Today the 2013/14 nationwide youth leagues season came to an end with the MTA Youth Division harvesting their tenth title
Today head coach Ori David's Under-13 Team South completed their league and Cup double after victory in the last matchweek of the season earned them the nationwide U13 Central District League championship. Last week the youngsters celebrated victory in the prestigious Under-13 State Cup finals and today rounded off an excellent season with a 1-6 rout of municipal neighbours Bnei Yehuda. Eden Silam scored a brace and Bar Cohen, Menahem Rosenstein, Omer Yitzhak and Omri Ram all contributed individual goals. Under-13 Team South are the second MTA Youth Division team to win their age-group double this season, and they did it in style. In addition to an impressive win in the U13 State Cup final, Ori David's youngsters also achieved a remarkable average of six goals per league game they played this season.
The other MTA Youth Division team to have won their league and Cup double, the Under-16s, today came as close as they could to clinching a third season title, the "Champion of Champions". The tournament pitted the six top Under-16 teams from the two premier nationwide U16 leagues against one another. Maccabi Tel Aviv "Eli Fuchs" entered today's third and last round of the tournament leading their group, knowing that a victory might be sufficient to hand them the prestigious title. And indeed, head coach Erez Belfer's charges did their bit by beating northern rivals and namesakes Maccabi Haifa 1-0. But to their chagrin another Maccabi team, Maccabi Netanya, beat their opponents Hapoel Tel Aviv 3-0 and walked away with the "Champion of Champions" Cup level on points and goal difference but having scored one more goal during the course of the tournament, six in all to Maccabi Tel Aviv's five.
Goal difference was the deciding factor in crowning the champions of the nationwide U14 Sharon District league, with Maccabi's Under-14 Team South fancying their chances of taking top honours. They too did their bit by defeating Beitar Tubruk away 1-3, but the team who went into the final week leading the league on goal difference, Maccabi Haifa, also came up trumps and walked away with the league trophy.
In other games Maccabi's Under-17s played their final match of the season on Thursday and ended on a high. Raz Itzhak scored a hat-trick and Dor Galili added an individual effort to help their team beat Maccabi Haifa 4-1. This represented the team's second consecutive victory over their northern rivals and namesakes, the last time being a 4-0 rout in the prestigious State Cup final which handed Maccabi Tel Aviv "Oded" their only title of the 2013/14 season. Maccabi Tel Aviv's Under-14 Team South, having already won their league title, rounded off their 2013/14 league season with a 2-0 home win against Bnei Yehuda.
