Maccabi Tel Aviv “Shahar” were brought down to earth after winning last weekend’s Winter Youth Tournament when they were beaten 2-1 by Maccabi Netanya in an under-19 league fixture on Saturday.

Maccabi, second in the standings against seventh-placed Netanya, who were the hosts, were left to rue their chances and had a handful of attempts in the first half, although none was good enough to find the net.

Netanya took full advantage when in the 28th minute, Amit Yaacov’s long-range shot from outside the area found the back of Ben Musayoff’s net.

Maccabi had at least two more good chances in the second half as Netanya defended their lead and they did so successfully until eight minutes from the end when substitute Shaked Navon sent Ronen Hanchis into the area and he shot into the left hand corner of the Netanya net.

Parity was short-lived, however, and three minutes later Netanya scored the winner when Amit Taktuk pounced on a ball that rebounded off Omer Itzhaki after a Netanya free kick and slotted home from close range.

Maccabi Tel Aviv “Shahar” secured victory in the six-team International U19 Winter Tournament for the third time last Saturday after remaining unbeaten against all their opponents, winning four times and drawing once.

The event was a great success all round with Crystal Palace, Excelsior Rotterdam and Grasshoppers Zurich joining in with Hapoel Beersheba and Beitar Jerusalem in on the third day of competition at the PenguinPickUp training ground at Kiryat Shalom. Watch our video summary of the event.

Maccabi Netanya v. Maccabi Tel Aviv “Shahar”, Beit Maccabi, Netanya, 10.30.
Maccabi Tel Aviv’s under-19s will be buoyed for this clash after winning the winter youth tourney. With their second place in the standings against Netanya, who are seventh, Eliezer Ben Aharon’s will look to complete the double over their opponents after beating them 3-1 at home earlier this season.

Maccabi Tel Aviv “Oded” v. Hapoel Rishon Lezion, Kiryat Shalom 09:00
U17 are returning from an international break and host Rishon in the 15th round of action in their division. They too are in second place in the standings, just two points behind leaders Maccabi Haifa. Rishon are 11th in the standings with only three wins.

Ashdod v. Maccabi Tel Aviv “Eldad”, Small Ashdod synthetic ground, 09:00
U15 open the second phase of the league with the 16th round in fourth place in the standings four points off the pace, while their opponents are in 11th place. In the last meeting between the two at Kiryat Shalom, Maccabi won 5-0.

U16 are on an international break as the national under-16 team compete in a tournament.

Israel’s under-16 team has six Maccabi Tel Aviv representatives in the squad currently competing in a winter tournament at the Israel training facility at Shefayyim that includes Belarus, Georgia and Poland.

Maccabi’s players are:
Roey Amedi
Adir Cordoba
Ilay Tomer
Bar Lin
Orel Baya
Oscar Gloch

Maccabi Tel Aviv secured victory in the six-team International U19 Winter Tournament for the third time on Saturday after a draw with Crystal Palace and victory over Excelsior Rotterdam on the third day of competition at the PenguinPickUp training centre at Kiryat Shalom.

Maccabi Tel Aviv 1, Crystal Palace 1: Coach Eliezer Ben Aharon watched as his players took the lead in the 12th minute through an Asaf Hershko goal from 20 metres out. The hosts appeared to be heading for victory before the English side equalised in injury time when striker Rob Street headed in the equaliser.

Maccabi Tel Aviv 2, Excelsior Rotterdam 1: Maccabi were dominant in Saturday’s second fixture and had control of the first half but with little to show for their efforts. The second half was more fruitful and Maccabi took the lead in the 34th minute when Tal Torgeman took advantage of a melee in the area and headed in the first goal. Maccabi made it 2-0 in the 42nd minute through an Or Roizman free kick from 18 metres out. Three minutes later, the Dutch outfit pulled a goal back when Sanches Fernandes struck a curling shot that ended up in the back of the Maccabi net.

Other results on Saturday:

Excelsior Rotterdam 1, Grasshoppers 0; Hapoel Beersheba 1, Beitar Jerusalem 0; Grasshoppers Zurich 1, Hapoel Beersheba 2, Crystal Palace 2, Beitar Jerusalem 1.

Hosts Maccabi Tel Aviv consolidated their position at the top of the standings in the international under-19 tournament on Friday with two more impressive wins over Hapoel Beersheba and Grasshoppers of Zurich.

Maccabi Tel Aviv “Shahar” 2, Hapoel Beersheba 1:

Eliezer Ben Aharon’s charges opened their account on day 2 of the tournament and they took the lead in the 10th minute through Ronen Hanchis who intercepted a Beersheba pass and set himself up to send the opposing goalkeeper the wrong way and put the ball into the far corner of the Beersheba net.

Maccabi doubled the score at the start of the second half following a corner as Guy Mizrahi picked up a cross and put Tal Torgeman in position to fire the ball home for a two-goal lead.

Daniel Ivgi scored the consolation goal for Beersheba in the 56th minute.

Maccabi Tel Aviv “Shahar” 4, Grasshoppers Zurich 1:

In their second fixture of the day, Maccabi scored an even more decisive win despite going behind early to the Swiss side, who scored in the fifth minute through Robin Kalem. Maccabi soon came back through goals by Parfait Guiagon in the 11th minute and Rave Asayag in the 28^th. Guiagon and Shai Balahssen scored in the second period.

In other results on Friday it was Beitar Jerusalem 1, Grasshoppers 1; Crystal Palace 2, Excelsior Rotterdam 0; Beitar Jerusalem 3, Excelsior Rotterdam 3; Crystal Palace 1, Hapoel Beersheba 1.

These are the fixtures on the final day’s play on Saturday: Maccabi Tel Aviv v. Crystal Palace, Grasshoppers Zurich v. Excelsior Rotterdam, Hapoel Beersheba v. Beitar Jerusalem, Excelsior Rotterdam v. Maccabi Tel Aviv, Grasshoppers Zurich v. Hapoel Beersheba, Crystal Palace v. Beitar Jerusalem.

The closing ceremony will take place at 15:00

The Maccabi Tel Aviv three-day international under-19 tournament began at Kiryat Shalom on Thursday and the hosts lead the six-team standings after a 4-0 win over Beitar Jerusalem. In other matches, Grasshoppers of Zurich beat Crystal Palace and Excelsior Rotterdam overcame Hapoel Beersheba.

These are the standings at the end of the first day.

Maccabi Tel Aviv 4, Beitar Jerusalem 0: Beitar were penalised with a red card in the first half and allowed Eliezer Ben Aharon’s charges to take complete control of the match. Omri Ram and Parfait Guiagon scored for Maccabi in the first half and Rave Asayag and Itay Ben Hemo, who struck a screamer from 30 metres, added the other two in the second.

Hapoel Beersheba 1, Excelsior Rotterdam 3: The Israelis took the lead from a goal by Netanel Askayas early on but the Dutch boys were unmoved and overhauled the deficit with goals by Niek den Heeten, Dave van Delft and Brent Vugts.

Grasshoppers Zurich 3, Crystal Palace 0: The Swiss dominated for most of the game and registered a convincing win over their English opponents. The goals came from Filipe De Carvalho Ferreira with a penalty and Willy Vogt with two.

Tomorrow’s Schedule:

Day 1 Photos:

Maccabi Tel Aviv’s youth academy will tomorrow host a three-day international youth tournament for the third year in a row after two very successful previous events.

England’s Crystal Palace, S.B.V. Excelsior of Rotterdam from The Netherlands and Grasshopper Club Zurich from Switzerland will participate alongside the hosts, Beitar Jerusalem and Hapoel Beersheba. The event will take place at Maccabi Tel Aviv’s PenguinPickUp training facility at Kiryat Shalom between January 23-25.

Here is a brief look at Grasshopper Club Zurich who are taking part for the first time. The outfit is the most successful Swiss side, with 27 league titles. They are currently second in the standings and have included six players who came through their youth development programme. Grasshoppers’ youth team are currently in fourth place in their division and their mainstay are players from the under-17 age bracket.

Grasshoppers are a side well known to our supporters: Munas Dabbur, who played for the outfit, is a product of the Maccabi Tel Aviv Academy and who played for us for two and a half seasons. He signed with Grasshoppers in 2014 and played for them for two and a half seasons too, making 89 first-team appearances and scoring 26 goals. From Zurich Dabbur moved to Austria’s Red Bull Salzburg, and then to Sevilla in Spain. He is currently with Hoffenheim in the Bundesliga.

These are some notable players to have turned out for Grasshoppers:

Shani Tarashaj: The 24-year-old forward joined Grasshoppers’ youth academy at age 13 and made his debut for the full team at age 19. He made 37 appearances and scored nine goals in a season and a half with Grasshoppers before signing for Everton in January 2016. He has since been on loan to Eintracht Frankfurt and Dutch side FC Emmen. 

Nedim Bajrami: Macedonia native Bajrami immigrated to Switzerland at young age and spent all of his youth career with Grasshoppers. He signed his first professional contract in 2017. Last August the attacking midfielder joined Italian Serie B club Empoli on loan with an option to buy.

Johann Vogel: Geneva-born Vogel’s first club was Grasshoppers where the midfielder made 133 appearances and scored 13 goals. As a youth, he played for amateur club Meyrin until joining the Zurich outfit in 1992. He later went on to play for a number of European clubs including AC Milan, Betis and Blackburn Rovers.

Maccabi Tel Aviv’s youth academy will host a three-day international youth tournament next week for the third year in a row after two very successful previous events.

England’s Crystal Palace, S.B.V. Excelsior of Rotterdam, The Netherlands and Grasshoppers Zurich from Switzerland will participate alongside the hosts, Beitar Jerusalem and Hapoel Beersheba. The event will take place at Maccabi Tel Aviv’s PenguinPickUp training facility at Kiryat Shalom between January 23-25.

Here is a brief look at S.B.V. Excelsior of Rotterdam, who like Crystal Palace, are returning for the second year in a row. The club have ended the first half of their current youth campaign in seventh place in the Eerste Divisie U19. Last season they had success in the Dutch Cup, getting past fellow-Rotterdam outfit Feyenoord, and Twente before falling to Ajax Amsterdam in the semi-finals.

These are some of the most notable players to have turned out for Excelsior:

Robin van Persie: The striker played for Excelsior’s youth side before moving to Feyenoord. He is the top scorer for the Netherlands national team. Born in Rotterdam, Van Persie joined Excelsior when he was five but left for Feyenoord’s youth academy when he was 16. He made his full team debut at the Rotterdam outfit because of an injury crisis at the club and was quickly promoted into the first team. He made his debut for the club at 17, the first of 15 total starts during the 2001–02 season. After starting for Feyenoord in UEFA Cup final, he received the KNVB Best Young Talent award. After five years at Feyenoord, in 2004 Van Persie moved to Arsenal where he was a prolific striker, scoring  132 goals in 278 Premier League appearances. He moved to Manchester United in 2012 where he made 105 appearances and scored 58 goals. After leaving England in 2015, he moved to Turkey and joined Fenerbahce before making the final stop of his career back at Feyenoord in 2018 where he retired in last May.

Mounir El Hamdaoui: The Rotterdam-born striker joined the Excelsior youth academy in 2001 and played together with his youth friends Robin van Persie and Saïd Boutahar. In the 2001–02 season, he made debut for the Rotterdam side under manager Adrie Koster, scoring two goals in six appearances. El Hamdaoui played a total of 74 league matches for Excelsior, scoring 32 goals. He has gone on to play at Derby County, Willem II, AZ Alkmaar, Ajax Amsterdam, Fiorentina and Malaga.

As an under-21 he played for the Netherlands but switched allegiances and played for Morocco 16 times, scoring three goals. He is currently seeing out his playing career in Qatar.

Luigi Bruins: Attacking midfielder Bruins started playing at age six. He was initially turned down by Feyenoord and joined Excelsior instead. Bruins went through the complete Excelsior youth academy, until he made his professional debut in 2005. He played for Feyenoord, Red Bull Salzburg and Nice before returning to his boyhood club. He played 294 matches and scored 33 goals during his adult career and is currently still active as a player as well as taking on coaching duties of Excelsior’s  under-13s.

Maccabi Tel Aviv “Shahar” 2, Hapoel Ramat Gan 0: The under-19 side dominated throughout in Saturday’s league clash against Hapoel Ramat Gan but only secured their 2-0 victory thanks to very late goals scored by substitute Shaked Navon who struck in the 89^th and 91^st minutes.

Maccabi have now won nine of their 17 league outings this season and have amassed 34 points to put them in second place in the standings but they have played one more game than leaders Maccabi Haifa, who are on 39 points and Hapoel Tel Aviv in third, who are on 31 points.

Maccabi Tel Aviv “Eli Fuchs” 7, Maccabi Ahi Nazareth 1: U16 were mighty impressive against Nazareth in the 18th round of the league and remain in second place in the standings three points off the pace. Maccabi’s goals were scored by Oscar Gloch who netted a hat trick, Bar Lin with two and Lior Aloni and Orel Baya.

Maccabi Tel Aviv “Eldad” 4, Holon Yirmiyahu FC 1: More success for U15 in the 14th league round keeps them in fourth place in their division. Goals were scored by Agam Hanoun with two, and Osher Bruchim and Ron Rabinovich.

U17 did not play this weekend because the national team was in action.

Hapoel Rishon Lezion – MTA U14 South 1:0

Hapoel Tel Aviv – MTA U14 North 1:2

Ashdod FC – MTA U13 South 1:2

Hapoel Raanana – MTA U13 North 1:5

MTA U12 South – Beitar Maale Adomim 19:3

Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv – MTA U12 North 0:7

Hapoel Tel Aviv – MTA U11 South 3:10

MTA U11 North – Ness Tziona 11:1