Emir Sahiti: “There’s a lot of quality in our team. I'm happy to be here”

After a three week break, the Maccabi Tel Aviv Youth Division teams return to duty this week-end with some intriguing top-flight encounters

After two matchless Saturdays, the Maccabi Tel Aviv Youth Division teams return to league duty this week-end in the various youth leagues. Maccabi Tel Aviv "Shachar" will host the Under-19s of Hapoel Rishon Lezion at the Kiryat Shalom training ground in matchweek 8 of the national Under-19 Premier League. Placed seventh in the table four points off the pace, and just two points behind their week-end guests, Maccabi's Under-19s will be out to pass them in the table by taking all three points. The Under-17s, Maccabi Tel Aviv "Oded", will also host a current league contender, Hapoel Beer Sheva, at Kiryat Shalom. Maccabi's Under-17s are currently top of the national Under-17 Premier League table, but are leading their guests on goal difference only. Maccabi's Under-16s will face a similar situation, topping the national Under-16 table South on goal difference over their Hapoel rivals from Beer Sheva. But in this case Maccabi Tel Aviv "Eli Fuchs" will be heading to Beer Sheva to be the guests of their southern rivals. Both of Maccabi's Under-15 teams will return to league duties with home matches at Kiryat Shalom. Maccabi Tel Aviv "Eldad" will host Hapoel Rishon Lezion whilst Team 2 will face Nesher FC.

The younger sides of Maccabi's Youth division will all be on the road this week-end. The Under-14 Team South will travel to the capital to face Beitar Jerusalem, the under-13 Team North to Netanya to clash with Beitar Tubruk and the Under-13 Team South to Rishon Lezion for an encounter with the local Hapoel team. They will be joined for a similar encounter by the Under-12 Team South, while Team North also head to the capital to face Hapoel Jerusalem. The younger North teams will be idle this Saturday but the Under-11 and Under-10 South teams will be hosting their Ashdod FC counterparts for league matches at the Hadar Yosef sports facility.   

After a three week break, the Maccabi Tel Aviv Youth Division teams ...

Youth Division teams lit the second Hanukah candle with children from the organisations "Larger Than Life" and "Special Olympics" at Maccabi Tel Aviv's youth facility

This evening Maccabi Tel Aviv's Youth Division hosted children from the organisations "Larger Than Life" and "Special Olympics"  for a traditional Jewish Hanukah celebration that has now become a Club tradition.  The Youth Division football director, Nir Levine, hosted the evening, inviting division veterans Baruch Ezrati and Yehuda Livni to light the candles.  Attending the event were owner's representative Jack Angelides, Gideon Brickman and players of the senior team – Barak Levi, Gael Marguelis, Yagil Biton, Reef Peretz and Ben Ben Yair, who handed out gifts to the "Larger Than Life" and "Special Olympics" children.  The event was held in co-operation with the "Achim LaSemel" fan organisation, who provided candy floss, festive music and a face painting booth.  Though not on a footballer's regular diet, in an exceptional gesture director Levine allowed the players from the various youth teams to taste one traditional Hanukah treat, a "suvgania", so that they, too, could enjoy the holiday celbrations.

Maccabi Tel Aviv wish to thank Said Abulafia for donating the "suvganiot" for the event, as well as "Achim LaSemel" for their presence at every club event and their help in supporting the huge community of Maccabi Tel Aviv fans.

Youth Division teams lit the second Hanukah candle with children from the ...

Maccabi Tel Aviv's Under-17s finished third at the 40th International Pentecost Tournament U17 VfL Theesen in the German city of Bielefeld, after defeating their counterparts from German side Borussia Dortmund

Maccabi Tel Aviv's Under-17s today ended their series of matches at the 40th International Pentecost Tournament U17 VfL Theesen in the German city of Bielefeld for the class of '96, and walked away with an impressive third place finish. The competition consisted of two groups of four teams playing three days of matches lasting 50 minutes each. The three other sides competing in Maccabi Tel Aviv "Oded"'s group were German sides 1 FC Köln, VfB Stuttgart and the host club VfL Theesen. In the second group were Under-17 teams of German sides Borussia Dortmund and DSC Arminia Bielefeld, the Dutch club Feyenoord Rotterdam and the Swiss side FC Basel.

In the first group match of the competition, which began on Saturday, Maccabi Tel Aviv "Oded" defeated their group rivals 1 FC Köln 3-1 courtesy of a brace by the Congolese youngster Mavise Tsjabote, now training with the team, and an individual effort by striker Sohil Armeli .In the first of Maccabi Tel Aviv "Oded"'s two group matches yesterday they lost to VfB Stuttgart 3-1, with Mavise Tsjabote once again scoring for the Under-17s , but even a draw in their second group match against the host club VfL Theesen would have guaranteed them second spot in the group. In the event Maccabi Tel Aviv "Oded" left little doubt as to their deserved place in the semi-finals with a convincing 4-1 victory, with Mavise Tsjabote and Guy Aviv scoring a brace each.

In the semi-final match against  FC Basel,  Maccabi Tel Aviv "Oded" failed to find the net for the first time in the tournament and lost 3-0 to the ultimate tournament winners. But it still entitled them to challenge for the third place in the tournament and their opponents this time were the Under-17s of Champion League finalists Borussia Dortmund, who lost their semi-final match to fellow German side VfB Stuttgart. Guy Aviv put Maccabi ahead in the first half but two minutes from time Borussia Dortmund levelled sending the match into a penalty shoot-out. After five successful attempts by both sides, Maccabi keeper Omri Glazer succeeded in stopping Borussia Dortmund's sixth enabling Maccabi's Dan Glazer to finish the job and hand Maccabi Tel Aviv "Oded"  an impressive 6-5 win and the third place tournament honours.

Youth Division Football Director Nir Levin, who accompanied the Under-17's on the tournament, had this to say after the match: "This was a competition at the highest level with teams of the highest quality, so a third place finish reflects a worthy performance and is an excellent achievement for our Under-17s".

Maccabi Tel Aviv's Under-17s finished third at the 40th International Pentecost Tournament ...

Another Saturday of victories for Maccabi Tel Aviv Youth Teams with particularly impressive results for the Under-17s and the Under-15s 

Maccabi Tel Aviv's Under-17s finished off their season in style with an impressive 7-0 victory over third placed Bnei Yehuda in the last of the season's regulation matches. For coaches Ziv Arie and Avi Yichiel' s lads this was their 24^th win in 26 league matches and hands them the honours for the best offence and defence in the league by a wide margin. Midfielder Matan Hozaz scored a hat-trick for Maccabi, midfielder Yonatan Cohen a brace and striker Sohil Armeli and midfielder Raz Yitschak added individual goals each.  Maccabi Tel Aviv's Under-17s already sealed the league title at the beginning of the month and shortly after the end of the regular league season they will embark upon the "Champion of Champions" competition that pits the top three clubs of the Northern and Southern Under-17 Premier Leagues against one another to determine the national champion. This year those clubs are Maccabi Tel Aviv, Hapoel Tel Aviv and Bnei Yehuda in League South and Maccabi and Hapoel Haifa and either Beitar Tubruk or Bnei Sakhnin in the League North.

Maccabi Tel Aviv's Under-16s finished their season last week but the Under-15s registered yet another victory to remain five points off the pace. Head coach Shlomi Mitelka's charges beat Ironi Bat Yam away 0-1, with Omer Lakau scoring his 20^th league goal of the season. Under-15 Team 2 kept up their good form with an eighth consecutive win, 6-1 against Gadna Tel Aviv. Tomer Altman netted a brace, Or Dessa, Tal Sandrovitch, Amit Cohen and Etai Fibnick all added individual goals.

Maccabi's Under-14s played a cross-club derby between Team North and Team South at Maccabi's Kiryat Shalom training grounds, with Southemerging victorious 3-1 courtesy of a hat-trick by Almog Eilon. Maccabi's Under-13 Team South played out a 2-2 draw against Hapoel Ramat Gan.

Another Saturday of victories for Maccabi Tel Aviv Youth Teams with particularly ...

Maccabi Tel Aviv's Under-16s rounded off the season with a victory, the Under-15s won and kept their hopes alive of eliminating the gap at the top of the table

After 23 victories and just one single loss, Maccabi Tel Aviv's Under-17s ended their current season with their first draw. With just one match left before the end of the regulation season and the start of the "Champion of Champions" competition that pits the top three clubs of the national Northern and Southern Under-17 Premier Leagues against one another to determine the national champion, the Southern League champions finished their 25^th matchweek against Ironi Modi'in with a 2-2 draw, with the game's four goals being scored by two players. For Maccabi Tel Aviv "Oded" it was striker Sohil Armeli who netted a brace, to bring his season's total to 20 league goals. At the Modi'in end the honours went to Bar Hazut, whose second and equalising goal came just five minutes from time.

Maccabi Tel Aviv's Under-16's are the first Youth Division club to round off their season and they finished in style, beating Hapoel Ashkelon 2-0. Raz Yitschak and Tomer Altman scored for head coach Eliezer Ben Aharon's side, who add to the achievement of a National Youth Cup win earlier this month a respectable third place finish in the table. With four matches to go till the end of the season, MTA's Under-15s remain in second place in the Under -15s Central League table courtesy of a 3-0 victory over Bnei Yehuda. Only halfway through the second half did Shlomi Mitelka's lads make the breakthrough, with Roi Ronen netting a brace (his 19^th and 20^th league goals of the season) and Elad Shachaf adding his first goal of Maccabi Tel Aviv "Eldad"'s season. They will now look to those four remaining matches to whittle away at the five point lead at the top currently held by big city rivals Hapoel Tel Aviv.

Maccabi Tel Aviv's Under-15 Team 2 made it seven wins in a row by beating Section Nes Tsiona 4-1 at home at the Kiryat Shalom training grounds. Guy Shetah scored a brace and Amit and Matan Cohen added individual efforts leaving their side fourth in the table. In the younger leagues, both Maccabi's Under-14 teams suffered defeat, Team South a 0-3 home loss to Maccabi Shoham and Team North 0-2 to Beitar Jerusalem. The Under -13 Team North beat Hapoel Rishon Lezion 4-1 and stayed top of the table, while Team South triumphed 2-0 against Hapoel Beer Sheva.

Maccabi Tel Aviv's Under-16s rounded off the season with a victory, the ...

Maccabi Tel Aviv's Under-17s and Under-16s both registered victories, the Under-16s narrowed the gap at the top of the table

Already crowned champions, Maccabi Tel Aviv's Under-17s added to their victories on Saturday by beating bottom-of-table Hapoel Machane Yehuda by a whopping 18-0. Midfielder Yonatan Cohen lead the ranks with five goals, fellow midfielder Matan Hozaz added a hat-trick, three other players scored braces and there were four more individual efforts. Cohen's five goals puts him at the top of the league's goal-scoring table with 22, with striker Sohil Armeli close behind at 18 and Hozaz at 17. Head coach Ziv Arie's lads have just two matches left till the end of the regulation season and the start of the "Champion of Champions" competition that pits the top three clubs of the Northern and Southern national Under-17 Leagues against one another to determine the national champion.

Maccabi Tel Aviv's Under-16s are also playing the final matches of their season and hope to finish off on a positive note. Maccabi Tel Aviv "Eli Fuchs" already have one piece of silverware in their cabinet, the National Youth Cup, but the championship of the national Under-16 Premier League South has already gone to Maccabi Petach Tikva. On Saturday MTA's Under-16s played their penultimate match of the season, a difficult away tie against Bnei Yehuda, and came back from 2-1 down to win 2-4. Eilon Yerushalmi, Etai Aloni, Roi Tsarom and Tom Zguri all found the net for Maccabi as they held on to third place with a chance of climbing to second on the last day of the season.

Excitement is building in the last matchweeks in the national Under-15 Premier League Central Division as Maccabi Tel Aviv "Eldad" narrowed the gap at the top of the table to a mere five points with a narrow but precious 0-1 away win on Saturday at Hapoel Kiryat Ono, Roy Ronen the goalscorer. With league leaders Hapoel Tel Aviv having lost, Maccabi's Under-15s now have the five remaining matches of the season to close the gap altogether. Maccabi's Under-15 Team 2, placed fourth in the table, registered their sixth consecutive victory with a 1-3 away victory at Hapoel Ramat Gan and closed the gap on their nearest rivals to just a point. Lenny Aharon, Tal Sandrovitch and Or Dessa were the goal scorers.

Results for Maccabi's younger teams on Saturday were mixed, with the Under-14 Team South involved in a goalless draw in the derby against big city rivals Hapoel Tel Aviv and North losing a "little" derby against Bnei Yehuda 0-2. Under-13 North beat Beitar Jerusalem 3-1 and stayed top of the table while Under 13 South played out a 1-1 draw against Section Nes Tsiona.

Maccabi Tel Aviv's Under-17s and Under-16s both registered victories, the Under-16s narrowed ...

A winning week-end in the national Youth Cup competitions for Maccabi's Youth Division Teams, with four reaching the semi-finals and one the finals

Maccabi Tel Aviv's Under-17s reached the semi-finals of their national Youth Cup competition with a 3-0 victory over Bnei Sakhnin. Continuing a pattern established in the last three rounds, in which they scored 14 goals without conceding, Maccabi Tel Aviv "Oded" repeated the sequence against their northern neighbours from the national Under-17 League North. Matan Hozaz scored Maccabi's first goal, his second in Cup competition and ninth all told. Defender Omer Priov doubled Maccabi's advantage just after half time with his second Cup goal. Near the end of the match, Guy Aviv sealed "Oded"'s rise to the semi-finals with his 14^th goal in all competitions.

The Under-16s also kept a clean sheet in a victory that put them in the semi-finals of their Cup competition. Head coach Eliezer Ben Aharon's charges were away at Ironi Modi'in and won 2-0 on goals from Eilon Yerushalmi and Roy Tsarom. The Under-15s, Maccabi Tel Aviv "Eldad", also advanced to the semi-finals of their competition after a dramatic extra time 2-1 victory over Maccabi Petach Tikva. Maccabi Tel Aviv took the lead in the first half off a goal by Roy Ronen, his 18^th of the season in all competitions. But in the second half the visitors equalised from the spot and sent the match into extra time. But Maccabi Tel Aviv substitute Sanir Lugassi's dramatic late winner avoided a penalty shoot-out and sent the Tel Aviv into the semi-finals.

Like their older under-17 counterparts, Maccabi's Under-14 Team South also hosted their Bnei Sakhnin rivals at Kiryat Shalom training ground and beat them by the same 3-0 margin. All three goals were scored by Almog Ayalon, who sent his side into the semi-finals of their Cup competition, the fourth of the Maccabi Youth Division's teams to do so this past Saturday. But oneMaccabi team have already made it to the finals, Under-13 Team South, having finally come out on top of a topsy-turvy goalfest against Ashdod FC by the score of 9-5. They will play Maccabi Petach Tikva in the finals.

A winning week-end in the national Youth Cup competitions for Maccabi's Youth ...

With a cup tie coming up, Maccabi's Under-17s continued their winning ways in the league. Victories also for the Under-16 and Under-15 Teams

Maccabi Tel Aviv's Under-17s chalked up yet another victory on Saturday, and a considerable one at that. They put six goals past Beitar Jerusalem while preserving a clean sheet to maintain a double-digit lead at the top of the table with just seven matches left in the regulation season. Head Coach Ziv Arie's charges left the pitch at half time with a 2-0 advantage courtesy of goals from Maxim Gretchkin and Yossi Solelich. After the restart Gretchkin got his second, Yonatan Cohen added a brace of his own and Guy Aviv finished off the scoring in the dying moments of the match to bring the final result to 6-0. For the Under 17s this is their 18^th win in 19 league outings. Next Saturday they will be hosting Bnei Sakhnin in the quarter finals of the National Cup for U-17 teams.

The Under-16s welcomed Section Nes Tsiona to the Kiryat Shalom training grounds and emerged 3-0 winners. Joseph Ganda netted his second league goal, Ilon Yerushalmi scored his fourth from the spot and Roy Tsarom's fourth effort of the season finished off the scoring. Head coach Eliezer ben Aharon's lads stay fourth in the table, level on points with Beitar Jerusalem, and ten points off the top with six matches left to the season.

The Under-15s, Maccabi Tel Aviv "Eldad", played host to Ironi Modi'in and sent an eye-popping 10 goals past their unfortunate keeper. Nine different "Eldad" players joined in on the goalfest, with Sanir Lugassi alone in adding a second. The Under-15 Team 2 had to settle for a point after their away match with Hapoel Rishon Lezion ended in a 2-2 draw. The Under-14 Team South met Ashdod FC for a clash of the league leaders but neither side could find the net, while the Team North lost away to Hapoel Beer Sheva 3-0. The Under-13 Team  North emulated the success of the Under-15s with a comprehensive 8-0 win over Ironi Modi'in but the Under 13 Team South came away with just a point after a 2-2 finish against Bnei Yehuda.   

With a cup tie coming up, Maccabi's Under-17s continued their winning ways ...

Maccabi Tel Aviv's Under-17s are unstoppable, even when the lights turn red. Most teams in the rest of the Youth Division fared well

The only loss suffered by Maccabi Tel Aviv's Under-17s this season occurred way back somewhere at the beginning of the first round against Hapoel Tel Aviv. After having won all of their other 15 league games this season, the Under-17s once again faced their city rivals in this Saturday's matches, and they made it 16 out of 17 with a 1-3 win at Hapoel's  Wolfson training ground.  

Maccabi captain Dan Glazer scored the game's first goal 17 minutes after kick-off but Hapoel managed to equalise before the half time whistle. The game remained stalemated until 15 minutes from time when Matan Hozaz netted his seventh goal of the season. Sohil Armeli added Maccabi's third in the dying moments of the match. Quite apart from securing for Maccabi the Tel Aviv Under-17 bragging rights, the victory also widens their margin at the top of the table to ten points, with their city rivals looking at the gap from the opposite end. The Under-16s won by the same margin as their older club mates, 3-1 at home against Hapoel Rishon Lezion. All the goals came in the last 20 minutes of the match, with Raz Yitschak, Omri Haramti and Hadar Levi doing the Yellow honours.

Maccabi's Under-15 teams played a derby match against one another, with Team 1 beating Team 2 by a score of 2-0. Omer Lakau and Ofri Mishta scored the goals for Team 1, now second in the table behind leaders Hapoel Tel Aviv. Both of Maccabi's Under 14 teams lost this Saturday. Team North lost 6-0 to league leaders Hapoel Rishon Lezion and Team South were beaten at home by Hapoel Ramat Gan 0-1. Maccabi's Under 13 teams had a more successful Saturday with league leaders North beating Gadna Tel Aviv 2-1 and South drawing 2-2 against Hapoel Ramat Hasharon.

Maccabi Tel Aviv's Under-17s are unstoppable, even when the lights turn red. ...

Youth Team A booked a place in the quarter finals with a 4-0 home victory over Maccabi Petah Tikva. Yonatan Cohen added to his already impressive total of 10 league goals by scoring a brace for the Yellows. Defender Omer Priov added his second consecutive goal after scoring the winner in last Saturday's league match. Guy Cohen, who also recently scored in the youth team, provided the fourth.

Youth Team A booked a place in the quarter finals ...