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Lot's of action this Saturday as four Youth Division teams host at Kiryat Shalom

After losing last week for the first time this season, Maccabi's Under-19s will try to return to winning ways as they return to Kiryat Shalom training ground to host Hapoel Beer Sheva at 11.30am. So far head coach Ziv Arie's lads have taken 19 of their first 24 points but will go into the match trailing the national U19 Premier League leaders Maccabi Haifa by two points. Three other Youth Division teams will be hosting at Kiryat Shalom on Saturday, among them the Under-17 Premier League leaders Maccabi Tel Aviv "Oded", who will welcome Hapoel Kiryat Shmona at 10.20am on the artificial pitch. Another Maccabi Youth Division team leading their league are the Under-16s, who will be out to maintain their perfect season record when they host Ashdod FC on the same artificial pitch at 8.30am. Third up on the artificial pitch will be the club's Under-15s Team 1, who take on Ironi Modi'in at noon. The Under-15 Team 2 will be on the road on Saturday, facing Maccabi Herzliya at 10.45am.

Most of the younger Youth Division teams going into matchweek 3 will be playing away this Saturday. The Under-14 Team North head north to Tirat Hacarmel to tackle Nesher FC at 2.30pm. The Under-14 Team South and the Under-13 Team North will both be playing at the "Superland" sports complex, at 8.45 and 9am respectively, to play their counterparts from Hapoel Rishon Lezion. The Under-13 Team South round off this Saturday's slate of Youth Division fixtures when they host Section Nes Tziona on Kiryat Shalom's artificial pitch  at 1.45pm.

Lot's of action this Saturday as four Youth Division teams host at ...

Yesterday all but one of Maccabi's younger Youth Division teams advanced to the next round of their State Cup competitions. The U13 Team North play today

With the exception of the Under-19s, who were engaged in league duties, and the Under-17's and 16's who had the weekend off, all the remaining Maccabi Youth Division teams played State Cup fixtures this weekend. Maccabi Tel Aviv "Eldad", the club's Under-15 Team 1, easily reached round three of their competition with a 6-1 victory over Maccabi Barkai. Adir Hardon and Tal Daon both scored braces, Amit Mordechaev and Rotem Ziv contributed individual goals. Team 2 also reached the third round with an impressive 0-5 away win at Hapoel Ramat Gan.

For Maccabi's younger Youth Division teams, Saturday was the first round of their respective State Cup competitions. Head coach Ori David's Under-14 Team South handily beat Hapoel Bat Yam 5-0 to advance to round two. Gil Ben Shlush scored a hat-trick while Tal Yagudaev and Tschager Dan provided the other two goals. Joining them in round two are Team North, who breezed past opponents Hapoel Marmorek 8-0. Yonatan Izen, Dan Lugasi and Ofir Schayek all scored twice, Asaf Hershko and Yarin Bazar brought the team total to eight with individual efforts.

Today Maccabi's Under-13 Team North will travel to Maccabi Yavne to complete the present slate of Youth Division State Cup encounters. Next Saturday all the division's teams will return to regular league duties.

Yesterday all but one of Maccabi's younger Youth Division teams advanced to ...

This weekend Maccabi's Youth Division teams return to league and Cup play

After a three-week break for most teams, Maccabi Tel Aviv's Youth Division will return to action this weekend. After six wins and a draw in their first seven matches, the Under-19's will attempt to hold on to the top spot in the national U19 Premier League when they set out for a tricky away tie against Beitar Jerusalem, currently ranked tenth, at their Bayit VeGan training ground. This is the league's matchweek 8 centrepiece fixture and will be broadcast live on Israel's sports channel 55 at noon on Saturday.

The club's Under-17s, the only Youth Division team to have played during the break, will have the week off, as will the Under-16s. The rest of the Youth Division teams will play National Cup matches at the weekend. The Under-15 Team 1, Maccabi Tel Aviv "Eldad', will host Maccabi Barkai on the artificial pitch of the Kiryat Shalom training ground at 10.30pm in round two of the U15 State Cup competition. Team 2 will also attempt to get to the third round at the expense of Hapoel Ramat Gan, who will host them at Tubruk at 12.30pm.

Maccabi's Under-14 Team North, Maccabi Tel Aviv "Shlomo", will kick off their U14 National Cup campaign with an away tie at Hapoel Marmorek at 10.30am. Team South will also be on the road to face Hapoel Bat Yam at their local stadium at 4.30pm. The final Youth Division team to play this weekend are the Under-13 Team North, who on Sunday night at 6.30pm will kick off their U13 State Cup campaign playing away to Maccabi Yavne.  

This weekend Maccabi's Youth Division teams return to league and Cup play

The finals of the "Nike Israel" tournament ended in a loss for Maccabi Tel Aviv "Eldad". The U15 Team 2 reached the semis

Maccabi Tel Aviv's two Under-15 Teams participated in the second and deciding stage of the "Nike Israel" tournament which took place yesterday in Ra'anana. The group stage of the tournament took place at the beginning of the season and yesterday the best eight teams came to Ra'anana to complete the tournament's quarter final, semi-final and final rounds. Winner of the tournament will participate in Nike's world-wide tournament to be held this year in Lubliana, Slovenia.  Tournament matches lasted 40 minutes, with teams switching sides after 20 minutes.

Both Maccabi Tel Aviv Under-15 teams won their quarter final matches after penalty shootouts, with Team 1, "Eldad", beating Ashdod FC and Team 2 defeating Maccabi Netanya. This set up a derby in the semis, which finished in a 1-1 draw after 40 minutes courtesy of goals from "Eldad"'s Roy Ronen and Team 2's Or Dasa. In the second penalty shoot-out for both Under-15 teams it was "Eldad"'s goalkeeper Ofek Alfasi who had the upper hand, sending his side into the finals. There, unfortunately, "Eldad"'s luck ran out, as they conceded a goal to Maccabi Haifa five minutes from time and lost 1-0 to finish a very worthy second.

Pictures courtesy of the Koko-Nike Company Israel

The finals of the "Nike Israel" tournament ended in a loss for ...

Maccabi Tel Aviv's Under-17s continued their winning ways on a Saturday on which only the matches for the Under-16s and older were played

Maccabi Tel Aviv's Under-17s hosted HaKoach Maccabi Amidar Ramat Gan in the tenth matchweek of the national Under-17 Premier League South.  The Maccabi youths registered their sixth consecutive league victory by a score of 5-0, each goal  scored by a different player.  Matan Hozaz continued his good run of form with his fifth goal in the last six league and Cup games.  Maxim Gerchkin contributed his second goal in as many matches, Yonatan Cohen scored his fourth goal of the season, Suheil Armeli his eighth (league and Cup) and Eliel Peretz added his second goal of the season.

The club's Under-16s played at the Kiryat Shalom training ground this Saturday also looking for a sixth consecutive league win, but Bnei Yehuda frustrated that effort by beating them 1-2. The loss marked the Under-16s first loss since the opening week of the current season.  Raz Itzhak scored the only goal for Maccabi, his tenth goal of the season in all competitions as an Under-16 player. Itzhak has scored one goal for the Under-17s as well.

The only Youth Division draw of the week-end was played out by the Under 16 Team 2, whose game against Hapoel Ramat Gan ended goalless. The best result came from the Under-16s who beat Hapoel Kiryat Ono at Kiryat Shalom by the convincing margin of 9-0.  All of Maccabi Tel Aviv's Youth Division ties scheduled for the Under-15s and younger were cancelled due to soggy pitches, the result of the rainy weather this week-end.

Maccabi Tel Aviv's Under-17s continued their winning ways on a Saturday on ...

Maccabi's U17s continued their good season-opening form with a home win against Nesher FC

After opening the current season with a draw, Maccabi Tel Aviv "Oded" registered their sixth consecutive victory, trouncing their counterparts from Nesher FC 9-0 at home at the Kiryat Shalom training ground in matchweek 7 of the national U17 Premier league. Ofri Mashta and Ittimar Shaviro each bagged a brace, while Ori Salomon, Almog Eylon, Tomer Altman, Guy Shetach and Nadav Amram contributed the remaining five. The victory sent head coach Eliezer Ben Aharon's side to the top of the table, with fellow pacesetters Maccabi Haifa awaiting them on Saturday.

A week earlier the Under-17s played their game in hand from matchweek 5 and beat Hapoel Haifa by a nearly as impressive score of 6-1, with six different players scoring the goals: Almog Eylon, Roy Ronen, Bar Galili, Omer Lakao, Tomer Altman and Ittimar Shaviro. With seven matches played in the 2014/15 season, Maccabi Tel Aviv "Oded" have scored 26 goals, the total spread quite evenly among the squad. Roy Ronen leads the pack with five, but Ittimar Shaviro follows close behind at four while Ofri Mashta and Tomer Altman have netted three goals each. 

Maccabi's U17s continued their good season-opening form with a home win against ...

This season's outstanding players so far can be found in all age groups of the Maccabi Youth Division, including a set of very exceptional twins

In a growing tradition that began last year, the Maccabi Tel Aviv Youth Division honour their outstanding players by selecting three of them to hand to the referee the match ball at each home game of the senior team at Bloomfield Stadium. The three are chosen by virtue of their excellence on and off the pitch, not only in their footballing skills but also in their academic achievements, in their behaviour and in their sense of fair play.

Last month at the senior team's opening league match against Hapoel Ra'anana the first of this season's honours were bestowed. Two of the winners were actually twins, Tamir and Amit Glazer from Maccabi's Under-15 Team North, both of whom are the younger brothers of Under-19 captain Dan Glazer. Also honoured were Noam Cohen from the club's Under-16s, Leo Benbenisti from Under-11 Team South and Or Kastiel from Under-13 Team North.

This season's outstanding players so far can be found in all age ...

The club's older Youth Division teams recorded narrow victories while Maccabi's two Under-13 sides faced off in an intra-club derby

Maccabi Tel Aviv "Oded" travelled to Ashdod FC on Saturday for matchweek 6 of the national U17 Premier League and returned with three points that kept them near the top of the table. Despite the gap between the clubs in that table, it was no stroll in the park for Maccabi's Under-17s. The home side scored first just after the break and held on to their lead until the 64th minute when Ofri Mashta scored for the visitors. Maccabi finally turned the match around courtesy of a maiden season goal by Ittimar Shaviro, who handed head coach Eliezer Ben Aharon's squad a hard-fought and important three points.

Maccabi's Under-16s also faced tough opposition away on Saturday but they too came away with all three points. A single Prince Thomas goal two minutes from the break spelt victory for Maccabi Tel Aviv "Eli Fuchs" at Section Nes Tziona as they maintained their perfect start of the season through their first seven league outings.

Maccabi Tel Aviv "Eldad", the club's Under-15 Team 1, were also on the road on Saturday and like their older counterparts returned home with a narrow victory, in their case earned in dramatic fashion. Head coach Eyal Tzachi's lads had gone in front ten minutes after the break courtesy of Tal Daon but let the advantage slip in injury time. Fortunately for Maccabi enough time remained for them to find a winner, provided by Bar Levi, and translate their 1-2 victory into three invaluable points. Far less dramatic, but no less impressive, was Team 2's 5-1 victory over Hapoel Petach Tikva. Star performer was Eyal Chen who netted four of the teams goals, with Yam Ben Yehuda adding the fifth.

Maccabi's Under-14 Team South also registered a home win at Kiryat Shalom training ground, beating Hapoel Kiryat Ono 3-0. Gil Ben Shlush, David Degu and Roy Benvenisti all scored for head coach Ori David's side. Team North lost away 3-1 to Beitar Tubruk, with Yehonatan Izen scoring the visitor's only goal. In the nationwide U13 League Central District Maccabi's North and South teams squared off against one another for an intra-club derby, which Team South won 5-2.

The club's older Youth Division teams recorded narrow victories while Maccabi's two ...

This Saturday will see Maccabi's U19s host Maccabi Netanya and the first Youth Division derby of the 2015 season

After having dropped points for the first time this season last week at Hapoel Ra'anana, Maccabi Tel Aviv "Shachar" will attempt to return to winning ways when they host their Under-19 counterparts from Maccabi Netanya at Kiryat Shalom training ground in matchweek 7 of the national U19 Premier league. The match will begin at noon and be broadcast live on Israeli channel 55. Maccabi Tel Aviv "Oded", the club's Under-17s, will also be out to carry on their early season good form when they visit Ashdod FC at 9am. The Under-16s, Maccabi Tel Aviv "Eli Fuchs", will hope to extend their run of victories to seven from seven at Section Nes Tsiona at 10.30am.

Maccabi's Under-15 Team 1 will also be out to maintain their winning run with an away tie at Reiser Stadium against Hapoel Beer Sheva at 10.30am. After drawing last week against Maccabi Netanya, Team 2 will take to the artificial pitch at Kiryat Shalom to host their Hapoel Beer Sheva counterparts at 8.30am. Maccabi's Under-14 Team South will also host on the artificial pitch when Hapoel Kiryat Ono come to visit and Team North will head out to face Beitar Tubruk at 8.30am. Matchweek 2 of the Under-13 season will see two of Maccabi's Youth Division sides, Team South and Team North, face off against one another on the artificial pitch at Kiryat Shalom.

This Saturday will see Maccabi's U19s host Maccabi Netanya and the first ...

Maccabi's younger Youth Division teams got off to good season starts, the U16s won 5-3

Apart from the Under-17s, who had the weekend off, and the Under-10s, whose league season has yet to start, all of Maccabi Tel Aviv's Youth Division teams were in action at the weekend. As reported elsewhere, the Under-19s had to settle for a 1-1 draw at Hapoel Ra'anana, but for Maccabi Tel Aviv "Eli Fuchs" the weekend produced a more tantalising result. Out to win their sixth consecutive league fixture since the start of the season, head coach Shlomi Mitelka's Under-16s succeeded as they came from behind to defeat municipal neighbours Bnei Yehuda 5-3 at the Kiryat Shalom training ground. The visitors got off to the better start and led 1-2 at half time, but after the restart the home side staged an impressive comeback, scoring four times to go in front 5-2 before Bnei Yehuda pulled one back late in the match.  Maccabi's five goals were scored by five different players: Prince Thomas, Neil Goldberg, Nadav Reuveny, Eylon Almog and Eden Kartsev.

Also looking to continue their perfect start to the season were the club's Under 15 Team 1, Maccabi Tel Aviv "Eldad". They hosted Hapoel Jerusalem in matchweek 3 of the nationwide U15 League Central District and made it three out of three with a 3-1 win. Adir Hardon, Tal Daon and Or Biran provided the goals for head coach Eyal Tzachi's side, who conceded only the one goal late in the match. Team 2 played away at Maccabi Netanya and shared the points after a dramatic 2-2 draw. All the scoring came in the second half, with Eyal Chen accounting for both of Maccabi's goals, the second in the game's final minute.

For the first time this weekend most of Maccabi Tel Aviv's younger youth teams joined their older counterparts in 2014/15 league competition, and the results were encouraging, to say the least. The Under-14 Team North opened with a 4-0 home victory over Maccabi Haifa/Nahalal, with a brace from Asaf Hershko and individual goals from Yuval Ben-Ami and Idan Rozenfeld. Team South travelled to Ironi Hod Hasharon and booked a handsome 0-3 win, courtesy of goals from Yoav Lang, David Degu and Nadav Niddam. Maccabi's Under-13 Team North also played away and earned their three points in a convincing 0-6 triumph. Maccabi's winning weekend was rounded off by the club's Under-13 Team South, who beat Hapoel Kiryat Ono at home 3-0.

Maccabi's younger Youth Division teams got off to good season starts, the ...