Category: News

Late goals give Maccabi youth victory over Hapoel Ramat Gan

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Maccabi Tel Aviv’s under-19 side were in complete command of their youth league clash with Hapoel Ramat Gan at their Ness Ziona home base on Saturday but only found the net with two very late goals to set them back to winning ways.

Maccabi had more than a handful of chances in the first half, as the dangerous Parfait Guiagon looked particularly potent but none of his four attempts managed to find the target. At the other end, Ramat Gan had a solitary attempt.

The second half was a similar affair, as Maccabi piled on the pressure to set up a similar number of chances, but the breakthrough came only in the 89th minute when Shaked Navon, who came on as substitute six minutes earlier, tapped in for 1-0 after an excellent pass from Or Roizman.

Guiagon provided Navon with his second goal seconds after the game entered injury time and he made no mistake once more.

Maccabi have now won nine of their 17 league outings this season and have amassed 34 points to put them in second place in the standings but they have played one more game than leaders Maccabi Haifa, who are on 39 points and Hapoel Tel Aviv in third, who are on 31 points.

Lineup: Tomer Alon, Guy Itzhaki, Mikel Mor, Itay Ben Hemo, Rotem Yatzkar, Afek Sapir Navot (Niv Berkovitz, 75), Shai Balahssen (Or Roizman, 45), Asaf Hershko (Nadav Nidam 61), Tal Torgeman (Omri Ram, 45), Parfait Guiagon, Ronen Hanchis (Shaked Navon, 83)

Half-term report: Maccabi’s achievements at the season mid-way point

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Half the 2019-20 TASE Premier League season is now behind us and Maccabi Tel Aviv have maintained their position at the top of the standings for yet another week, and on Saturday our boys will begin the run-in towards the finish line against Hapoel Hadera as they look for another championship.

This is the state of play at the halfway point:

Maccabi have topped the standings at the halfway stage for the fourth time in the past eight seasons and statistically this is a good omen, as seven out of the last eight league leaders at this juncture have gone on to claim the title.

The 44 points accrued after 18 rounds equals Maccabi’s tally last year.

The team has an 81 percent success record, with 13 wins, five draws and no defeats. Four of the five draws have been goalless.

Maccabi have scored an average of 1.78 goals per game and have conceded only 0.22 goals for each of their 18 outings. The latter stat is better than the record for conceding for an entire season, 0.31 goals, held by Hapoel Yahud in 1977-78.

Another excellent achievement is the 100 percent record in away games at the halfway stage and this has been done only twice before, by Maccabi Tel Aviv in 1951-52 and by Hapoel Petah Tikva in 1954-55.

The current attack create an average of 14 threatening situations per game, 7.9 of which are realistic scoring chances.

Eleven players have scored for Maccabi this season and Yonatan Cohen leads his teammates with eight goals.

Maccabi have utilised 24 players in the league but only Daniel Tenenbaum, Eitan Tibi and Dan Glazer have played all 1,620 minutes, alongside ten other players at the other 13 outfits.

Of Maccabi’s 32 league goals, 24 have come from footwork in open play, 13 were scored with the right foot and 11 were left-footed. Three penalties have been scored  and two goals from headers, both by Chico Ofoedu. One goal has come from a free kick taken by Yonatan Cohen, and there have been two own-goals. The second half in matches has been slightly more productive, with 17 goals compared to 15 in the first period.

U12 NORTH NAMED DECEMBER PIZZA PREGO TEAM

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Maccabi Tel Aviv’s under-12  North team have been named the outstanding team of the month by the club’s Youth Academy, a prize sponsored by Pizza Prego.

Academy heads Patrick van Leeuwen and Guy Zuckerman picked the side that train at Tel Aviv University and the boys celebrated with a meal sponsored by Pizza Prego on Wednesday.

They are the third team to feature in the pick for the prize and follow in the footsteps of Boys Under-13s South, the inaugural winners, and Boys Under-9 South, who won last month.

Each month Van Leeuwen and Zuckerman choose their outstanding team for the period but results are not necessarily the main factor when they make their pick, rather, the behaviour of the boys and their demeanour off the field of play too.

“Each month we will pick a side not only according to their results but also through their behaviour and the way in which they train. These will be our criteria to pick sides either from the southern base at Kiryat Shalom or the northern branch at the university,” Zuckerman said.

“Our cooperation with Pizza Prego has been very fruitful from our perspective, and we are very pleased that we can reward the kids and give them a good feeling. It helps team bonding and shows commitment by both parties,” he added.

U12 North are coached by Adi Somekh and his assistant, Dor Etzioni.

The team have advanced through three rounds in the State Cup and are so far unbeaten in the league.

Youth Academy fixtures this weekend

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Maccabi Tel Aviv “Shahar,” the club’s under-19 team, host Hapoel Ramat Gan on Saturday at noon in the latest round of youth league action, and following last week’s 1-1 draw with Hapoel Beersheba, the home team will look to return to winning ways in the 17th round of action. Eliezer Ben Aharon’s charges are third in the standings, while their opponents are in tenth position. The two sides ended their previous contest in the first phase of this season’s league in a 1-1 draw.

U17, Maccabi Tel Aviv “Oded,” have the weekend off due to an international break.

U16, Maccabi Tel Aviv “Eli Fuchs,” second in their division, host Maccabi Ahi Nazareth at 11.00 at Kiryat Shalom in the 18th round of action. Nazareth are in bottom place and will hope that the 7-0 drubbing they suffered in the first phase is not repeated.

U15, Maccabi Tel Aviv “Eldad” host Holon Yirmiyahu FC at 08:45 in the 14th round in their division. Maccabi’s boys are in fourth place, seven points off the pace, while their opponents are in 11th place and have only two wins to their credit so far.

Glazer: I am playing well and so is the team

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Maccabi Tel Aviv midfielder Dan Glazer told reporters at Thursday’s pre-match news conference ahead the TASE Premier League clash with Hapoel Hadera in Netanya on Saturday (kickoff 19:50) that he was confident of more success.

“We work hard and look for every detail and we train hard to be able to look our best. I am playing well and the team is too,” he said.

“We are exactly halfway through the season and we look only at ourselves, we just hope we don’t falter at any point.”

“We have just completed a tactical briefing ahead of the game, it’s going to be a tough one. Hadera will close down their defence and go for counter-attacks. It worked for them first time and we didn’t win but I hope we can win this time.” 

“We prepare for every possible situation in training and the fact that we have conceded only four goals in 18 games tells you all you need to know about us. We are Maccabi Tel Aviv and we want to win all our games.”

“The game against Maccabi Haifa was a crazy game and we scored four times but in some games there aren’t many chances so you have to take them when they come along.”

“We should have scored one against Beitar to win, but we didn’t.”

Ivic: Hadera will be tougher opponents this time

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Maccabi Tel Aviv coach Vladimir Ivic said in the pre-match news conference ahead of Saturday’s away TASE Premier League clash with Hapoel Hadera that Maccabi’s rivals have improved since their last meeting in October, a goalless home draw. “They are organised, they know how to attack, how to defend and are good at set pieces.

Take a look: U19 tournament participants Crystal Palace

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

England’s Crystal Palace, Excelsior Rotterdam of the Netherlands and Grasshoppers 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 England’s Crystal Palace, who are returning for the second year in a row.

The club play in the English Under-18 Professional Development League Group B (southern section) and after 16 matches, were in fifth place in the 10-team division with 25 points from 16 matches, including seven wins, four draws and five defeats.

Midfielder Brandon Pierrick is one to watch. He became the club’s second-youngest Premier League debutant when he came on to help his side defeat Norwich City on Jan. 1. Pierrick has been with the club for just under a decade and has progressed through the ranks in the Crystal Palace Academy from the Under-9s team to the Under-23s.

The Premier League club’s Academy has an esteemed reputation for producing outstanding footballers, including Wilfried Zaha who has played 334 times for his boyhood club, scoring 53 goals, and Aaron Wan-Bissaka (49 Premier League appearances).

Other Academy graduates who have starred in the Premier League include Victor Moses (220 Premier League appearances), Nathaniel Clyne (185 Premier League appearances), Ben Watson (145 Premier League appearances), Wayne Routledge (297 Premier League appearances), and Jonny Williams (12 Premier League appearances; an integral part of the club’s promotion to the Premier League in 2013).

The current England manager Gareth Southgate is also a Palace Academy graduate.

TICKETS ON SALE FOR AWAY FIXTURE V HADERA

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Maccabi Tel Aviv will play Hapoel Hadera in Netanya in the 19th round of the TASE Premier League on Saturday (kickoff at 19:50) and tickets are now on sale.

Tickets are available through the Lean ticket agency at 42 Frishman Street, via phone on *8780 or here, on our official web site.

Ticket prices for Maccabi supporters:
66 shekels at the Lean ticket office, or 71 shekels via telephone or web site order.

Loyalty points will be awarded to Maccabi scheme members for purchases for this fixture. Members who accrue more points get priority to buy tickets for away fixtures where there is high demand and only a limited number of seats:

Season ticket holders for the 2019-20 season will get three points per ticket.

FOREVER+ members who are season ticket holders will be awarded six points.

FOREVER+ members who are not season ticket holders will receive three points.

Non-loyalty scheme members will receive one and a half points.

Note: In order to confirm points, season ticket holders must state their membership number when making their purchase. Non-season ticket holders who want to collect points must purchase their tickets through the Lean web site and log on with their personal details.

Fans who have bought tickets but are no-shows at the stadium for the match will have their points deleted automatically.

Please note that tickets will not be distributed at the stadium booths on match day. They must be printed at home or downloaded on to smart phones.

Atzili: We had expected more from this match

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Maccabi Tel Aviv ended their home TASE Premier League match with Beitar Jerusalem in a goalless draw on Monday, much to the disappointment of the home team and fans who were in full voice in Haifa. Midfielder Omer Atzili gave his all during the 90 minutes but the players had nothing to show for their efforts.

“We expected more,” Atzili said after the game.

“I think this game was more closed than the previous one against Maccabi Haifa when both clubs came out wanting to win and there were more open spaces. But Beitar made life difficult for us, so we will need to find solutions and I hope things will look different on Saturday.”

Atzili, who was one of the most dominant players on the pitch, said that while Maccabi had shown intensity, Beitar played many long balls that made it difficult for the Maccabi players to mount increased pressure on their opponents’ goal.

“We prepare differently for every game but there are things we should have done and didn’t, and we should have been more creative,” he concluded.