Teams in Maccabi Tel Aviv's Youth Division had two busy but successful days in both league and Cup competitions
Teams in Maccabi Tel Aviv's Youth Division had two busy matchdays, with a number of them playing matches yesterday (Monday) as well as on the traditional Saturday. Maccabi Tel Aviv "Oded", the club's Under-17s, played only on Saturday but nonetheless engaged in 100 minutes of football before they finally succeeded in besting their municipal rivals Hapoel Tel Aviv in the Under-17 State Cup quarter finals. This was the second consecutive week that Maccabi's Under-17s found themselves at Hapoel's Wolfson training centre, and after beating them in the league Maccabi Tel Aviv "Oded" completed a derby "double" by winning a penalty shoot-out 6-5 after a goalless regulation and extra-time encounter. Dor Galili scored the winning penalty that sends "Oded" into the Under-17 State Cup semi-finals.
Maccabi Tel Aviv "Eli Fuchs", the club's Under-16s, were one of the teams playing on both matchdays, and were triumphant on both occasions. On Saturday, head coach Erez Belfer's charges beat Hapoel Haifa 0-1 at their Kiryat Haim training ground in the last sixteen of the Under-16 Cup competition, courtesy of a goal by Amit Cohen. Yesterday (Monday), in matchweek 22 of the Under-16 Nationwide League South, they beat Hapoel Beer Sheva 2-0 at Maccabi's Kiryat Shalom training ground thanks to strikes from Ran Vaturi and Ittimar Shaviro.
Maccabi's two Under-15 teams played one another on Saturday in a closely contested Under-15 State Cup quarter final encounter that was decided in Team 2's favour 2-1 only in time added on. Team 1, Maccabi Tel Aviv "Eldad", took an early lead courtesy of Eylon Almog but Team 2's Daslin Blachau equalised in the dying moments to send the match into twenty minutes of extra time. And it was Blachau who struck again to send head coach Haim Siton's lads into the semi-finals.
Returning to league action, the club's Under-14 Team South, who had the day off on Saturday, yesterday breezed past Ashdod FC away 0-5, while their Team North counterparts stayed home at Kiryat Shalom and beat Hapoel Kfar Saba 3-1. Both Under-13 teams played Saturday as well as Monday, Team South winning both of their encounters at home and by impressive margins. In the Cup quarter final they outplayed Ashdod FC 4-1 and two days later left Hapoel Kiryat Ono completely empty-handed while scoring an impressive seven goals of their own. Team North won their quarter final Cup tie on Saturday 1-2 away at Hapoel Upper Nazareth and then on Monday added an eye-opening 1-8 away victory over Beitar Haifa in the league.
