After Maccabi Tel Aviv's senior team won their first Tel Aviv derby of the 2013/14 season earlier in the week, this coming Saturday it will be the turn of the Under-19s
Five days after the senior squad triumphed in their first municipal derby of the 2013/14 season, Maccabi Tel Aviv's Under-19s will attempt to replicate their older clubmates' success this Saturday at 12pm when their counterparts from Hapoel arrive at the Kiryat Shalom training ground for matchweek 12 of the national Under-19 Premier League in a match to be broadcast on the Israeli sports channel Sport 5. Maccabi Tel Aviv "Shachar", like all of the Under-19 teams, will come well rested to the match, as all of the previous Saturday's league games fell victim to the stormy weather that passed through our region last week. Here follow a few talking points in the run-up to this traditionally intriguing encounter:
Position in the table
The top of the national Under-19 Premier League table is quite crowded at the moment but as things stand right now, Maccabi have the edge: Their five extra points put them six places above their municipal rivals. With 17 points Maccabi trail league leaders Maccabi Haifa by six points, while Hapoel occupy the 11th spot in the table twelve points behind the leaders.
Current form
Maccabi will enter the match in a better run of form than their Hapoel counterparts. Their last three encounters have produced a draw and two wins, the last of which a 5-2 triumph against Hapoel Ramat Hasharon. Hapoel Tel Aviv by contrast have suffered two defeats and drawn once in their last three outings.
Recent Derby results
The last derby played between the two Under-19 sides came in matchweek 20 of the 2012/13 season when Maccabi Tel Aviv "Shachar" bested Hapoel Tel Aviv 0-1 at their Wolfson training ground. In the parallel fixture last year at Kiryat Shalom, Maccabi suffered their only loss to their municipal rivals in the last four seasons by a score of 0-2.
Saturday's forecast
One element at least of this match's scenario is similar to that which preceded Maccabi's 0-1 victory at Wolfson last season – it also followed the first team derby by five days (that's right, the delightful 4-0 triumph at Bloomfield Stadium). So far results are concerned, an exact repeat of that scenario is already off the table, but a Maccabi sweep of both senior and Under-19 derby matches in the same week would without question be every bit as joyful.
