Inspirational trip for Maccabi Youth Personnel to Atalanta

A Youth Department delegation is currently visiting Atalanta and took part in their youth club's training session while also meeting key team personnel

Maccabi Tel Aviv Youth Department personnel are in Bergamo, Italy visiting Atalanta, which is considered to have one of the world’s best youth departments. The Yellow & Blue group includes Dr. Antonio Dello Iacono (The Club’s Director of Sports Science), Guy Tzarfati (Under-19 Head Coach), Ori David (Under-15 Head Coach), Chen Abdu (Goalkeeping Coach), Eliran Sleman(Under-14 North Coach).

Over last few days, the delegation surveyed Atalanta’s training facility and observed the club’s youth team’s activities that included the Under-17, Under-16 and Under-15 sides. The Maccabi personnel took in the Italian outfit’s work philosophy and how they run their training sessions.

In addition, the group also met key personnel from management to the head of Atalanta’s scouting department. The delegation also took part in a 3-hour lecture about the training methodology of the Club that delved into the values and basis as to how the youth department works.

Atalanta’s first team also trains at the same facility and the Maccabi group talked about how they saw the owner and Head Coach Gian Piero Gasperini go from youth team to youth team and spoke to them for a number of minutes.

Maccabi Tel Aviv Youth Department personnel are in Bergamo, Italy visiting Atalanta, ...

Youth Department action, Saturday February 25, 2017

The Under-19 Club plays away at Bnei Sakhnin, the Under-17 side has a crucial Derby while the Under-16 looks ahead to a tough test

Bnei Sakhnin – Maccabi “Shachar” Tel Aviv, 11:00
The Under-19 side will look to get back onto the winning track when they visit the north and Bnei Sakhnin, Head Coach Guy Tzarfati who is part of a Maccabi delegation at the Italian outfit Atalanta, will miss the match and his assistant Shaul De-Chukrel will guide the young Yellow & Blue against the 10th place club.

Maccabi “Oded” Tel Aviv – Hapoel “Tzachi Ben Porat” Tel Aviv, 10:00 Kiryat Shalom
Eliezer Ben Aharon’s team will attempt to keep their five point advantage atop the Under-17 table when they face their city rival who find themselves in 5th place. The two sides faded each other earlier in the month in State Cup action as the Yellow & Blue took home a 1:0 victory in extratime.

Maccabi “Goldschenfeld” Haifa – Maccabi “Eli Fuchs” Tel Aviv, 10:30 Kesef
After falling to defeat against Maccabi Petah Tikva last Matchday, the Under-16 squad has another tough test as they travel to Haifa. Alon Brumer’s side will take on the Greens who are currently in third place, just one point away from the Yellow & Blue.

Maccabi “Eldad” Tel Aviv – Hapoel “Shlomi Wartsel” Petah Tikva, 12:30 Kiryat Shalom
The Under-15 coach, Ori David is also in Italy, however, his players will look for a win after a goalless draw last Matchday against Hapoel Kfar Saba.

Bnei Sakhnin – Maccabi “Ilan” Tel Aviv, 15:00 Nehef
Just like the Under-19 club, Amir Sofer’s team heads to Sakhnin after having drawn two straight Matchdays with the identical 3:3 score line as they’ll look to pick up 3-points.

Bnei Sakhnin – Maccabi “Shachar” Tel Aviv, 11:00 The Under-19 side will look ...

Patrick van Leeuwen: “We are going in the right direction, but Israel needs to give the clubs an option for an Under-21 team”

Eight months after becoming the Performance Director at Maccabi, the Dutchman spoke about the changes that have been taking place and explained how the new methodology has been implemented throughout the Youth Department

Eight months have gone by since Patrick van Leeuwen joined Maccabi Tel Aviv as the Performance Director. One of his main roles has been to develop the Yellow & Blue Youth Department and Academy into one of the world’s finest and he explains how he has been doing exactly that at Kiryat Shalom and beyond. As van Leeuwen and the staff continue to succeed so does Maccabi as he opens up in the interview below:

Progress over the last few months:
“I’m satisfied with how the way the coaches and players are working. We made some changes that demanded commitment and concentration by the coaches and the beginning was difficult. I explained what I wanted to accomplish from my side, what I wanted to achieve and how I wanted to Youth Department to play and train which produced some question marks from the staff. Slowly but surely things came together when the coaches and players experienced what I wanted. We now have a situation where we know how to play in a match or organize a training session and it’s normal for everybody.”

Philosophy instilled with tactics:
“We are still making progress with how to play and train every week and every match. Stability is very important in football and it comes only with time. The more you do it and the more you practice, the more success you’ll have in what you want to achieve. You make progress when you play and then the teams feel that it becomes more natural. Players get used to the changes compared to where they may have played on the pitch last season and this is part of the philosophy that I want to implement.”

Seeing results:
“Normally a process takes two to three years to set in, so it’s not something you’ll see success if you just do it on Monday and Friday. However, since we’ve made progress in such a short time in training and matches, I believe that in two years we will begin to see the benefits of our work. What we are doing with the coaches is setting in and how we want to play the matches will only be stronger and stronger. The way we want to play the matches is in a very focused way with a lot of aggression with the ball and movements with and without the ball. That also influences the tempo of the training sessions and the intensity is increasing every day, which in the end makes our players more physically fit for the time when they have to actually play in the match. All in all after 8-months, I can say that we are going in the right direction in the style I want to play in matches and how we train.”

The importance of the Sports Science Department:
“I like to approach the different parts in football separately, which means I don’t want to mix them too much. Football is football to me and it should stay football. The Sports Science department is responsible for the physical training of our players, plus it also analyzes the matches and the individual programs for players. I want all of these areas to be outside of the regular football sessions. Three times a week before the training sessions along with one full session, most of our teams have a physical training session of 25 minutes which gives the Sports Science Department the opportunity to give the players stability, mobility and speed qualities. For the younger ages we do this twice a week. In addition, we also film all of the sessions and matches while preparing the information to discuss with the players. We cut down the match into parts that we feel are important to discuss with the players.”

More about the physical training and video analysis:
“Physical training is prepared before the football and video analysis is done before the training session at the beginning of the week so the coach has the time to fix issues or repeat the good things. This way the players get information before training in order to know what they are going to work on. We also try to approach the players that need individual attention in both these areas so we not only focus on the team but on the individuals as well.”

CSharp the special computer program that helps collect and disseminate information:
“We are using a program called CSharp that was developed by a Dutch company and it is part of the club and the academy. The scouting department and management are storing information about the players and about the meetings with the players. The medical department also has the medical report history of every player.

There is also a smartphone application where the player can see the training session before they actually start training. It’s something special that gives us an opportunity to prepare the players but also gets the players into the mood for the exercises they are going to do. It’s an application that gives animation where we can also add some video from our database with all of the exercises we have filmed over the last 8-months.

This is common in clubs that have player registration and monitoring. We try to inform the players what the aims of the session are and what the intentions of the coaches are in the session that they will going to have that same day.”

The Commercial Football Schools:
“We have two commercial schools, one in the north near the University and one in the south at Kiryat Shalom which include children who want to be a part of the Maccabi structure. They are fans of Maccabi who may also want to have a chance to enter the academy and we will put even more focus on these schools next season. We want to restructure the training process for the commercial schools so it really becomes part of our selection of younger players aged six through nine who still may be able to enter the Academy. If a player is developing well we can always give him a chance to train with the Maccabi Academy teams. But our intention is to approach it a bit differently and in addition to the two training sessions they currently have, we would also like to add an internal championship that the children can also play a match which at this moment doesn’t exist. We want to see them play against each other in matches as well.”

What do players need to do to get into the Academy?
“We are trying to bring the commercial activities closer to the academy by bringing the same philosophy to the commercial schools. If the younger ages are training well, we will be in touch with the coaches and we will listen to them if they want to recommend a player. That’s the plan for next season; to put them into the same football structure.”

The importance of scouting:
“The intention of the scouting department at the lower ages is to find the best local players, the best Israeli players. At 14-years old, we have the option with no restrictions to see someone from say the north of the country and bring him into our Academy structure. At a certain age we can also take in foreign players but they need to be much better than the local players. Primarily, we focus on the local players up to the age or 17-years old. We want to see what is going on in Israeli football which is very important for Maccabi and also for Israeli football in general in order to make them stronger as the National Team benefits from the higher level we can bring.”

Young players from outside of Israel:
“Foreigners need to be 18 years old and then you can perhaps add them to the Youth Club and hopefully a player like that can make it to the first team. It’s something that has our attention as well as Jewish players from around the world. We just had some youngsters from Australia that trained with us as well as from America who showed to be at a good level. So it’s a great opportunity for us to look at talented players with a Jewish background which is something that we are very interested in. We also hope that players who can play at a good level and that have a Jewish background are interested in receiving a trial. We are willing to check their resumes and agree to a trial period.”

General football development in Israel:
“Israel needs an Under-21 league or an option for the clubs to register an Under-21 Team in one of the existing leagues. There needs to be something in between the Under-19 and Premier League level and I believe that Israel loses a lot of talented players in the 18-20 year old age group. I think that a professional club should take the responsibility in the continuing development of a youth player and not think that he is ready when he is 17 years old. This is not the case and we need to extend the development until the players are 18-19 years old for them to have a real chance to compete with the players of the first team.”

Where do you see the department in 5 years?
“I would like to see us increase the level of our Academy, our training and playing levels. We want the children to be happy to be part of the Maccabi structure and that we as a club we are trying to increase our opportunities and facilities to offer the best opportunity for them to become the best football players that they can be and that those players are beneficial for Maccabi’s first team. Ultimately, we want the players to be able to play for the first team and for them to also benefit us in Europe. That’s where we want to be with the youth teams and with the first team and that’s the aim for all of the players; to be able to play in Europe and not just for Maccabi in Israel.”

Eight months have gone by since Patrick van Leeuwen joined Maccabi Tel ...

Maccabi Delegation at Italian Club Atalanta

Members of the Yellow & Blue Youth Department Staff will visit their counterparts who are considered to be one of the top departments in the world over the next few days and will experience various different work methodologies

A delegation from the Maccabi Tel Aviv Youth Department departed for the the city of Bergamo, Italy where they will be hosted by Atalanta, one of the country’s top football clubs. The group includes Dr. Antonio Dello Iacono (The Club’s Director of Sports Science), Guy Tzarfati (Under-19 Head Coach), Ori David (Under-15 Head Coach), Chen Abdu (Goalkeeping Coach), Eliran Sleman(Under-14 Coach).

As part of the visit, the Maccabi staff will observe training sessions at the Atalanta Football Club Youth Department as well watch some of their matches over weekend. In addition, the group will meet with experts from Atalanta in order to enrich their knowledge as to how their department has been built, the work philosophy as well as the weekly schedule and professional guidelines for actual matches.

The Bergamo club’s youth department has produced many players that have gone to some of the leading leagues and therefore has been identified by many studies over the last few years as being one of the best in Italy and the world. The delegation will also learn about Atalanta’s scouting department, the sports science department and how they collect and analyze information about the players.

Dr. Dello Iacono will also be giving two lectures about the work model at Maccabi and the Israel Football Association. Maccabi will also look at the possibility of cooperating together with Atalanta which would include professional training sessions for coaches along with sharing information with each other.

A delegation from the Maccabi Tel Aviv Youth Department departed for the ...

Beginning March 10th: Training Principles in Modern Football Course

The use of contemporary technology, how to apply the same philosophy in practice, the impact of scientific knowledge and more. Register now for the 12 session course that will take place on Fridays at Kiryat Shalom

Over the last few years, sports science has become essential in providing information to plan, implement and monitor training programs in the field of football. On March 10th a brand new course will be launched in conjunction with the Maccabi Tel Aviv Sports Science Department and the Wingate Institute for Physical Education and Sports that will deal with training methodologies in modern football. The course, which will be a total of 60 academic hours will meet 12 times at Kiryat Shalom. Lecturers will include Dr. Antonio Dello Iacono, Course Coordinator, the Youth Department’s Performance Director Patrick van Leeuwen, Raymond Atteveld and other coaches from the department.

Registration for the course which begins on March 10th and will be held on Fridays between 09:30-14:30 is already open.

The course will focus primarily on three main topics as the participants will receive a broad skill set to deal with the demands of modern football.

1. Coaching Philosophy
Lectures on this topic will be given by Patrick van Leeuwen and Raymond Atteveld, the Maccabi Tel Aviv Performance Director and his assistant who will explain how to build an entire system around the philosophy. For example, the issue of how to set match principles from a young age to the youth club level and thereby develop the players by this method. In addition, participants will learn how to plan a training schedule for the short-term (weekly) and long term (eg. 6 week work cycle or a two year longer work cycle).

2. Utilizing Sports Science
Dr. Antonio Dello Iacono, Director of Maccabi Tel Aviv’s Sports Science Department will primarily be handling this part of the course. Participants will be taught how to practically train football players while using the extensive scientific knowledge that exists today. How to streamline the training process will also be explained according to scientific principles with the goal of fostering the athletes and prepare them for the senior teams.

3. Technology in Sports
In this area, the participants will be exposed to many systems that facilitate a deeper understanding of the players capabilities. For example, GPS systems, databases including match reports, player assessments in accordance with the same coaching philosophy including mental and physical aspects and video analysis while connecting all of these elements together.

In addition, there will also be guest lectures by experts in the coaching and training world of professional football.

Over the last few years, sports science has become essential in providing ...

Yellow & Blue Saturday – Match Results February 18, 2017

The Under-17 side held onto first place in their league, the Under-16’s fell in their “Match of the Season” while the Under-15 North squad had another match that saw goals galore

Hapoel Raanana 0:1 Maccabi “Shachar” Tel Aviv
The Under-19 club couldn’t find a way past the Raanana keeper as they fell to the hosts after giving up a 4th minute goal. For the full Match Report CLICK HERE.

Hapoel Raanana 0:2 Maccabi “Oded” Tel Aviv
Adir Hardon scored in the 41st minute while Dani Amar found the back of the goal in the 80th to give the Under-17’s another victory, bringing their season point total to 50 points while maintaining their first place position.

Maccabi “Eli Fuchs” Tel Aviv 2:3 Maccabi “Moshe Dayan” Petah Tikva
The “Match of the Season” saw the Under-16 squad fall to their counterparts from Petah Tikva that now leaves Maccabi “Eli Fuchs” in second place, two points behind the table leaders. The visitors took a 2:0 lead by the 22nd minute, but Alon Brumer’s side equalized thanks to a brace by Tashgar Dego (25, 49). However, a 68th minute strike by Petah Tikva was the difference maker giving them the win and the 3-points.

SC Nesher 3:3 Maccabi “Ilan” Tel Aviv
The young Yellow & Blue may not have picked up the 3-points, but they certainly took part in a contest with plenty of goals. Shai Belhassen scored a pair of markers for Amir Sofer’s team while Yonatan Imberg found the back of the goal as well.

Hapoel Kfar Saba 0:0 Maccabi “Eldad” Tel Aviv
Ori David’s squad attempted to keep their positive momentum rolling from last Matchday but were stopped by the Sharon side in a goalless draw.

Hapoel Raanana 0:1 Maccabi “Shachar” Tel Aviv The Under-19 club couldn’t find a ...

Maccabi “Shachar” Falls to Raanana 1:0

The young Yellow & Blue controlled the tempo of the match, but a 4th minute goal was the difference maker in favor of the opponent who currently sits in second place

Prematch
After falling to Bnei Yehuda last Matchday, the young Yellow & Blue looked to get back onto the winning track with an away visit to Hapoel Raanana on Matchday 19 of the Ligat Ha’Al. Guy Tzarfati’s squad made a number of changes for the match against the second place club as Nadav Amran, Ron Zamir, Eden Kartzev and Shay Golan featured along with Or Dasa, Eylon Almog and Dor Galili.

First Half
The match began quickly as the hosts took a quick 1:0 lead in the 4th minute thanks to Yevatal Tuaba. Maccabi then began to control the tempo and in the 28th minute Or Dasa passed the ball to Kartzev but his attempt was saved by the keeper while three minutes later Almog came in from the left side and cut to his right but his chance flew over the goal. The Yellow & Blue continued to press and in the 34th minute Galili sent the ball to Amran who headed it right into an awaiting Raanana keeper. Just before the break, Raanana almost found the back of the goal once again but Daniel Peretz made the save to keep the score as is.

Second Half
In the 51st minute Guy Tzarfati added some offense to his side and inserted Mahmoud Awesat in favor of Ron Zamir. In the 59th minute, Galili almost helped even up the contest but his header thanks to a Dasa cross missed the target. Prince Thomas and Neal Goldberg were then introduced for Eden Kartzev and Eylon Almog and in the 70th minute Thomas had an amazing chance but was saved by the Raanana shot stopper. Nine minutes later, Thomas had a free kick from 23 meters but yet again his chance was stopped cold. Three minutes later Amit Shapira entered the game for Dor Galili and six minutes from time, Netanel Peretz came on for Or Dasa, however it would not be enough as Maccabi “Shachar” fell to Raanana 1:0.

Prematch After falling to Bnei Yehuda last Matchday, the young Yellow & Blue ...

Youth Department action, Saturday February 18, 2017

The Under-19 side has a tough match against Raanana, the Under-17’s will head to the Sharon while the Under-16 squad has a “Match of the Season”

Hapoel “Roie” Raanana – Maccabi “Shachar” Tel Aviv, 11:00 Raanana
Following last week’s loss, Guy Tzarfati’s squad will look to get back onto the winning track in a difficult away contest. The Yellow & Blue find themselves in 4th place and will face the second place team who have won their last 4 matches in a row.

Hapoel Raanana – Maccabi “Oded” Tel Aviv, 08:30 Raanana
The Under-17’s will also play against Raanana as Eliezer Ben Aharon’s side will look to maintain their lead atop the table which stands at 5-points after 19 Matchdays.

Maccabi “Eli Fuchs” Tel Aviv – Maccabi “Moshe Dayan” Petah Tikva, 10:30 Kiryat Shalom (synthetic)
The Under-16 have a top of the table matchup against the team they lead by just one point Alon Brumer’s Club sports 16 wins in 18 matches while the Petah Tikva side have 15 victories this campaign.

Hapoel Kfar Saba – Maccabi “Eldad” Tel Aviv, 10:30 Kfar Saba
Ori David’s side will look to keep up their fine play when they head to Kfar Saba on Matchday 17 as they sit in third place only 3-points from the top of the table.

SC Nesher – Maccabi “Ilan” Tel Aviv, 16:30 Nesher
The Under-15 team play away on Matchday 15 as Amir Sofer’s squad sits in fourth place as they will look to cut into the 9-point lead from first place.

Hapoel “Roie” Raanana – Maccabi “Shachar” Tel Aviv, 11:00 Raanana Following last week’s ...

2 for 2: Watch Maccabi blanks Petach Tikva 1-0

Maccabi Tel Aviv visited the Moshava Stadium and Maccabi Petach Tikva for the second time in less than a week as the Yellow & Blue won yet again over Kobi Refuah's side

Barak Itzhaki’s 57th minute goal was the lone marker of the match notching the three points for Maccabi Tel Aviv and reducing the gap atop the table to five points. After a slow first half, the rains began and gave the Yellow & Bkue the extra push they needed to take home the victory.

Prematch
Sports Director Jordi Cruyff was again at the helm for the Yellow & Blue as they took on Maccabi Petach Tikva on Matchday 22 and had a Starting XI that included keeper Predrag Rajikovic along with defenders Eli Dasa, Eitan Tibi, Tal Ben Haim and captain Sheran Yeini. Gal Alberman was in his usual defensive midfielder position with Micael, Barak Itzhaki, Dor Micha, Tal Ben Chaim and Vidar Kjartansson rounding out the attack.

Available on the bench were keeper Daniel Lifshitz, Yuval Shpungin, Ramon Roma, Oscar Scarione, Avi Rikan, Marcelo and Eliel Peretz.

First Half
Both sides played very tentatively early on as the majority of the action was in the midfield with very few chances to be had. However, Rajikovic was called upon in the 24th minute to make a fabulous save off of a close opportunity by Guy Melamed after receiving the ball from Gidi Kanuk.

Petach Tikva had a 39th minute chance when Magbo delivered another fine pass to Melamed but his effort went out as the half ended goalless.

Second Half
As the rain teamed down in Petach Tikva, Uri Magbo steamed downfield towards the Maccabi goal, but his hard shot missed the target in the 49th minute. With both sides looking to breakthrough, it would be Maccabi to strike first.

In the 57th minute, Micha sent Itzhaki a wonderful ball just outside of the box as number 10 worked his magic from 16 meters out scorching the ball into the corner of the Petach Tikva goal for a 1:0 Yellow & Blue lead. Seven minutes later, Itzhaki attempted to return the favor to Micha but the latter’s opportunity was saved by Dani Amos while Ben Chaim fed Kjartansson the ball as the Icelander tried to get by the keeper himself but was denied by the shot stopper.

Two minutes later, Ben Chaim and Kjartansson teamed up once again, but the Icelandic striker’s chance just went by the post. Cruyff made his first substitute of the contest in the 71st minute as Eliel Peretz came on for goal scorer Barak Itzhaki and made his second move in the 81st minute Marcelo entered the game for Micael.

Three minutes later Maccabi made their third and final substitute bringing in Oscar Scarione for Micha as both of the last two subs picked up yellow cards before Alon Yefet blew the whistle to send the wet but happy Yellow & Blue fans home happy with a 1:0 win.

Barak Itzhaki’s 57th minute goal was the lone marker of the match ...

Yellow & Blue Saturday – Match Results February 11, 2017

The Under-17 team won a tough encounter, the Under-16 side continued it’s winning ways while the Under-15 clubs saw plenty of goals

Maccabi “Shachar” Tel Aviv 1-2 Bnei Yehuda
The young Yellow & Blue were ahead 1:0 at the break thanks to a goal by Fadi Najar, however, the visitors came back to defeat the Under-19 side. For the full match report, CLICK HERE

Maccabi “Oded” Tel Aviv 1:0 Maccabi “Yoni” Netanya
Eliezer Ben Aharon’s squad maintained their 5 point lead atop of the Under-17 Ligat Ha’Al table. It wasn’t easy, but in the 82nd minute Adir Hardon scored the winner for the Yellow & Blue.

Maccabi Jaffa Kabilyo 0:3 Maccabi “Eli Fuchs” Tel Aviv
The Under-16’s continued their fine play and kept their 1 point lead atop the table. Bar Cohen scored in the 2nd minute while Gil Ben Shalosh (45) and Tashgar Dego (64) found the back of the goal for coach Alon Brumer as the club has now won 16 of 18 contests this season.

Maccabi “Eldad” Tel Aviv 3:1 Hapoel “Dani” Jerusalem
Ori David’s team are now within 3 points of the top of the table after defeating the capital city side. Stav Nachmani scored in the 5th minute, but Shachar Racahmim evened the game up just one minute later. llay Hadad and Nehorai Bitton added 58th and 82 minute goal respectively to help decide the match.

Beitar “Oren” Tubruk 3:3 Maccabi “Ilan” Tel Aviv
Plenty of goals were scored in Netanya as Eli Belachson found the back of the goal in the 24th minute for Maccabi, but the hosts evened the score at 1:1 in the 43rd minute. Niv Berkovic scored a second half brace (64, 70) to give the young Yellow & Blue the advantage, but a 74th minute strike by Tubruk split the points as the match ended in a 3:3 draw.

Maccabi “Shachar” Tel Aviv 1-2 Bnei Yehuda The young Yellow & Blue were ...