In an intra-club derby, Maccabi Tel Aviv's Under 13 Team North beat their South rivals and celebrated the Youth Division's second Championship title of the 2012/13 season
Maccabi Tel Aviv's Youth Division celebrated on Saturday their second Championship title of the 2012/13 season. By beating their South rivals in an intra-club derby 2-0, head coach Adi Somech's lads in the Under 13 Team North captured their first championship in the National Under 13s Central League with one match still left to the season. This brought to six the number of titles won by teams of Maccabi Tel Aviv's Youth Division, with in addition to two championships also four National Cup wins to their credit.
With Maccabi Tel Aviv's Under 17s participating in an international friendly tournament in Germany this week, the most senior squad to have played on Saturday were the Under 16s, who returned from an away encounter with Maccabi Haifa in the second round of the "Champion of Champions" competition for under 16s at the wrong end of a 6-4 scoreline. Head coach Eliezer Ben Aharon's charges took an early lead in this goal filled encounter through Omri Haramti, but the hosts had already turned the match around before half time and continued to lead up to the final whistle. Goals by Raz Yitschak, Joseph Ganda and Etai Aloni only served to narrow the deficit but could not prevent Maccabi's Under 16s from suffering their second defeat in as many matches in a "Champion of Champions" competition that is now beyond their reach of winning.
Both of Maccabi Tel Aviv's Under 15 teams finished their seasons in the National Under 15s Central League. In their final match, Team One hosted Hapoel Ramat Gan in a 1-1 draw. Sanir Lugassi scored Maccabi's only goal and the team finished second in the table, five points off the pace. And despite their 11th consecutive league win, a 1-0 victory over Hapoel Beer Sheva, Team Two still finished one place behind their Team One rivals in third place. Maccabi's single goal in that match came from the spot off the foot of Tal Zinger.
For Maccabi's Under 14s this Saturday was also the last day of the season. The South Team only managed to finish fifth in the table despite an impressive 5-1 victory over Section Nes Tsiona, with five fine individual efforts by Naor Cohen, Tal Segev, Prince Thomas, Guy Dahan and Dan Gross. The North Team rounded off the season with their first win in six encounters, a 3-1 victory over Gadna Tel Aviv, with goals from Guy Shelah, Oz Eldar and Ziv Albach.
