minutes for Maccabi to carve out their first genuine scoring opportunity, but when it came it immediately bore fruit. A clever pass by midfielder Gabriel Kanikovski  sent Mavis Tchibota through on goal with only the keeper to beat and the Congolese striker coolly scored his ninth goal of the season to put "Shachar" in front 1-0. Maccabi continued to dominate but struggled to create chances, with only midfielder Sohil Armeli getting into a certain goal-scoring position, only to see his effort blocked at the last minute by the Hapoel defence. At the other end, Hapoel waited until a minute before the break to create their only chance of the half, a shot by Eden Hershkowitz that Maccabi keeper Sahar Hason, returning after Haviv Ohayon was moved up to the senior squad, saw fly just beyond his upright.

After the restart the pace of the game increased, with both sides honing in on the opposition goal. After a number of fruitless efforts at both ends, it was once again Maccabi's Sohil Armeli who came close, but he was stopped by the keeper and the deflection was shot over by an ever active Mavis Tchibota. "Shachar" striker Raz Itzhak, perhaps the shortest player on the pitch, later rose highest to head a ball into the arms of the Hapoel keeper. But it was Eden Hershkowitz who in the 71^st minute brought about a change in the direction of the tie when he scored the equaliser for Hapoel Tel Aviv. After that the match became a box-to-box affair, with both sides stepping up their efforts to find a winner. And much to the chagrin of the hosts it was the visitors who finally succeeded, but not until the final minute of injury time when Guy Hadida put Hapoel ahead 1-2.

For Maccabi Tel Aviv's Under-19s this is only their third defeat this season, but after second-placed Maccabi Haifa won their Saturday fixture "Shachar" saw their lead at the top of the national U19 Premier League table reduced to six points. Next week head coach Ziv Arie's squad will travel south along the Mediterranean coast for an away encounter against Ashdod FC.      

 

 

 

 

U19 captain Dan Glazer and head coach Ziv Arie are getting ready for Saturday's derby against Hapoel Tel Aviv: "We enjoy the rivalry, but only on the pitch"

"Fair play, first and foremost". This is the message Maccabi Under-19 captain Dan Glazer wishes to broadcast on the eve of Maccabi Tel Aviv "Shachar"'s long-awaited derby against Hapoel Tel Aviv, to be broadcast starting at noon on Saturday on Israeli sports channel 55. In compliance with police orders the match has been moved from the Kiryat Shalom training ground to the municipal stadium in Ramla. Above all, the U19 skipper is hoping to see fair play, both on the pitch and off:  "Our club ethic is to respect the opponent and our profession. First and foremost fair play, and I hope that's how it will turn out, a quiet, respectful atmosphere".

"We're very much hoping that our fans will pitch up in great numbers because that's what really gets us going at the matches here at Kiryat Shalom and what will really help us on Saturday. On the other hand I hope things will remain quiet, both on and off the pitch. When things get out of hand it makes the match look bad and that can break our concentration".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Smr-jbDVXc

"Shachar" head coach Ziv Arie is also asking that the focus should remain on one thing alone: "This is football. I also said that after the last derby. The derbies are grand, we enjoy the rivalry but only on the pitch. We're out there to play football and that's where the rivalry should remain". And it's there that Maccabi's Under-19s have been excelling, going into the derby after nine consecutive wins in all competitions. Glazer: "It's a plain fact that we're in a good run of form and the team definitely look good on the pitch. Every week, every practice, we're told to be better than last time out, to improve in the next practice and that's what we think about all the time". Last Saturday "Shachar" beat Hapoel Haifa to reach the quarter finals of the U19 State Cup competition. They've won seven consecutive league ties and hold a nine-point lead over second-placed Maccabi Haifa in the national U19 Premier League table: "We know we're in a good run of form but still we always want to do more, break new records and win titles".

But despite the run going into the derby, head coach Ziv Arie describes the difficulties his team have had to face in recent weeks: "At every mid-week practice we train with maybe six, eight players. The rest are all either in the army, or training with the national team, or injured". The Under-19 coach went on to describe what he felt was the proper preparation for the forthcoming tie: "Derbies have their own significance but so far the match itself is concerned, it's just another game and no special preparations are required. We're working hard and we're taking our opponents into account like we do every week, but we didn't watch any special videos or add to the training anything special". For Dan Glazer the derby is very significant indeed: "I've been at Maccabi since I was six and we're always taught that the derby is a special match with a special atmosphere and I hope that that at the end of the tie it'll be us doing the smiling".

Glazer also gave us some insight into what we might expect from his team in the course of the season: "Look out for a team that will carry on playing their own game, trying to get better every week. And of course we're Maccabi Tel Aviv, and that means we want to take every title and be the very best. But like coach says every Saturday, what's most important is developing good footballers".

 

 

 

Maccabi's U19s beat Hapoel Haifa for the third time this season, this time to book a place in the State Cup quarter finals

Just a week after U19 Premier League leaders Maccabi Tel Aviv "Shachar" overwhelmed Hapoel Haifa 0-7 at their Kiryat Haim training ground for their seventh consecutive league win, the in-form Under-19s welcomed their northern opponents to Kiryat Shalom training ground for a State Cup tie offering a ticket to the quarter finals of the competition. And their convincing 5-0 victory, the third over Hapoel Haifa this season, more than amply demonstrated that where "Shachar" are concerned, form is form, whether it's the league or the Cup.

"Shachar"'s determination to maintain that form showed from the very opening moments of the match as they advanced on the Haifa goal without hesitation. Striker Mavis Tchibota claimed first honours with a good chance early on, but it was his fellow attacker Raz Itzhak who drew first blood by pouncing on a rebound from a shot by midfielder Gabriel Kanikowski and putting his side ahead 1-0. Striker Yonatan Cohen nearly doubled the advantage with a dangerous free kick, but shortly thereafter facilitated Maccabi's second with a corner that Mavis Tchibota headed on to midfielder Sohil Armeli, who shot into an open net to put the home side 2-0 up at the half.

Midfielder Matan Hozez, who last week also came in off the bench in the second half and scored a hat-trick, was first to try his luck after the break but missed narrowly. First-half goalscorer Sohil Armeli had better luck on 70 minutes, crowning a splendid personal effort with a winner from an acute angle that put "Shachar" 3-0 to the good. Six minutes later Armeli turned provider, sending the league's leading goalscorer Yonatan Cohen through to widen Maccabi's lead to 4-0. Only the Haifa goalkeeper and a last-minute clearance off the line prevented substitute striker Dor Galili from twice converting scoring opportunities, but in the match's dying moment Yonatan Cohen netted his second to round off the scoring at 5-0, a result that convincingly sends "Shachar" through to the quarter finals of the competition.

Next week, Maccabi Tel Aviv "Shachar" will return to league duties, hosting the derby against municipal archrivals Hapoel Tel Aviv.

Photographs: Chen Sedders   

    

 

Maccabi's U19s strike seven past Hapoel Haifa to win their seventh consecutive league encounter

Until this weekend, Maccabi Tel Aviv "Shachar", the club's Under-19s, had won their last six league outings and registered an impressive season-long average of almost three and a half goals per game. Going into Saturday's away encounter at Hapoel Haifa, head coach Ziv Arie's lads had just one thing in mind – more of the same. Well, they did even better than that, celebrating their seventh consecutive league victory with seven magnificent goals, five of them in the second half, and demonstrated once again their legitimate claim to a nine-point lead atop the national U19 Premier League table.

The weather was unusually warm for the time of the year, but that had little effect on Maccabi's Under-19s, who as in every match came out in attack mode. With 57 goals in 17 encounters, "Shachar" had no intention of allowing their goalscoring average to suffer and after 13 minutes midfielder Sohil Armeli had the team's first go at Haifa keeper Romeo Nofi. Next up was Congolese striker Mavis Tchibota, who first time out was stopped at the goal mouth but not for long. Just under the hour mark defender Shachar Fiban moved forward for a shot that hit the post and Chibota pounced on the rebound to volley into an open net to put the visitors 0-1 in the lead. Ten minutes later Tchibota turned provider with a corner kick that was headed in by striker Dor Galili to send the sides off at the break with Maccabi holding a 0-2 advantage.

After the restart "Shachar" wasted no time in increasing their lead and leaving in no doubt that they would emerge victorious. Two minutes in Tchibota was once again on the supply side, setting up for Armeli to poke in his eighth goal of the season for 0-3. At the other end Maccabi keeper Haviv Ohayon kept out Haifa's Stanley Samson, allowing the Maccabi half-time substitutes to open the floodgates. A 74^th minute double pass between midfielder Matan Hozez and striker Yonatan Cohen resulted in Hozez's first on the day, who three minutes later drew a foul to allow Cohen to score from the spot, the league leading goalscorer's 17^th of the season. In second place is Matan Hozez, who scored his 14^th of the season and his second of the afternoon ten minutes from time to put "Shachar" 0-6 to the good. Hozez com pleted his hat-trick for his 15^th of the season with a penalty and crowned a 0-7 rout that more than maintained their dominance of the league, nine points ahead of Maccabi Haifa.

Next week "Shachar" will once again face Hapoel Haifa, this time in the last sixteen of the U19 State Cup competition.

 

Maccabi's U19s registered their sixth consecutive victory courtesy of goals by Eliel Peretz and Raz Itzhak

As in the away fixture earlier in the season, Maccabi Tel Aviv "Shachar", the club's Under-19s, faced tough opposition from their namesakes from Petach Tikva on Saturday at the Kiryat Shalom training ground in matchweek 17 of the U19 Premier League. But goals early on in both halves, the first by Eliel Peretz and the second by striker Raz Itzhak, were enough to see the league leaders through a match they dominated from start to finish, despite Maccabi Petach Tikva pulling one back in the second half. But Maccabi held on for 2-1 to register their sixth consecutive victory, a result that keeps them top of the U19 Premier League table nine points clear second-placed Maccabi Haifa.

With only three minutes on the matchclock Maccabi were already on the scoreboard after captain Dan Glazer tried his luck from outside the area and found midfielder Eliel Peretz instead, who sent the opposition keeper the wrong way to put the home side ahead 1-0. For Peretz it was his fourth league goal of the season. Head coach Ziv Arie's eleven continued with their supportive passing play and defender Guy Aviv then found Matan Hozez in space but the midfielder's strike flew over the net. On the half hour mark Congolese striker Mavis Tchibota squared a ball for Sohil Armeli in the area but the midfielder missed the post by a fraction.

After the break, Maccabi Tel Aviv "Shachar" repeated their feat of the first half by scoring early on. Mavis Tchibota was the provider, sending an excellent cross from the right into the area that a lunging Raz Itzhak poked past the keeper into the opposition net to put the home side up 2-0. Most of the action continued to take place in the Maccabi half and Eliel Peretz came close to a second when his header hit the ground and bounced over the goal. At the other end Maccabi Petach Tikva mounted their first credible assault on 72 minutes and Aviyahu Ezer succeeded in pulling one back for the visitors. Maccabi striker Yonatan Cohen, the U19 Premier League's leading goalscorer, came on off the bench and nearly returned his side's two-goal advantage but his header was cleared off the line by an opposition defender. In the end, "Shachar" held on to their slim 2-1 lead for their sixth consecutive league win and another week at the top of the Under-19 Premier League.

Next Saturday Maccabi Tel Aviv "Shachar" will play away to Hapoel Haifa.

photographs: Hen Seders

Maccabi's Youth Division collected gifts for children at the "Schneider" Children's Hospital in Petach Tikva

Maccabi Tel Aviv's Youth Division continued this month with their programme of community service with a visit to the "Schneider" Children's Hospital in Petach Tikva, after having visited Jerusalem's "Virtual" Centre and Tel Aviv's Shapira Community Centre in December.  "Schneider" Children's Hospital is Israel's largest facility offering the widest range of paediatric services in the country. The visit, for the purpose of distributing gifts to the hospital's children, was conducted by Under-19 goalkeeper Haviv Ohayon and Maccabi Tel Aviv Youth Division educational consultant Chen Abdu. The gifts themselves were collected by the Youth Division and included things children love like board games and all kinds of new toys. The gifts were all stored away together and so will be available to as many of the children as is possible.

   

 

 

Maccabi Tel Aviv "Shachar" opened round two of the U19 Premier League with a 1-4 win at Hapoel Rishon Lezion, increasing their lead to nine points

Having started and finished their first round of league ties with victories, Maccabi Tel Aviv's Under-19s carried on in round two of the national U19 Premier League in the same fashion, with yet another impressive victory. They defeated Hapoel Rishon Lezion 1-4 at their "Superland" playing field to complete a home-and-away sweep of the clubs' two season 2014/15 encounters. In doing so, Maccabi Tel Aviv "Shachar" increased their lead at the top of the U19 Premier League table to nine points.

Despite Maccabi's complete domination from the start of the match, it was Maccabi Tel Aviv keeper Haviv Ohayon who just under the ten-minute mark first fished a ball out of his net following a well-placed header by Rishon's Ely Bachar. But the visiting side recovered quickly and within seven minutes, "Shachar" had turned the match around. Striker Yonatan Cohen first equalised and then came close to a second before one of Rishon's defenders turned Cohen's effort into his own net. At 1-2 Maccabi's momentum continued to gather pace and on 25 minutes Cohen turned provider, sending a pass to fellow striker Mavis Tchibota in a position where he could hardly have missed. Cohen saw a chance to increase Maccabi's first-half lead to 1-4 miss narrowly, but there were still 45 second-half minutes for him to make amends.

And that he did. It took the U19 Premier League's leading goalscorer just four minutes after the restart to get his brace, turning in a superb cross from defender Guy Aviv for his 16^th goal of the season. There the scoring finished, at 1-4, despite yet another opportunity for Cohen, and one for midfielder Gabriel Kanikovski, to widen the margin still further. One margin that did grow was Maccabi Tel Aviv "Shachar"'s lead at the top of the league table, which with the team's fifth consecutive victory now stands at nine points ahead of Maccabi Haifa, who only managed a 2-2 draw against Beitar Tubruk on Saturday.

Next Saturday Maccabi's Under-19s will be at home at the Kiryat Shalom training ground to host Maccabi Petach Tikva.     

 

 

 

The Maccabi Tel Aviv Youth Division won all their matches on Saturday

The Maccabi Tel Aviv Youth Division's nine teams all faced league opponents this Saturday, and all of them won. As already reported elsewhere on this site, the Under-19s won their away fixture at Beitar Tubruk 0-1. But earlier in the day another Maccabi youth team, the Under-17s, had already completed the same task, beating their Tubruk counterparts by an even wider margin of 0-3. Omer Lakao, Roy Ronen and Almog Eylon provided the goals to enable coaches Eliezer Ben Aharon and Gadi Brumer's Maccabi Tel Aviv "Oded" squad to finish their round one encounters with a handsome twelve wins and three draws.

Maccabi's Under-16s also scored three goals to no reply, in their case at home against Ironi Bat Yam.  Ron Zamir, Eden Kartsev and Guy Dahan scored as head coach Shlomi Mitelka's lads racked up their eleventh win in thirteen league encounters so far. A week after suffering their first league defeat this season, the club's Under-15s Team 1, Maccabi Tel Aviv "Eldad", restored normal service, beating Maccabi Haifa Nahalal 0-2 away for their ninth win in their first ten league outings of the season. The Under-15 Team 2 won by an identical scoreline, beating Beitar Haifa 2-0 at home, courtesy of goals by Shachar Eylon and Gil Rahimi.

In Saturday's derby, Maccabi Tel Aviv's Under-14 Team South beat municipal archrivals Hapoel Tel Aviv 4-2. Trailing 0-2 at half time, head coach Ori David's squad turned the match around courtesy of a brace by Tal Binyamin and individual efforts by Omri Ram and Menahem Asraf. The Under-14 Team North also won, 1-2 away at Maccabi Netanya with goals from Yonatan Izen and Ofir Scayek. The matches of the two Maccabi Under-13 teams produced ten goals apiece, South winning 4-6 away at Hapoel Beer Sheva and North beating Sektzia Nes Tsiona 8-2.

More good news from the Youth Division: Four members of the Maccabi Tel Aviv Under-19 squad – captain Dan Glazer, midfielder Matan Hozez, defender Shachar Fiban and U19 league-leading goalscorer Yonatan Cohen – have all received call-ups for Israel's national Under-21 squad. For Fiban and Cohen this is their first cap for a national Israeli team. Dan Glazer has already been capped nine times for the Israeli Under-19s, Matan Hozez three times. The team will hold two days of training this week, including a friendly match against Israeli second division side Hakoach Amidar Ramat Gan.   

 

 

Mavis Tchibota's second-half winner handed Maccabi's U19s a 0-1 away win at Beitar Tubruk and a successful closure to the league's first round

Maccabi Tel Aviv "Shachar" finished their last match of round one of the national U19 Premier League in the same fashion as they have finished most of their previous fourteen league encounters – victoriously. Their opponents, fourth-placed Beitar Tubruk, represented a considerable challenge at their Netanya headquarters, but head coach Ziv Arie's lads were up for the task and returned home after winning 0-1 courtesy of a second-half strike by Congolese forward Mavis Tchibota. The win widened their lead at the top of the league to seven points after second-place Maccabi Haifa lost to Hapoel Ramat Gan, who themselves suffered defeat at the hands of Maccabi Tel Aviv only last week. But "Shachar" are not only round one leaders, they also have the best attack and defence in the league so far, with a jaw-dropping goal difference of 42, 51 goals scored to only nine conceded!

Maccabi opened the match in much the same form as they displayed last week against Hapoel Ramat Gan, with two clear-cut chances on goal, one for striker Yonatan Cohen and one for midfielder Eliel Peretz. The Maccabi pressure on the Tubruk goal then slackened and only just before the half hour were they able to conjure up another shot on goal, a Sohil Armeli header that sailed wide of the mark. With the hosts struggling to make work for the "Shachar" defence, the Maccabi onslaught continued and Yonatan Cohen caught Tubruk keeper Omer Bar off his line, only to see defender Dor Maymoni clear his shot at the last moment.

After the break Maccabi carried on where they had left off in the first half, this time with more accuracy. Just three minutes after the restart Mavis Tchibota and midfielder Matan Hozez breached the Tubruk defence with a double pass that enabled the Congolese to put "Shachar" in the lead 0-1. Yonatan Cohen and substitute striker Raz Itzhak both missed opportunities to increase the margin but Maccabi managed to hold on to the one-goal advantage until the end of the match largely due to the steadfastness of the back four, who left no chance for the home side to mount a credible assault on goal. The victory was "Shachar"'s twelfth in their fifteen round-one encounters, an outstanding record that sees them finish the round at the top of the national U19 Premier League, seven points ahead of their nearest rivals Maccabi Haifa. Next week "Shachar" will begin round two with an away encounter at Hapoel Rishon Lezion. 

 

 

 

Maccabi's U19s put on a stellar performance to stay four points clear at the top of the table

After successfully jumping their first State Cup hurdle last Saturday, Maccabi Tel Aviv's Under-19s returned to league duty on Saturday with an impressive 6-0 win over Hapoel Ramat Gan. The venue was changed from the water-logged pitch at Kiryat Shalom training ground to drier pastures in Tel Aviv's "Tikva" neighbourhood, but the move had no effect on the home side, who registered their largest home win of the season so far and stayed four points clear atop the U19 "Toto" League.

It took Maccabi Tel Aviv "Shachar" only two minutes for a declaration of intent as Congolese striker Mavis Tchibota struck the woodwork. Thereafter Maccabi continued to dominate and on the half hour mark the desired result was achieved as the league's leading scorer, striker Yonatan Cohen, latched onto a goalkeeper's deflection and scored Maccabi's first goal of the match. Moments before the break, Cohen turned provider for midfielder Matan Hozez, who scored the home side's second.

Hozez, with two braces to his credit already this season, added his second from the penalty spot eight minutes after the restart to widen Maccabi's margin to 3-0 and open the floodgates for a "Shachar" goalfest in the second half. On 65 minutes it was 4-0, with midfielder Eliel Peretz crossing for striker Raz Itzhak to smash home. Six minutes later captain Dan Glazer headed in his first goal of the season to make it 5-0. At that point the heavens opened up but no rainstorm could prevent Matan Hozez from completing his and head coach Ziv Arie's Under-19 squad's first hat-trick of the season with a header on 77 minutes that sealed "Shachar"'s convincing 6-0 victory.

Next week, Maccabi's Under-19s will will complete the first round of their league matches playing away to Beitar Tubruk.

Line-up: Haviv Ohayon, Guy Aviv, Shachar Fiban, Sheked Azulai, Saar Kalderon, Dan Glazer, Eliel Peretz, Sohil Armeli, Matan Hozez, Mavis Tchibota, Yonatan Cohen