A high-paced and intriguing away tie between Tel Aviv "Shachar" and Maccabi Haifa's Under-19s ended in a 3-2 defeat for Maccabi Tel Aviv
The second matchweek of the Youth Premier League saw Maccabi Tel Aviv "Shachar" hosted by Maccabi Haifa in what is rightly called "the match of the season". Only ten days ago Maccabi Tel Aviv's Under-19's, who ran second last season, beat double winners Maccabi Haifa 3-1 in the Youth League "Super Cup", and in the league's first matchweek they won 3-1 at home against Hapoel Ra'anana. Today's match, played at Maccabi Haifa's "Ketsef" training ground, also saw a flurry of goals, with a first half that ended with the sides drawn at 1-1 courtesy of "Shachar" defender Saar Kalderon's equaliser after Haifa took the lead on a Shuval Gozlan strike. In the second half the Haifa striker completed a brace before teammate Mica Lauta put the hosts in front 3-1. Close to the final whistle defender Ofek Barzani pulled one back for "Shachar" but it fell short of preventing his side from suffering their first defeat of the season.
The guests began the match with their goal under pressure as Shuval Gozlan early on drew a good save from "Shachar" keeper Sahar Hason. On 24 minutes, though, Hason was unable to get a glove on Gozlan's header from a Maccabi Haifa corner, putting the northerners in front 1-0. The deficit only served to energise the visitors in their attack and "Shachar" forward Dor Jan, who scored a brace against Maccabi Haifa in the "Super Cup", drew a good save from Haifa keeper Tal Bumshtein. The equaliser arrived on the half hour mark from left back Saar Kalderon, who caught Bumshtein outside his area to score from distance.
The second half started much as the first, with the visitors under pressure, and unfortunately just six minutes after the restart Shuval Gozlan scored his second goal of the match. Haifa continued to dominate the proceedings and some smart team play just after the hour resulted in a goal by Micha Lauta and a 3-1 Haifa advantage. "Shachar" head coach Ziv Arie's side were unable to carve out any further chances until twelve minutes from time, when substitute Ofek Barzani pulled one back when he caught the Haifa keeper far off his line and shot from distance into the net. But even the sending off of Maccabi Haifa's captain Yuval Yosipovic was of no avail to the Tel Aviv youngsters, who failed to find an equaliser and finished the match with their first loss of the 2013/14 season.
In a week's time, Maccabi Tel Aviv "Shachar" will attempt to recover from this first season loss as they host Hapoel Ramat Gan in the third matchweek of the Youth Premier League.
