It's not clear what caused Maccabi Tel Aviv's players to perform so well yesterday. Perhaps it was the swearing heard from the fans hurled at Loni Herzikovic and Roni Maneh that made them want to prove they aren't part of this setup, or perhaps it was the desire to impress the man designated to take over the club, Alex Shnaider.
Whatever the reason, Maccabi played well and for the first time this season beat a team not considered to be one of the patsies of the first division, topping Maccabi Petah Tikva 2-1. Who knows, maybe they'll keep this up.
To Petah Tikva's credit, it gave a first half that could have ended with a major advantage, but hair-raising misses by Omer Golan and particularly by Ohad Kadousi, left the game undecided at that point.
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Yossi Shivhon, who perhaps knows better than any other Maccabi Tel Aviv player the cliche that the best defense is a good offense, took control of the ball at midfield in the 26th minute, dribbled toward the goal and fired a rocket from just outside the penalty area to give his club a 1-0 lead. Shivhon's goal gave his Tel Aviv teammates confidence that melted away after a convincing goal by Kadousi five minutes later.
Luckily for Tel Aviv, Shivhon stayed in the game for the second half, and with the help of the improving Rudy Haddad he restored his team's lead with a winning header opposite an empty goal.
Were it not for a pair of near misses by Yaniv Azran in the closing minutes, Maccabi Tel Aviv could have extended its lead to two or even three goals. But what did it matter by that point? Maccabi Tel Aviv won, Herzikovic offered a compromise, and the new owner is pleased, so everyone can be happy.
Over at Bloomfield Stadium, Eli Cohen got a reminder yesterday of the fact that once again he broke at the last moment and signed with a small-time club. When Bnei Yehuda's new coach entered Bloomfield he saw empty stands. Later, in the locker room, he saw his team made up of players he didn't want to see over at his former Maccabi Tel Aviv. Then came the game, and Cohen watched his team manage several scoring opportunities while Hapoel Kfar Sava hardly went on the offense. Yet Bnei Yehuda still lost 2-0.
Kfar Sava's Liron Zarko took a corner kick from Avi Knafo to beat the keeper in the 78th minute, while Samuel Yeboah shook off Bnei Yehuda defender Ze'ev Haimovich to score from close in two minutes later.
What's clear is that Cohen won't be able to rehabilitate Bnei Yehuda without making drastic changes during the trading window of opportunity. Jose Duarte and Moshe Biton missed numerous changes to score with practically irresponsible abandon. "Those misses are symptomatic of a lack of confidence. I knew Bnei Yehuda had troubles, and I'm here to fix things," Cohen says. He has started coming up with his excuses, too. "Of course we need to strengthen our line because when I need to make a substitution, I don't have anyone to make it with." Bnei Yehuda is going into the break on an 8-game slide, and Cohen can only hope his chair Hezi Magen will reach deeply into his pockets.
Kfar Sava is heading the opposite direction. Its coach, Eli Ohana, will try to use the break to keep his outstanding players from accepting tempting offers. The club has shown it runs a tight ship and can turn two scoring opportunities into two decisive goals.
"Bnei Yehuda forced us to play their game and outplayed us," Ohana commented, "but we managed to score twice. You can't always play well, so it's important that we showed character."
Oren Yirmiyahu adds:
It was certainly expected. Like in the first round, the meeting between Kiryat Shmona and Bnei Sakhnin ended in a boring scoreless draw. After the game, Kiryat Shmona coach Ran Ben Shimon commented, "We aren't satisfied with draws at home and certainly not with purely defensive games. We intend to strengthen the team with a player or two."
Bnei Sakhnin coach Elisha Levy said, "We managed to stop Kiryat Shmona, and they got almost no scoring opportunities. I'm taking a point home with me and hope during the break to bring in three new players."
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