Category: News

Maccabi secure third U19 tourney title

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Maccabi Tel Aviv secured victory in the six-team International U19 Winter Tournament for the third time on Saturday after a draw with Crystal Palace and victory over Excelsior Rotterdam on the third day of competition at the PenguinPickUp training centre at Kiryat Shalom.

Maccabi Tel Aviv 1, Crystal Palace 1: Coach Eliezer Ben Aharon watched as his players took the lead in the 12th minute through an Asaf Hershko goal from 20 metres out. The hosts appeared to be heading for victory before the English side equalised in injury time when striker Rob Street headed in the equaliser.

Maccabi Tel Aviv 2, Excelsior Rotterdam 1: Maccabi were dominant in Saturday’s second fixture and had control of the first half but with little to show for their efforts. The second half was more fruitful and Maccabi took the lead in the 34th minute when Tal Torgeman took advantage of a melee in the area and headed in the first goal. Maccabi made it 2-0 in the 42nd minute through an Or Roizman free kick from 18 metres out. Three minutes later, the Dutch outfit pulled a goal back when Sanches Fernandes struck a curling shot that ended up in the back of the Maccabi net.

Other results on Saturday:

Excelsior Rotterdam 1, Grasshoppers 0; Hapoel Beersheba 1, Beitar Jerusalem 0; Grasshoppers Zurich 1, Hapoel Beersheba 2, Crystal Palace 2, Beitar Jerusalem 1.

Maccabi beat Beersheba, Grashoppers in U19 international tournament

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Hosts Maccabi Tel Aviv consolidated their position at the top of the standings in the international under-19 tournament on Friday with two more impressive wins over Hapoel Beersheba and Grasshoppers of Zurich.

Maccabi Tel Aviv “Shahar” 2, Hapoel Beersheba 1:


 Eliezer Ben Aharon’s charges opened their account on day 2 of the tournament and they took the lead in the 10th minute through Ronen Hanchis who intercepted a Beersheba pass and set himself up to send the opposing goalkeeper the wrong way and put the ball into the far corner of the Beersheba net.

Maccabi doubled the score at the start of the second half following a corner as Guy Mizrahi picked up a cross and put Tal Torgeman in position to fire the ball home for a two-goal lead.

Daniel Ivgi scored the consolation goal for Beersheba in the 56th minute.

Maccabi Tel Aviv “Shahar” 4, Grasshoppers Zurich 1:


 In their second fixture of the day, Maccabi scored an even more decisive win despite going behind early to the Swiss side, who scored in the fifth minute through Robin Kalem. Maccabi soon came back through goals by Parfait Guiagon in the 11th minute and Rave Asayag in the 28th. Guiagon and Shai Balahssen scored in the second period.

In other results on Friday it was Beitar Jerusalem 1, Grasshoppers 1; Crystal Palace 2, Excelsior Rotterdam 0; Beitar Jerusalem 3, Excelsior Rotterdam 3; Crystal Palace 1, Hapoel Beersheba 1.

These are the fixtures on the final day’s play on Saturday: Maccabi Tel Aviv v. Crystal Palace, Grasshoppers Zurich v. Excelsior Rotterdam, Hapoel Beersheba v. Beitar Jerusalem, Excelsior Rotterdam v. Maccabi Tel Aviv, Grasshoppers Zurich v. Hapoel Beersheba, Crystal Palace v. Beitar Jerusalem.

The closing ceremony will take place at 15:00

Maccabi players at Hisense Euro 2020 event

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Advanced gaming screens, VR glasses and enhanced reality devices were some of the attractions on show at Hisense’s Euro 2020 sponsorship launch at Bloomfield on Thursday. The Maccabi players present found it difficult to look away from the advanced devices that were the highlight of the event. Here is our account of what happened.

So what’s our record against Ben Shimon?

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Maccabi Tel Aviv will host Ashdod SC on Saturday at 19:50 for what will be the 61st ever meeting between the two sides, with Maccabi winning 37 times, 13 draws and 10 victories for the visitors. The goal difference is 108-45 in favour of Maccabi.

Maccabi’s success rate of 69 percent against Ashdod is Maccabi’s best against any of the 15 current clubs in the TASE Premier League that Maccabi have played at least 50 times.

Maccabi’s home record against Ashdod is 20 wins, four draws and three defeats — a 79 percent success rate. That is also the highest against any current league opponents compared to any club that Maccabi have hosted at least 25 times.

The unbeaten run at home against Ashdod currently stands at 16 matches, which is in the top six, and three short of the record, against Bnei Sakhnin achieved between March 205 and November 2018.

The biggest win over Ashdod was the 7-1 result in 1997-98 when Ben Luz, Nir Klinger, Efi Tzafrir, Haim Hajaj, Guy Tsarfati and Alec Nilash scored for Maccabi.

Ashdod’s only away win this season was at Maccabi Netanya. It was also the club’s first-ever win at the Netanya stadium against any opposition.

Ashdod have not won at Bloomfield since November 2010 when they registered a 2-0 result over Hapoel Tel Aviv.

Of the 43 men who have turned out for both sides over the years, the only current player to have worn the strip of both teams in Shahar Piven. He was loaned to Ashdod in the 2017-18 season.

Ran Ben-Shimon, Ashdod’s newly-appointed coach, who was Maccabi’s coach in 2008-09, has an overall record of eight wins, five draws and eight defeats against Maccabi — a 46 percent record. It is second only to Avram Grant, whose 65 percent success against Maccabi is the best for any coach who has faced us in at least 20 matches.

Ben Shimon will also be the first coach this season to face Maccabi after being appointed in the middle of the campaign and this factoid weighs heavily in favour of Maccabi and coaches have had only five wins, eight draws but have suffered 32 defeats.

The biggest defeat for any coach against Maccabi in the past decade was the 5-0 drubbing inflicted on Guy Luzon when he was in charge of Hapoel Tel Aviv in the Derby.

Atzili: Ashdod will try to attack, we mustn’t be complacent

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In-form striker Omer Atzili spoke to reporters at the Hisense Euro 2020 launch on Thursday night and said Maccabi were prepared for the threat of attack by their opponents, Ashdod SC.

“We don’t know exactly what they are preparing for us, but we do know that their players have a very attacking attitude. They are a team that will try to go forward all the time, so we need to be ready. We do know them, so we hope we will be able to gain the upper hand.”

He talked about the rest of the season and the tough road that still lay ahead.

“It’s always harder to retain the title and as things close up in the standings. Every player knows that he must be at his best at the business end of the season because there will be no easy games and we could falter if we lose focus. We just need to concentrate on our own game and make sure we are in the best form possible.

Atzili said his successful return into the side from an injury that sidelined him for six months was due to toil and sweat.

“I worked hard to return from injury after six months out and while it may have seemed as if I fitted in smoothly, I had to put in the effort extensively with two training sessions every day.”

Ivic: Ashdod are dangerous under new coach

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Maccabi Tel Aviv will meet Ashdod SC on Saturday at Bloomfield at 19:50 in the 20th round of the TASE Premier League and coach Vladimir Ivic spoke about the opponents who traditionally pose a tough obstacle for Maccabi. The club have just signed the experienced Ran Ben Shimon as their new coach.

U19 INTERNATIONAL TOURNAMENT GETS UNDER WAY

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The Maccabi Tel Aviv three-day international under-19 tournament began at Kiryat Shalom on Thursday and the hosts lead the six-team standings after a 4-0 win over Beitar Jerusalem. In other matches, Grasshoppers of Zurich beat Crystal Palace and Excelsior Rotterdam overcame Hapoel Beersheba.

These are the standings at the end of the first day.

Maccabi Tel Aviv 4, Beitar Jerusalem 0: Beitar were penalised with a red card in the first half and allowed Eliezer Ben Aharon’s charges to take complete control of the match. Omri Ram and Parfait Guiagon scored for Maccabi in the first half and Rave Asayag and Itay Ben Hemo, who struck a screamer from 30 metres, added the other two in the second.

Hapoel Beersheba 1, Excelsior Rotterdam 3: The Israelis took the lead from a goal by Netanel Askayas early on but the Dutch boys were unmoved and overhauled the deficit with goals by Niek den Heeten, Dave van Delft and Brent Vugts.

Grasshoppers Zurich 3, Crystal Palace 0: The Swiss dominated for most of the game and registered a convincing win over their English opponents. The goals came from Filipe De Carvalho Ferreira with a penalty and Willy Vogt with two.

Tomorrow’s Schedule:

Day 1 Photos:

U19 TOURNAMENT PARTICIPANT: GRASSHOPPER CLUB ZURICH

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Maccabi Tel Aviv’s youth academy will tomorrow host a three-day international youth tournament for the third year in a row after two very successful previous events.

England’s Crystal Palace, S.B.V. Excelsior of Rotterdam from The Netherlands and Grasshopper Club Zurich from Switzerland will participate alongside the hosts, Beitar Jerusalem and Hapoel Beersheba. The event will take place at Maccabi Tel Aviv’s PenguinPickUp training facility at Kiryat Shalom between January 23-25.

Here is a brief look at Grasshopper Club Zurich who are taking part for the first time. The outfit is the most successful Swiss side, with 27 league titles. They are currently second in the standings and have included six players who came through their youth development programme. Grasshoppers’ youth team are currently in fourth place in their division and their mainstay are players from the under-17 age bracket.

Grasshoppers are a side well known to our supporters: Munas Dabbur, who played for the outfit, is a product of the Maccabi Tel Aviv Academy and who played for us for two and a half seasons. He signed with Grasshoppers in 2014 and played for them for two and a half seasons too, making 89 first-team appearances and scoring 26 goals. From Zurich Dabbur moved to Austria’s Red Bull Salzburg, and then to Sevilla in Spain. He is currently with Hoffenheim in the Bundesliga.

These are some notable players to have turned out for Grasshoppers:

Shani Tarashaj: The 24-year-old forward joined Grasshoppers’ youth academy at age 13 and made his debut for the full team at age 19. He made 37 appearances and scored nine goals in a season and a half with Grasshoppers before signing for Everton in January 2016. He has since been on loan to Eintracht Frankfurt and Dutch side FC Emmen. 

Nedim Bajrami: Macedonia native Bajrami immigrated to Switzerland at young age and spent all of his youth career with Grasshoppers. He signed his first professional contract in 2017. Last August the attacking midfielder joined Italian Serie B club Empoli on loan with an option to buy.

Johann Vogel: Geneva-born Vogel’s first club was Grasshoppers where the midfielder made 133 appearances and scored 13 goals. As a youth, he played for amateur club Meyrin until joining the Zurich outfit in 1992. He later went on to play for a number of European clubs including AC Milan, Betis and Blackburn Rovers.

MAINTAINING A TRADITION: OPERATION “WRAPPING UP WARM 2020”

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 You know that old coat that’s been sitting in your closet for years? Or the sweater that hasn’t seen the light of day for ages? Now it’s time to give away the old and donate to a worthwhile cause.

After the huge success in the past three seasons, the Maccabi Tel Aviv FC Foundation will be holding “Wrapping Up Warm 2020” to support the community in cooperation with the “Pitchon Lev” charity.

How do you donate?

At the upcoming home game against Ashdod SC at Bloomfield on Jan. 25 a truck from the Maccabi Tel Aviv FC Foundation and “Pitchon Lev” will be waiting next to the club’s official merchandising trailer, near gates 7 and 8, where you can bring the clothes you want to donate.

By giving, you will have performed a good deed and helped the needy and as a token of our appreciation, one of our representatives will reward you with a small gift.

In the past three seasons, the campaign has seen great success, as over 5,000 winter clothing items have been collected. Fans have displayed their generosity and willingness to support the community when help is most needed.