Bnei Yehuda hosted Maccabi “Shachar” Tel Aviv on Matchday 15 of the Toto Youth League in the final game of the first round. Prior to the start of the match, the clubs honored the late Shimon Kork Z”l in a stirring ceremony.
Head coach Ziv Arie had both Eylon Almog and Eden Kartzev available as they both returned from international duty this week while Dan Glazer was out due to an injury.
As the match began it didn’t take long for the young Yellow-and-Blue to take an early lead. Oliel Peretz began an attack that left Anit Shapira one-on-one with the Bnei Yehuda keeper. Shapira knew exactly what to do with the ball and put it into the goal for a quick 1-0 advantage.
However the lead didn’t last for long. Daniel Avital brought the Orange back even as his effort hit the post and went right into the Maccabi net. In the 31st minute, Amit Rosenboim sent a beauty of a ball to Gaby Kanichowsky who turned in the box and took an amazing shot on goal that was blocked by the keeper. Almog’s follow up bicycle kick was also saved as the sides went into the break all knotted up at 1:1.
To open the second half Ziv Arie made his first substitution bringing on Bar Galili for Idan Yogev. In the 56th minute Kartzev was introduced in place of Tomer Altman and a minute later Mahmoud Awesat come on for Eylon. As the ma
tch hit the 62nd minute , Arie’s subs paid off. Awesat’s left side cross came right to Kartzev who brought the ball down with his chest and kicked it right into the goal for a 2:1 lead.
The goal was Kartzev’s 4th of the season even though he did not begin the year with the club. Maccabi had a number of chances to pad their lead, but the Bnei Yehuda keeper stood on his head. The final whistle blew to hand Arie’s club a 2:1 win as his side also picked up three valuable points.
