Tonight's National Cup tie between Maccabi Tel Aviv and Beitar Jerusalem gives us an opportunity to take a glimpse into the past at the history of the two clubs in this competition
Beitar Jerusalem in the last sixteen of the National Cup is not the easiest of draws, but one thing is certain: It will be an exciting night at Bloomfield Stadium. After seven consecutive years of seeing their Cup hopes fade at this stage of the competition, Maccabi Tel Aviv are keen to take another step towards repeating their ultimate success in the 2004/5 season. In the last round too Maccabi Tel Aviv faced Premiere League competitors in yellow and black, and defeated Maccabi Netanya 0-2 at their brand new stadium. As for Beitar Jerusalem, their last encounter with Maccabi in the Cup will no doubt still be fresh in the memory of many a Maccabi Tel Aviv fan, though also no doubt they would prefer to forget it altogether.
In the 2009/10 season, 16,000 fans crowded into Teddy Stadium in Jerusalem for the last 16 match between Beitar and Maccabi Tel Aviv, and at least so far tension and drama were concerned, no one left disappointed. Emmanuel Mayoka put Maccabi ahead in the first half, only to see Aviram Brochian equalise for Beitar in the second to send the match into extra time and a resultant penalty shoot-out. No less than 20 penalties were taken during the shoot-out, among them by Sheran Yeini, the only Maccabi player still remaining on the squad today. With Beitar leading 9-8 Maccabi skipper Liran Strauber stepped up to the spot and missed, sending Beitar through to the quarter finals.
That was the 19th time in 89 attempts that Maccabi Tel Aviv failed to get beyond the last 16 stage of the competition. It was also the eighth time the two clubs had met in the National Cup competition and Beitar's win balanced the sheet at four victories each. 16,000 spectators may sound impressive but the all-time record for attendance in Israel, not including internationals, was actually set in another cup tie between these two sides when in 1976 55,000 fans crowded into Ramat Gan Stadium to see Beitar lift the Cup after a dramatic extra-time goal by Ori Melmillian gave them a 2-1 victory.
The last time Maccabi and Beitar met in the Cup at Bloomfield was in round eight of the 2002/3 season and produced the largest ever number of goals in the 123 match history between the two clubs. Maccabi won 5-3 with a hat-trick from Maccabi Tel Aviv U19's current coach Amir Turgeman and single efforts from Bruno Heiss and Andreas Prochannkobus. Let's hope that tonight's encounter will bring with it similar results that will add yet another chapter to the rich history between these two illustrious clubs of Israeli football.
*Stats courtesy of Yaron Mishal
