The break in league activity afforded Maccabi Tel Aviv's Youth Division teams to advance in State Cup competition
For the Youth Division, this Saturday stood under the sign of the State Cup, a Saturday largely replete with successes that saw Maccabi Tel Aviv teams advance in the prestigious competition. The Under-17s faced a considerable hurdle in the last 16 as Gadna Tel Aviv succeeded in keeping Maccabi at bay for the full 80 minutes and another 20 minutes of time added on, bringing the match to a penalty shoot-out. After the sides missed an opportunity each, Ranny Hamza and Shai Ben David scored for Maccabi, while Maccabi keeper Haviv Ohian saved Gadna's fourth penalty, leaving Shai Golan to score the winning penalty and send Maccabi Tel Aviv "Oded" into the quarter finals of the Under-17 State Cup.
Maccabi Tel Aviv "Eli Fuchs" headed off for an away tie against Maccabi Ironi Netivot in the last 16 of the Under-16s State Cup competition and won handily 0-5. Guy Shetach scored a brace, with Omer Lakau, Or Dassa and Matan Cohen adding on to send head coach Erez Belfer's lads into the quarter finals. Maccabi Tel Aviv "Eldad" also won away to advance to the next stage of the cup competition, beating Beitar Jerusalem 0-4 at the" Bayit VeGan" complex in the capital. Neil Goldberg scored a hat-trick and Almog Eilon added an individual effort to send head coach Shlomi Mitelka's Under-15s into the quarter finals. Maccabi's Under-15 Team 2 also advanced to the quarter finals by beating Carmiel/Tzfat FC 0-3 courtesy of a Guy Dahan hat-trick.
The Youth Division's only loss was suffered by Maccabi's Under-14 Team North, who lost 0-1 at home to Hapoel Rishon Lezion in the last 16 of the State Cup for Under-14s. Team South played a league match against Section Nes Tziona and sailed to an 8-0 victory. Both of Maccabi's Under-13 teams advanced to the quarter finals of their State Cup competitions, Team South beating Hapoel Ra'anana 4-2 at the Kiryat Shalom training ground, Team North topping Kfar Yasif FC away 0-3.
