After celebrating two State Cup wins last Wednesday, the Maccabi Tel Aviv Youth Division will return to league duties this Saturday with a number of exciting fixtures on the programme. Here follows a summary
This Saturday, in gameweek 25 of the national U19 Premier League, Maccabi Tel Aviv "Shachar" will welcome their counterparts from Sektzia Nes Ziona, who are currently languishing in fifteenth place in the table. The match will be played at Ramla's municipal stadium with the kick-off scheduled for 11.30am. Head coach Ziv Arie's "Shachar" go into the match after a 1-0 loss last week at Hapoel Beer Sheva that left them level at the top of the table with title rivals Maccabi Haifa and leading them on goal difference alone. The joint leaders are scheduled to face off in two weeks' time.
After two consecutive league victories and an impressive win over Beitar Jerusalem that advanced them to the U17 State Cup finals last Wednesday, head coach Eliezer Ben Aharon's Maccabi Tel Aviv "Oded" will host Bnei Sakhnin at the Kiryat Shalom training ground for an 11am kick-off. Head coach Shlomi Mitelka's Under-16s will try to maintain the momentum of five consecutive league victories when they set out on Saturday to face Ashdod FC at 11.30am. With a number of squad members having just returned from a tournament in Italy, Maccabi Tel Aviv "Eldad", the club's Under-15 Team 1, will host Beitar Tel Aviv–Ramla at Kiryat Shalom at noon. Their counterparts from Team 2 will travel up the coast to face Maccabi Haifa at their "Ketzef" training ground at 11am.
A second Maccabi Youth Division Team to have won their State Cup competition last Wednesday, the Under-14 Team South, will head in the opposite direction for an early 9am kick-off against Ashdod FC with a view to closing the three-point gap with title rivals Maccabi Haifa. Much like the Under-15 Team 2, coaches Nissim Dvash and Tamir Shamir's Under-14 Team North will also be playing in Haifa on Saturday afternoon at 3pm, in their case against the red half of the city, Hapoel Haifa. Maccabi's Under-13 Team North will host Bnei Yehuda for a "little derby" at Kiryat Shalom at 10.15am, with Team South welcoming Maccabi Shoham to their Hadar Yosef playing field at the same hour.
