The MTA Youth Division make it six State Cup wins out of six after the U17s sweep aside Maccabi Haifa 4-0
After having already lifted five prestigious State Cup trophies this season, the Maccabi Tel Aviv Youth Division ventured forth to capture their sixth in as many attempts as Maccabi Tel Aviv "Oded", the club's Under-17s, faced off against fellow Under-17 Premier League leaders Maccabi Haifa. "Oded" began their journey to the National Stadium in Ramat Gan, where the final was held, with an easy 3-0 win over Beitar Tubruk, but after that the road got bumpier. In the last 16, the quarter final and the semi-final contests, head coach Eliezer Ben Aharon's lads beat Gadna Tel Aviv, Hapoel Tel Aviv and Bnei Yehuda respectively, all in penalty shoot-outs.
This afternoon's final started off well for a dominant Maccabi Tel Aviv side, but it took until just before the half hour mark for the first real goalscoring opportunity to present itself. Daniel Rahimi ensured that that opportunity paid off when he struck into the far end of the Haifa net after being on the receiving end of a short corner. The half ended with "Oded" still just one goal to the good, but after the restart they resumed their determined efforts. With just a minute gone Tomer Altman hit the woodwork with a powerful shot. At the other end Maccabi Haifa were also on the prowl for an equaliser but "Oded" keeper Haviv Ohayon was always there to protect his net. "Oded" exploited Haifa's forward push by executing quick and threatening counter attacks. Raz Itzhak and Gabi Kanichowsky failed in their first efforts to double "Oded"'s lead, but with just a quarter of an hour remaining, Maccabi Tel Aviv showed they still had enough time and ammunition left. Ten minutes from time Raz Itzhak exploited a defensive error and ran the whole length of the pitch to score "Oded"'s second. Two minutes later Dor Galili produced a nearly identical goal with a swift break into the area that ended in an accurate shot that increased "Oded"'s lead to 3-0. The icing on the cake was provided in injury time by substitute Ro'i Tzarum, who muscled past his defender in the area to make it 4-0 and give the start sign for the victory celebrations.
The highpoint of those celebrations was of course when team captain Rany Hamze and Omri Haramati received the Haim Haberfeld Under-17 State Cup and lifted it high into the air. In doing so, the Maccabi Tel Aviv Youth Division completed a clean sweep of all six of the State Cup finals they participated in: the Under-10 Team South, the Under-12 Team North, the Under-13 Team South, the Under-15 Team 2 and the Under-16s have all hoisted the prestigious State Cup this season in can what only be described as a banner season for the Maccabi Tel Aviv Youth Division.
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