Davida: "We must continue focusing on ourselves"

The youth department officially opens its season this Saturday as the Under-16 Maccabi “Eli Fuchs” Tel Aviv joins the Under-17 side who have already begun their new year. Prior to its opening, Youth Department Director Nir Levin spoke about the professional aspects along with the personal values and of course the Champions League Youth Tournament.

“The youth department welcomes the 2015/16 year that will bring a number of innovations and changes to the system. Firstly, the historical participation of Maccabi “Shachar” Tel Aviv in the Champions League Youth Tournament. The Under-19 club will be part of this relatively new and extremely important competition where they will play the same day as the first team and against the same teams. For us this will be something that will demand the highest level of organization and professionalism.

As well, the youth system as a whole has undergone some significant changes in its methodology beginning with the Under-15 Maccabi “Eldad” Tel Aviv side and younger groups where we are paying more attention to the quality and not on the quantity. The training sessions that we will do with the children will be much more professional with more experienced coaches who will also have more responsibilities. Again we are emphasizing the quality of the training that the youngsters will receive.

We have also brought in new cognitive training methods and skills training that will be led by Aviv Rian and Roni Cohen as I feel this will be an important step to help the players with the way they think on and off of the pitch.

Following the success of the Mikve Yisrael program we’ve decided to expand and double the amount of groups that are within this framework. The idea behind this project is to take certain players from the Under-17 and Under-16 sides and give them a wider scope of training and facilitate their studies according to a variety of methods.

The department will also continue to key an eye on the moral and educational development of the players. One of the things that we are most proud of in the department is the amount of players that we have been able to send to the various National Teams which is the most of any other club in the country. Also, seeing some of youth department graduates such as Dor Micha, Dor Peretz, Barak Levi, Mavis Tchibota, Olanrewaju Kehinde, Gael Margulies, Sean Goldberg and others who have gone on to play in the Premier League makes us very happy and proud. I hope and believe that this coming season will be as good or even better than last year.”

The youth department officially opens its season this Saturday ...

Maccabi Tel Aviv’s youth teams continue their final runs in their respective leagues as one team will be crowned league champions this weekend, while others will continue their title challenges.

Maccabi’s U-19s will face Beitar Tubruk on Saturday at11:00am in Ramla. The team will be officially crowned as champions, and will receive the silverware from the Israeli Football Federation. Fans are encouraged to support and cheer for the team on a festive Saturday.

U-17s Maccabi Tel Aviv ‘Oded’ finished the season last week in the second place, one point behind the first in the table. The team coached by Eliezer Ben Aharon and Gadi Brumer has won the State Cup earlier this month. The U-16s will play away against Hapoel Be’er Sheva at 11:00am. With five games to go, Shlomi Mitelka’s and Leon Asraf’s team is currently first the table, with a six point margin from second place.

U-15s Maccabi ‘Eldad’ Tel Aviv won the league last Saturday after defeating Hapoel Ramat Gan 13-0.  Eyal Zachi’s and Oded Barnea’s team will travel to Haberfeld Stadium to play local Hapoel Reshon LeZion. The game will be play on Saturday at 9:00am. The U-15s second team, coach by Erez Belfer and Roel Taimor will host Hapoel Kfar Saba in Kiryat Shalom at 8:30am.  With two games to left, the State Cup winners are in second place, six points behind league leaders.

U-14s South, led by Uri David and Aviv Rein are currently head-to-head with Maccabi Haifa. Both teams have the same number of points, while the Yellows have a better goal difference.  They will travel to Bait VeGan to face Beitar Jerusalem at 8:30am. U-14s North coached by Nissim Dvash and Tamir Shamir will try to minimize the gap from first place as they host Maccabi Herzlya in Kirtyat Shalom at 9:00am. U-13s North will also travel to Jerusalem to play Beitar at 8:30am. U-13s South will host the Tel Aviv derby in Kiryat Shalom at 11:00am.

Maccabi Tel Aviv’s youth teams continue their final runs in their respective ...

Maccabi Tel Aviv youth teams are heading into the final stages of their respective seasons with a few of them having a lot on stake this weekend.

Maccabi’s U-19s will face Hapoel Ramat Gan in Winter at noon. Ziv Arie’s team is currently first in the table and a combination of a win for Maccabi and a lose of points for Maccabi Haifa would crown Maccabi Tel Aviv ‘Shachar’ as the champions of the U-19s league.

Recent State Cup winners, the U-17s will play their final game this Saturday against Beitar Tubruk in Kiryat Shalom (1:00pm). Eliezer Ben Aharon’s team is currently second in the table, one point behind Maccabi Haifa, who is scheduled to play Hapoel in Haifa’s derby. A scenario of Maccabi ‘Oded’ Tel Aviv winning and Maccabi Haifa losing points would give the young Yellows the championship.

After winning the local derby in their midweek fixture, U-16s Maccabi ‘Eli Fuchs’ Tel Aviv will meet second place Hapoel Petah Tikva. Maccabi Tel Aviv holds a three point lead over their hosts. The game will be played oin Petah Tikva at 11:00am.

Maccabi ‘Eldad’ Tel Aviv will host Hapoel Ramat Gan in Kiryat Shalom (8:30am). The U-15s could become champions if second place Beitar Jerusalem loses points. U-15s second team will play away against Bnei Sakhnin at 3:00pm.

U-14s South will meet Hapoel Petah Tikva in Kiryat Shalom at 10:15am. Maccabi ‘Shlomo’ Tel Aviv will play away against Hapoel Ra’anana at 10:15am.

U-13s South will travel to Reshon LeZion to play local Hapoel at 8:30am. U-13s North will host Ironi Modi’in at 10:30am.

Maccabi Tel Aviv youth teams are heading into ...

It was a glories Saturday morning at the "National Training Ground" in Shefaim. Everything was ready for the opening whistle in the U-17 State Cup final between Maccabi 'Oded' Tel Aviv and  Hapoel Nir Ramat Hasharon.

Right from the start Maccabi presented their dominance in midfield, passing the ball from side to side preventing the opposition from leaving their defensive structure. Maccabi's first meaningful attack arrived on the 28^th minute when Dasa (Number 11) made a great run down the line and at the right moment made a perfect cut into the 16 yard box, received a great pass between Ramat Hasharon's defenders and kicked the ball into the goalkeepers top right corner! 1-0 Maccabi.

Five minutes after taking the lead, it was Ramat Hasharon's striker who could have leveled the score but his header went high over the crossbar. Half time score remained 1-0 to Maccabi.

The second half started in a different manner when Ramat Hasharon's players pressured Maccabi's defense but couldn't translate it into an equalizing goal. At the 48^th minute, Maccabi presented a perfect counter attack when Dasa received a great pass between Ramat Hasharon's defenders, dribbled pass the goalkeeper and in front of an empty goal doubled Maccabi's lead! 2-0 Maccabi.

Maccabi continued to dominate the pace of the game and in stoppage time managed to seal the title after number 7 received a great cross and headed the ball to the goalkeepers bottom tight corner. 3-0 Maccabi. Maccabi 'Oded' Tel Aviv wins the U-17 State Cup, after beating Hapoel Nir Ramat Hasharon 3-0.

It was a glories Saturday morning at the "National Training ...

Maccabi 'Oded' Tel Aviv (U-17) will play in the State Cup final against Ironi Nir Ramat Hasharon this Saturday at 9:00 in Shefaim.

Maccabi ‘Oded’ Tel Aviv encountered several difficult opponents on their way to the final. In the first round Maccabi faced MS Ashdod. Coach Eliezer Ben Aharon remembers the game well: “Our first game was in Ashdod. We were trailing 1-0 and managed to turn the game in the last ten minutes to win it 2-1 and to qualify”.

In the next round, Maccabi Tel Aviv traveled to Petah Tikva to play against local Maccabi. The hosts proved to be a difficult opponent and the score at the end of regulation time was 1-1. “We managed to win only in overtime. They made life really hard on us, but we were resilient and managed qualify after another challenging game”.

The quarter-final draw sent Maccabi on the road again to play Hakoah Amidar Ramat Gan. This game was surprisingly an easy one, Maccabi beat the home team 4-0 and qualified to the semi-final.  

In the semi-final Maccabi faced Beitar Jerusalem in Wingate. Maccabi had a wonderful start, showing its dominance and eventually beating Beitar Jerusalem 3-1.

Coach Ben Aharon spoke ahead of the final on Saturday: “It is clear that Ramat Hasharon is a good side, otherwise they would not have been here. They are also at the top of their division, so we know it is not going to be an easy game. We are going to do our best. Our preparation for the game is the same is any other, though truth be told, there’s a great desire to win the cup”.

While Ben Aharon’s team will be playing in the final, their title opponents, Maccabi Haifa, will be playing a difficult away match against Hapoel Be’er Sheva. Maccabi is hoping for Haifa to lose points, Coach Ben Aharon insists his team’s attention will remain in the final: “We have to play and not to think about games elsewhere”. 

Maccabi 'Oded' Tel Aviv (U-17) will play in the State Cup final ...

The 2014/15 season is at its final stages and our youth teams are currently in their final stretch fighting for some silverware

The Youth department flagship team, Ziv Arie’s U-19s team, will host Hapoel Petah Tikva. Ziv Arie's team need to win tomorrow and hope Maccabi Haifa will lose in Kiryat Shmona, to seal the league title.

The U-17's team will not take part in the league fixtures this weekend, as they will face Ironi Nir Ramat Hasharon in the State Cup final. Maccabi already played in round 29, drawing Hapoel Rishon LeZion. Currently, Eliezer Ben Aharon’s team needs Maccabi Haifa to slip in its away game in Be’er Sheva in order to stay first in the table, with one more game until the end of the season.

The U-16's are still in an international break and will play the derby game on Wednesday in Ramla staidum.

Our U-15's that recently played each other in the State Cup final will resume their league matches this weekend. Maccabi Tel Aviv South, who lost in the State Cup final will meet Hapoel Kiryat Ono. The winner of the State, Maccabi North will host Maccabi Barkai on Friday in Kiryat Shalom.

U-14's North will host Maccabi Netanya in Kiryat Shalom o Saturday at 9:00am. U-14's South will travel to Wolfson for a Tel Aviv derby at 10:45.

U-13s South, Coached by Asaf Profeta and Eitan Katz will host Hapoel Be’er Sheva in Kiryat Shalom at 11:00. Kfir Alfonte’s and Ofer Kolton’s U-13s North will play at 9:00 in Ness Ziona. 

The 2014/15 season is at its final stages and our youth teams ...