Just four points separate Maccabi Tel Aviv's Under-19s from the top of the U19 Premier League after their comprehensive 0-8 victory at neighbours Bnei Yehuda
Maccabi Tel Aviv "Shachar" overwhelmed municipal neighbours Bnei Yehuda 0-8 on Saturday at their home venue in the "Tikva" district of Tel Aviv. After the previous "little" Tel Aviv derby ended in a 0-1 victory for Bnei Yehuda, expectations were for a close contest. But Maccabi's Under-19s didn't see it that way at all. Striker Dor Jan and defender Guy Aviv both scored in the first half to give Maccabi Tel Aviv "Shachar" a two goal cushion at halftime. In the second period midfielders Guy Cohen and Daniel Gretz both added braces and individual efforts by midfielders Sharon Ziso and Guy Dror rounded off the scoring. It was the highest number of goals scored by an MTA Under-19 squad in one match since their 8-0 win against Hapoel Beer Sheva in January 2009.
Just two minutes into the match Maccabi Tel Aviv "Shachar" signalled their intentions when Dor Jan brought down a high ball from Guy Aviv and left-footed into the corner of the opposition net, the captain's eleventh league goal of the season. After 36 minutes Guy Aviv turned from provider to scorer when his shot deflected off Bnei Yehuda's Eden Gandler and wrong-footed the Bnei Yehuda keeper. That sent Maccabi Tel Aviv "Shachar" off at half time with a two goal advantage that remained unchanged for close to twenty minutes after the restart and hardly foretold of what was about to unfold.
On 63 minutes Sharon Ziso headed a ball into the area, ran past the Bnei Yehuda defence to bring the ball down and shot it past the Bnei Yehuda keeper for Maccabi's third goal of the match and his eighth league goal of the season. The fourth and fifth Maccabi goals came in the space of just two minutes, both from substitute Guy Cohen. Shortly after getting on the pitch he latched on to a pass by Dor Jan and slotted home for his tenth league goal of the season, and two minutes later added his eleventh and Maccabi's fifth in this now decidedly one-sided encounter. A second Maccabi substitute, Daniel Gretz, scored the first of his two goals, and Maccabi's sixth, from close range after some smart play by his teammates. Two minutes from time Maccabi Tel Aviv "Shachar" were awarded a penalty and the honour fell to yet another substitute, Sagi Dror, to fire home from the spot to score his maiden goal of the season and bring the Maccabi onslaught to a 0-7 advantage. But head coach Amir Turgeman's lads weren't quite finished yet, for in those last remaining two minutes Daniel Gretz found time to complete his brace and earn Maccabi Tel Aviv "Shachar" the bragging rights to the U19 Premier League's top scoring match of the season so far, eight goals to no reply.
Adding to the joy was the news that league leaders Maccabi Haifa had lost 0-2 at Maccabi Petah Tikva, closing the gap at the top of theU19 League table to four points with four games left to play this season. Next week Maccabi Tel Aviv "Shachar" will venture out to play Ashdod FC in an attempt to narrow the gap even more.
Line-up: Sahar Hason, Shachar Feban, Daniel Shvarzboim, Osher Abu, Dean Akafi, Tamir Abrahamian, Dor Peretz, Sharon Ziso, Guy Aviv, Lanre Kehinde, Dor Jan
