Thank You, Dominic

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 ...

After uniting members of the club's two squads, Maccabi's U15s took off for the Italian town of Pordenone to participate in an annual football competition

About a fortnight ago, Maccabi Tel Aviv's two Under-15 teams, "Eldad" and Team 2, both reached the finals of national U15 State Cup competition, to be held at the end of the month. Days later a team was formed from members of both the Under-15 squads, which then headed out to the small northeastern Italian town of Pordenone, where they participated in the annual U15 football tournament known as the "Memorial Franco Gallini International Football Tournament". This is the first time an Israeli youth team has participated in the tournament, which was first held in 1998.

Joining 31 other U15 teams from all over the world, Maccabi's youngsters were assigned to one of the eight groups of four teams that competed in the tournament, with the top two teams of each group advancing to the final stages of the competition. In the event Maccabi's Under-15s finished second in their group after facing challenges from counterparts from clubs Atalanta, Fiume Bannia and Don Bosco Ve. In the last sixteen head coach Erez Belfer's squad lost a penalty shoot-out 4-3 to Bulgarian team Ludogrets after playing out a goalless draw. But the Maccabi youngsters were able to console themselves with victories in their final two encounters against other last-16 losers to finish a highly respectable ninth in the final standings of the competition. The ultimate winners of the tournament were none other than domestic heavyweights Milan.

The professional staff that accompanied Maccabi's Under-15s to Pordenone reported that the pitch conditions there were far from ideal. Nonetheless the qualities of physicality and speed the Maccabi youngsters encountered in their tournament opponents provided a healthy challenge for the young players, who coped more than admirably and forged new bonds of friendship between members of the two Maccabi Under-15 teams, who starting next season will be officially merged.   

After uniting members of the club's two squads, Maccabi's U15s took off ...

Maccabi Tel Aviv "Oded" beat Beitar Jerusalem 3-1 to advance to the U17 State Cup final

Maccabi Tel Aviv "Oded", under the able leadership of coaches Eliezer Ben Aharon and Gadi Brumer, have reached the finals of the U17 State Cup competition after beating their counterparts from Beitar Jerusalem 3-1 in the semis at "Beit Nivharot" in the Tel Aviv suburb of Shfayim. "Oded"'s road to the semi-finals was not an easy one by any means and included such strong rivals as Ashdod FC, Maccabi Petach Tikva and Hakoach Amidar Ramat Gan.

Maccabi opened the match brightly and after a number of excellent scoring opportunities they netted their first goal on 17 minutes. Tomer Altman tore down the right and sent the ball across the pitch to Ron Gabay. Gabay passed on to the prolific Omer Lakao, who scored on the half-volley to give his side a 1-0 lead in an otherwise goalless first half.

After the break Roy Ronen came on for the injured Amit Shapira and on 62 minutes would be involved in Maccabi's second. After a continued good performance by the whole Maccabi team, an exceptional personal effort by the substitute enabled Ron Gabay to poke home to expand "Oded"'s advantage to 2-0. On 70 minutes Beitar exploited some weak marking on the part of the Maccabi defence to pull a goal back but "Oded" had the last word when once again Roy Ronen stepped up, this time to take a corner, and Lenny Aharon headed home to finish off the scoring at 3-1.

In the final, Maccabi Tel Aviv "Oded" will face Hapoel Nir Ramat Hasharon, who defeated Hapoel Beer Sheva 3-2 in the other U17 State Cup semi-final.

Maccabi Tel Aviv "Oded" beat Beitar Jerusalem 3-1 to advance to the ...