Maccabi Tel Aviv’s under-19 side were in complete command of their youth league clash with Hapoel Ramat Gan at their Ness Ziona home base on Saturday but only found the net with two very late goals to set them back to winning ways.

Maccabi had more than a handful of chances in the first half, as the dangerous Parfait Guiagon looked particularly potent but none of his four attempts managed to find the target. At the other end, Ramat Gan had a solitary attempt.

The second half was a similar affair, as Maccabi piled on the pressure to set up a similar number of chances, but the breakthrough came only in the 89th minute when Shaked Navon, who came on as substitute six minutes earlier, tapped in for 1-0 after an excellent pass from Or Roizman.

Guiagon provided Navon with his second goal seconds after the game entered injury time and he made no mistake once more.

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.

Lineup: Tomer Alon, Guy Itzhaki, Mikel Mor, Itay Ben Hemo, Rotem Yatzkar, Afek Sapir Navot (Niv Berkovitz, 75), Shai Balahssen (Or Roizman, 45), Asaf Hershko (Nadav Nidam 61), Tal Torgeman (Omri Ram, 45), Parfait Guiagon, Ronen Hanchis (Shaked Navon, 83)

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, Excelsior Rotterdam of 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 England’s Crystal Palace, who are returning for the second year in a row.

The club play in the English Under-18 Professional Development League Group B (southern section) and after 16 matches, were in fifth place in the 10-team division with 25 points from 16 matches, including seven wins, four draws and five defeats.

Midfielder Brandon Pierrick is one to watch. He became the club’s second-youngest Premier League debutant when he came on to help his side defeat Norwich City on Jan. 1. Pierrick has been with the club for just under a decade and has progressed through the ranks in the Crystal Palace Academy from the Under-9s team to the Under-23s.

The Premier League club’s Academy has an esteemed reputation for producing outstanding footballers, including Wilfried Zaha who has played 334 times for his boyhood club, scoring 53 goals, and Aaron Wan-Bissaka (49 Premier League appearances).

Other Academy graduates who have starred in the Premier League include Victor Moses (220 Premier League appearances), Nathaniel Clyne (185 Premier League appearances), Ben Watson (145 Premier League appearances), Wayne Routledge (297 Premier League appearances), and Jonny Williams (12 Premier League appearances; an integral part of the club’s promotion to the Premier League in 2013).

The current England manager Gareth Southgate is also a Palace Academy graduate.

Hapoel Beersheba 1, Maccabi Tel Aviv “Shahar” 1: Maccabi Tel Aviv “Shahar”, the club’s under-19 outfit held most of the possession in their away clash against Hapoel Beersheba on Saturday but were unable to convert their advantage into victory and ended their league clash in a 1-1 draw.

Maccabi, placed third in their division, scored in the 15th minute when Tal Torgeman chipped the Beersheba keeper after receiving an excellent through ball from Shai Balhassen. But the lead lasted until seconds before halftime when Maccabi goalkeeper Ben Musayof was adjudged to have fouled a Beersheba player in the area and the hosts converted the resulting penalty taken by Netanel Askias.

Hapoel Tel Aviv 2, Maccabi Tel Aviv “Oded” 1: U17 could not continue their good away win over Beitar Jerusalem and were knocked out of the State Cup by city arch-rivals Hapoel in the third round. Hapoel took the lead in the ninth minute, Elad Kaplan equalised in the 23rd but Hapoel scored the winner in the 53rd minute to advance to the fourth round.

Maccabi Amishav Petah Tikva 0, Maccabi Tel Aviv “Eli Fuchs” 8: U16 were overwhelming winners with Lior Aloni, Oscar Gloch, and Matan Jerozolimski each scoring two goals and Ido Mizrahi and Natan Buzaglo adding one apiece.

Hapoel Raanana 0, Maccabi Tel Aviv “Eldad” 11: U15 maintained their positive momentum from the league with a whopping win. Osher Bruchim scored four goals, Nikita Alexienko scored twice and Maor Ben Nun, Ron Rabinovich, Agam Hanoun, Omer Dinar and Liad Barda added the others.

Maccabi Tel Aviv “Shahar”, the club’s under-19 outfit held most of the possession in their away clash against Hapoel Beersheba on Saturday but were unable to convert their advantage into victory and ended their league clash in a 1-1 draw.

Maccabi, placed third in their division, scored in the 15th minute when Tal Torgeman chipped the Beersheba keeper after receiving an excellent through ball from Shai Balhassen.

But the lead lasted until seconds before halftime when Maccabi goalkeeper Ben Musayof was adjudged to have fouled a Beersheba player in the area and the hosts converted the resulting penalty taken by Netanel Askias.

Maccabi’s players had almost all the chances to score in the second half but were unable to convert at least a handful of decent chances.

Maccabi’s lineup: Ben Musayof, Guy Itzhaki, Mikel Mor, Itay Ben Hemo, Rotem Yatzkar, Nov Berkovitz, (Afek Sapir Navot, 61), Shai Balhassen (Or Roizman, 82), Asaf Hershko (Nadav Nidam, 85), Tal Torgeman (Shaked Navon, 72), Parfait Guiagon, Ronen Hanchis.

Hapoel Beersheba v. Maccabi Tel Aviv “Shahar”, Wassermill Stadium, Saturday, noon: The under-19s, who are third in the standings open the second phase of the league with an away fixture against Hapoel Beersheba, who are in tenth place. The two sides ended their previous meeting this season in a 2-2 draw.

Hapoel Tel Aviv v. Maccabi Tel Aviv “Oded”, Wolfson, Saturday, 10:45: U17 are buoyant after their away win over Beitar Jerusalem in the league last week. They are away again this week in the State Cup third round against Hapoel Tel Aviv. Maccabi also won the last meeting between the two clubs, 4-0 at home.

Maccabi Amishav Petah Tikva v. Maccabi Tel Aviv “Eli Fuchs”, Petah Tikva Sirkin Sportek, Saturday, 18:40: U16 will be looking to advance after their previous victory, 3-1 over Hapoel Kfar Sava.

Hapoel Raanana v. Hapoel Tel Aviv “Eldad”, Raanana Park, Friday 13:45: U15 will look to add the scalp of Raanana to their previous two successes in the State Cup in the shape of Hapoel Nahalat Yehuda and Hapoel Nof Hagalil.

Maccabi Tel Aviv’s youth academy will host an international youth tournament later this month for the third year in a row after two very successful previous events.

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

Maccabi have won the two previous editions of the tournament and last year overcame Crystal Palace, Excelsior Rotterdam, Maccabi Haifa, Beitar Jerusalem and Hapoel Beersheba.

The two international teams who competed last year are coming back for the second time and their Swiss counterparts will make their debut, giving the foreigners an equal representation in the event.

The event will be played as a single round robin group of six teams with each game played over an hour, two 30 minute halves. The team that tops the table will be crowned winners.

Tournament timetable

Thursday, Jan. 23
13.30 Opening ceremony
14.15 Maccabi Tel Aviv v. Beitar Jerusalem (main pitch)
14.15 Hapoel Beersheba v. Excelsior Rotterdam (synthetic pitch)
15.30 Crystal Palace v. Grasshoppers Zurich (main pitch)

Friday, Jan. 24
11.00 Maccabi Tel Aviv v. Hapoel Beersheba (main pitch)
11.00 Beitar Jerusalem v. Grasshoppers Zurich (synthetic pitch)
12.15 Excelsior Rotterdam v. Crystal Palace (main pitch)
13.30 Maccabi Tel Aviv v. Grasshoppers Zurich (main pitch)
14.45 Excelsior Rotterdam v. Beitar Jerusalem (main pitch)
14.45 Crystal Palace v. Hapoel Beersheba (synthetic pitch)

Saturday, Jan. 25
10.00 Maccabi Tel Aviv v. Crystal Palace (main pitch)
10.00 Grasshoppers Zurich v. Excelsior Rotterdam (synthetic pitch)
11.15 Hapoel Beersheba v. Beitar Jerusalem (main pitch)
12.30 Maccabi Tel Aviv v. Excelsior Rotterdam (main pitch)
13.45 Grasshoppers Zurich v. Hapoel Beersheba (main pitch)
13.45 Crystal Palace v. Beitar Jerusalem (synthetic pitch)
15.00 Closing ceremony

  

Maccabi Tel Aviv “Shahar”, the club’s under-19 side, overcame Beitar Tubruk in wintry conditions in Netanya on Saturday and registered a 1-0 victory in the 15th round of the league that ended the first phase. The winner was scored by Ronen Hanchis, who headed home in the 18th minute from an excellent pass by Shai Balahssen.

U17 beat hosts Beitar Jerusalem 2-0 at Bayit Vagan and the result has seen them climb to second place in the standings after 14 rounds of matches with the gap from the top spot now down to two points. Ariel Belson and Dor Turgeman scored for Maccabi in the first half.

Hapoel Tel Aviv emerged as 2-1 winners over U16 in the Derby clash at Hapoel’s Wolfson training ground in the 16th round of action. Ofek Sasson put Maccabi ahead, but Hapoel came back with two of their own to win.

U15 returned from Kiryat Gat with a 5-0 victory in the 13th round of action in their division. It was a second big margin away victory for Maccabi’s boys that has them fourth in their division. Osher Bruchim scored a hat trick and Agam Hanoun got the other two goals.

Maccabi Tel Aviv “Shahar”, the club’s under-19 side, overcame Beitar Tubruk in wintry conditions in Netanya on Saturday and registered a 1-0 victory in the 15th round of the league that ended the first phase.

The winner was scored by Ronen Hanchis, who headed home in the 18th minute from an excellent pass by Shai Balahssen.

Despite the difficult conditions, both sides had several chances to score throughout the match and most were in favour of Maccabi, particularly in the second half.

Maccabi’s lineup: Ben Mousayof, Guy Mizrahi, Mikel Mor, Itay Ben Hemo, Rotem Yatzkar, (Omer Itzhaki, 80), Afek Sapir Navot, Shai Balahssen, (Yalli Lazar, 77), Asaf Hershko, (Niv Berkovitz, 38), Tal Torgeman, (Or Roizman, 62), Parfait Guiagon, Ronen Hanchis (Shaked Navon, 90)

Beitar Tubruk v. Maccabi Tel Aviv “Shahar”, Netanya 11:00.
Maccabi Tel Aviv go into the away clash in third place in the standings against Tubruk, who are ninth and Eliezer Ben Aharon’s boys will be looking to return to winning ways after the goalless draw in the Tel Aviv Derby last week.

Beitar Jerusalem v. Maccabi Tel Aviv “Oded”, Bayit Vagan, Jerusalem 10:30.
U17 face another challenging encounter in the 14th round of action following their 1-1 home draw with division leaders Maccabi Haifa last week. The third-placed team will be away in Jerusalem against Beitar, who are 11th in the standings and will look for a morale-boosting win to keep close to Haifa.

Hapoel Tel Aviv v. Maccabi Tel Aviv “Eli Fuchs”, Wolfson training ground, 09:00.
This is an intriguing clash between second and first place in the standings and Assi Haber’s boys will desperately be looking to maintain Maccabi’s grip on the division lead. The teams are separated only by goal difference.

Ironi Kiryat Gat v. Maccabi Tel Aviv “Eldad”, Kiryat Gat 10:00.
Boys C are in fourth place in their division and will look to maintain their own positive momentum against bottom-placed Kiryat Gat who have yet to post a win after 13 outings.

Maccabi Tel Aviv “Shachar” and traditional arch-rivals Hapoel Tel Aviv shared the spoils in a sodden goalless youth Derby in Ness Ziona and it was a mixed bag of results for the other Academy teams.

Maccabi Tel Aviv “Shahar” 0, Hapoel Tel Aviv 0: Neither Maccabi, who began in third place in the standings, or Hapoel, one place above them were able to capitalise on a number of chances that came their way as rain hampered play throughout and parity in the standings between the two clubs was maintained but the gap from Maccabi Haifa at the top is now eight points. Maccabi take on Beitar Tubruk in their next fixture.

Maccabi Tel Aviv “Oded” 1, Maccabi Haifa 1: U17 good run of results was held up in the 13th round of action against the division leaders who went ahead in the 55th minute but Aner Oshmandi equalised on the hour. Maccabi remain third in the standings, four points behind pace-setters Haifa.

Maccabi Tel Aviv “Eli Fuchs” 1, Maccabi Petah Tikva 2: U16 run of nine consecutive victories came to an end in the 16th round of action. Petah Tikva took the lead in the 48th minute and Oscar Gloch equalised in the 75th but the visitors regained the advantage five minutes later and Petah Tikva held on for the win. Despite the defeat, Maccabi remain at the top of the division.

Maccabi Tel Aviv “Eldad” 5, Maccabi Herzliya 3: U15 followed up their good midweek win over Hapoel Tel Aviv with another convincing result over Maccabi Herzliya in the 12th round of action and they remain in fourth place in their division. Tom Bloch with a hat trick and Nikita Alxienko and Osher Bruchim scored for the winners.