February 21, 2025
Surprisingly, today saw a game of football scheduled to be played on a Friday in the Israeli Premier League, and was also scheduled to be played early afternoon, making it a convenient game for Fatbear to watch and add another country to his list of countries covered.
The Jerusalem derby was a match between sides in 4th and 9th place in round 24 of the Israeli Premier League.
Israel National Team
For political reason Israel are members of UEFA and are currently 76th in the FIFA rankings, although they reached as high as 15th in 2008.
Israel have only qualified for the World Cup Finals on one occasion, where in Mexico in 1970 they drew with Sweden ( 1-1 ) and Italy ( 0-0 ), but ultimately a 0-2 loss to Uruguay saw them eliminated in the group stages.
In the 2026 World Cup Qualifying, Israel have been drawn in a group with Germany or Italy, Norway, Estonia and Moldovia, so have a decent chance of reaching the play-offs, with matches commencing in March.
The record cap holder for Israel is Yossi Benayoun with 102 caps, who played for West Ham, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal and Queens Park Rangers in an illustrious career. Next in the number of caps list is Tel Ben Haim ( 96 caps ), who numbered Bolton Wanderers, Chelsea, Manchester City, Portsmouth, West Ham and Charlton amongst his former clubs.
Other notable Israelis to have played in the Premier League include Eyal Berkovic ( 78 caps and ex-Manchester City, Southampton, West Ham, Celtic and Portsmouth ), Tomar Hemed ( 38 caps, ex-Brighton, Charlton & QPR ) and Ronny Rosenthal ( 55 caps, and ex-Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur and Watford ).
The only player currently playing in the top two divisions in England is midfielder Manor Solomon ( 41 caps ) who is currently on loan at Leeds United from Tottenham Hotspur, having previously played for Fulham and Shakhtar Donetsk.
Nearly all of the most recent Israel squad either play in Israel or the USA, with the principal exceptions being midfielders Mohammad Abu Fani ( 26 caps ) at Ferencvaros, Oscar Gloukh ( 17 caps ) at Red Bull Salzburg, and right-back Eli Dasa ( 65 caps ), who is currently playing for Dinamo Moscow, having played for Vitesse Arnhem.
Israel Premier League
The Israeli Premier League, which is also referred to as Ligat ha’Al, was formed in 1999 and currently consists of 14 teams, who play each other home and away for a 26-game regular season. The top six then split to play 10 extra games in the Championship round, whilst the bottom eight play 7 additional games in the relegation round to determine the two sides to be relegated to the second tier.
However, the Israeli Football League was founded in 1932, and sides have been awarded a star for every five titles since the inception. Maccabi Tel Aviv have won 26 titles, followed by Maccabi Haifa on 15, Hapoel Tel Aviv on 13, Hapoel Petah Tikva and Beitar Jerusalem with 6 a-piece. The current champions are Maccabi Tel Aviv.
Teams are limited to six foreign players per team. In addition, players who have played in the league for 6 consecutive years do not count against the foreign player limit. Also, Jewish players and players who are married to Israelis are exempt from these restrictions, as they are entitled to Israeli citizenship.
Many Israeli sports teams have the prefix Hapoel. Clubs with this name represents the working class, Labor Zionism, and the Israeli labour movement. The word "Hapoel" is Hebrew for "the worker".
Sides named Maccabi typically represents a Jewish national liberation movement and a philosophy that emphasizes physical fitness.
Despite the situation in Gaza and the threat of missile strikes from Iran and Yemen, there were currently no restrictions on attendances at football matches in Israel, although strangely, official attendances had ceased to be published after the first week of the season. In 2023/24 Beitar had averaged crowds 11,141 during the regular season with Hapoel averaging 2,893. Both sets of fans were to be in good voice during the whole game.
Israeli Sides in Europe 2024/25
Champions Maccabi Tel Aviv were exempt to the Second Qualifying Round of the UEFA Champions League where they lost 1-2 on aggregate to Romanian side FCSB. Dropping down to the Europa League they were too strong over two legs for Lithuanian side FK Panevezys, winning 5-1 on aggregate. Maccabi were then also far too strong for Serbian side TSC Backa Topola in the play-off, cruising through 8-1 on aggregate.
Maccabi Tel Aviv struggled in the new style Europa League group stages, and won only two of their 8 games, and losing the other six to fail to reach the knockout stages. The victories were against Besiktas ( A 3-1 ) & RFS Riga ( H 3-1 ) but defeats to Braga ( A 1-2 ), Midtylland ( H 0-2 ), Real Sociedad ( H 1-2 ), Ajax ( A 0-5 ), Bodo/Glimt ( A 1-3 ) and Porto ( H 0-1 ) saw them eliminated.
Runners-up Maccabi Haifa had a dramatic 2nd Qualifying tie in the Europa Conference. After losing the home time 0-3 to Azeri side Sabah, they bounced back to win the second leg 6-3, only to lose the penalty shoot-out.
Third placed Hapoel Be’er Shiva got past Bulgarian side Chero More in the 2nd Qualifying Round but crashed out in the next round 3-5 on aggregate to Czech Mlada Boleslav, losing the away leg 1-4
Israeli Cup Winners Maccabi Petah Tikvah were exempt until in the second Qualifying round of the Europa League but were thumped 0-7 over two legs by Portuguese side Porto. Dropping down to the Europa Conference, they lost both games 0-1 to CFR Cluj.
Beitar Jerusalem
Beitar were founded in 1936 and have historically been associated with the far-right Likud party, the party of current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Beitar have famously been anti-Arab and anti-Muslim but have actually signed non-Arab Muslim players from Tajikistan, Albania, Nigeria and Chechnya. However, the signing of the two Chechnyan was not popular with some elements of the fanbase, who walked out of the ground when one of the scored on his debut.
The club has traditionally worn kit colours of yellow and black and play its home matches in the Teddy Stadium, the largest in Israel, with a capacity of 31,733.
Beitar have played in every season of the Israeli Premier League since its inception. The last of Beitar’s 6 titles was in 2007/08 but they won the 2022/23 State Cup.
Beitar came into the game in 4th place, with a 12-5-6 record and 14 points behind leaders Hapoel Be’er Sheva. At home they were 7-3-1, with the one defeat surprisingly coming against mid-table Maccabi Bnei Raina ( 1-4 ). In their last 6 matches they had won 2, drawn 3 but lost last time out at Hapoel Haifa ( 2-3 )
Beitar had one current Israeli international, forward Yarden Shua ( 1 cap ), who was missing today, although defenders Gil Cohen and Uri Dahan had been called up to the national squad but were still to make their debuts.
Beitar’s foreigners included ex-Vitoria Guimares, Maritimo and APOEL Portuguese keeper Miguel Silva, ex-Auxerre and Bordeaux defender Jean Marcelin, ex-Celtic Ivorian defensive midfielder Ismaila Soro and ex-Astana, Alaves, Spartak Jurmela and Hannover winger Patrick Twumasi.
Costa Rican forward Mayron George ( 13 caps ) numbered Danish sides Midtjylland, Lyngby, Randers amongst his former clubs whilst ex-Dinamo Moscow and Celje Russian full-back Grigori Morozov held an Israeli passport.
Twumasi was the leading goal scorer with 7 league goals, followed by Shua and George on 6. Timothy Muzie and Silva Kani were next with 5 goals.
Coach Barak Yitzhaki looked like an older version of Jose Mourinho, but is 22 years younger !
Hapoel Jerusalem
Hapoel Jerusalem used to be fierce rivals of Beitar until they were relegated in 1999/00 and only returned to the top-flight for 2021/22. With Beitar being the side of the right, support for Hapoel traditionally came from the labour organisations in Jerusalem.
Hapoel also play its matches at the Teddy Stadium, and their traditional colours are all red.
Hapoel’s nickname is Katamon. The name comes from a breakaway club, Hapeol Katamon Jersusalem, formed in 2007 by fans dis-satisfied at the way the club was being run. When the original Hapoel club was barred by the Israeli Federation in 2019 for financial problems, Hapoel Katamon were renamed Hapoel Jerusalem and are now considered to be the legacy club.
Last season Hapoel finished in 7th place but came into today’s fixture in 9th place with a 6-7-10 record but a paltry 1-4-6 away, with sole victory coming back in October at Ironi Tiberias ( 2-0 ). Last time out Hapoel achieved a respectable 3-3 draw at third place Maccabi Haifa.
Hapeol’s foreign players today were Ivorian forward Cedric Don and countryman defender Yao Eloge Koffi, who was on the books of Inter as a youngster and had played for Lugano and Reggiana. Nigerian forward Ibeh Ransom joined from Armenian side FC Ararat.
Midfielder Yanai Distalfeld joined from Maccabi Haifa for a reported €300K, whilst winger Matan Hozaz and forward Eylon Almog were on loan from Hapoel Be’er Sheva.
Don was the top scorer with 7 goals, with Hozez on 4 and Ransom and Almog on 3.
Previous Meetings
When the two sides met in December, they played out a 3-3 draw in which Hapoel twice led through goals from Don but were ultimately indebted to an 83rd minute equaliser from Ethiopian born Awaka Eshata with a flying header, after being reduced to 10 men following a harsh red card to Ransom. Mozorov, Shua and Twumasi were on the scoresheet for Beitar.
Matchday Information
The weather at the 13.30 kick-off ( 11.30 UK time ) was dry and 9 degrees.
Bet365, who live streamed the match, made Beitar 3/5 favourites, with Hapoel at 4/1 and the draw at 14/5
Beitar were in their traditional yellow and black, with yellow shirts with black sleeves and shoulders, with yellow shorts and socks. Hapoel were in red and thin black stripped shirts, with red shorts and socks. The players’ names were written on the back of the shirts in Hebrew, but the sponsors names and the numbers were in Roman script.
Beitar made four changes to the team that lost at Hapoel Haifa with Marcelin, Yona, George and Muzie replacing Mizrahi, Micha, Twumasi and Shua. Hapoel were unchanged.
Match Report
Beitar nearly took the lead with less than 90 seconds played when Yarin escaped the attentions of Distalfeld to ran onto a left wing cross from Mozorov, but his shot on the stretch from 8 yards produced a fine close range save from Zamir.
Zamir was called into action barely a minute later, coming of his line to make a diving gather to Mozorov’s defence splitting pass to again deny Yarin an opportunity after Atzili’s decoy run had opened up the centre of the Hapoel defence.
Hozez then gave Muzie a hefty push in the back which left the Beitar wing-back needing treatment, and Hozez was fortunate not to see a yellow card so early in the match.
The lively start continued with a 5th minute cross from Hozez being narrowly headed past his own post for a corner by George, back helping out his defence.
Beitar fans then set off some smoke bombs, drastically reducing visibility, leading to the referee halting play until the smoke had cleared. The cessation of play was greeted with whistles from the Beitar fans but play restarted around two minutes later.
Hozez again escaped sanction after bringing down Muzie near the touchline, and the in-swinging free-kick from Atzili sailed narrowly wide of the Hapoel far post and past Zamir’s attempt to push it away for a corner.
Musie then got his own back on Hozez with a trip near the halfway line, following which some nice passing play from Hapoel reached Ofek Nadir on the left but his ball into the Beitar area was easily claimed by keeper Miguel Silva.
The first corner arrived in the 14th minute as Cohen’s attempted clearance was blocked and bounced back of him. When the ball was finally crossed, Soro headed away.
Marcelin’s long floated ball forward found George, but as the Costa Rican turned to get into a shooting position, centre-back Noam Malmud produced a good tackle, and the follow up cross from the left was a comfortable catch for the Hapeol keeper.
In the 23rd minute a free kick from Atzili caused some panic in the Hapoel penalty area, but the visitors were eventually able to clear.
With 28 minutes on the clock a long ball down the left-hand channel found Atzili, but after cutting back inside, the shot was straight at Zamir, who held above his head.
Beitar won their first corner a minute later when George’s attempted low cross was put out by Malmud. The replays showed George had been offside, but this had been missed by the linesman. Atzili’s delivery went beyond the far post but was put out for another corner, from which, after a bout of head tennis, Distalfeld was able to run clear for Hapoel and win a throw in inside the Beitar half.
Mozorov was the recipient of the game’s first yellow card of the game after leaving Don in a heap and treading on his foot. Don was soon sent flying through the air again, this time after a wild foul from Soro, which escaped a yellow card.
After 36 minutes, a long cross-field Hapoel free kick was headed back across goal from beyond the far post by Nadir, but Don somehow headed wide from 4 yards. Almog was also unmarked and in a better position to score, so it was a great chance squandered by Don for Hapoel.
In the 43rd minute Yona played a ball down right hand channel to George, who despite the attentions of Glazer, turned and shot from just inside the Hapoel area, but his low shot was well saved by Zamir, diving to pushed away, and Yao cleared the loose ball.
Don then sent a goal bound 30-yard grubber but Miguel Silva got his body behind the effort and gathered at the second attempt.
As the clock approached the 45th minute Hapoel keeper Zamir flapped at a corner from Atzili which struck the crossbar but Beitar unable to capitalise on the rebound and gave away a free kick in their efforts to gain possession.
In added on time, Guy Badash sent a 20 yard left footed attempt a few feet wide for Hapoel, and there was still time for Ilay Madmon to get Hapoel’s first yellow card for throwing the ball away to prevent Beitar taking a throw-in.
It remained goalless at the interval after a first half of nice football but only a couple of chances.
Beitar came quickly out of the blocks for the second half and a low ball from Muzie into the Hapoel area needed to be hoofed clear, then a left footed cross from the right-hand angle of the penalty area from Muzie drifted past the far post. After a pass from Morozov, a shot on the turn from 12 yard by George, under pressure from Glazer, went into the side netting,
In the 53rd minute Don went on a mazy run through the middle of the Beitar defence and allowed the ball to run to Almog, whose 20-yard shot was fisted away by Beitar keeper, and Marcelin headed the rebound away.
A minute late Don did well to keep possession under pressure from Dahan close to the right-hand corner flag and offloaded to Yeo. Don received a return pass and his low ball across the goalmouth was swept home left footed from 8 yards by Hozez to stun the home crowd. 0-1 after 54 minutes.
Beitar swarmed forward but calm passing from Hapeol led to a counterattack and for a fraction of a second it looked like Almog might be through on goal, but good defending from Dahan ended the danger.
Yona looked to send Mozorov running to the byline, but Distalfeld was covering back to tackle and concede a corner.
With 62 minutes played, Atzili was found in a little bit of space inside the Hapoel area on the left by Yona and went to ground under a challenge from Yao, but the referee was unimpressed and waved play on.
A minute later Almog entered the referee’s notebook for a clumsy challenge on Dahan, stepping on the Beitar defender’s foot and was shortly after joined by Hozez for a late tackle.
Hapoel were now content to defend in depth and invite Beitar on to them and looking to hit on the counterattack.
With 71 minutes on the clock, Glazer won a header ahead of Yona as Beitar played a ball into the area, and ball fell to George, but the left footed shot was hit into ground and went straight at the keeper. Beitar appealed for a penalty for a challenge by Malmud on Mozorov before ball reached George, but referee disagreed. The Israeli TV pundits were probably saying “I’ve seen them given….”
Three minutes later Badash found space on the right wing for Hapoel and teed up Hozez, but the ball seemed to stick under his foot, and he was closed down. After twisting away, Hozez was able to shoot, but the right footed effort was weak and at Miguel Silva.
Don had a glorious chance to settle the match in the 77th minute, latching onto a back heel from substitute Ransom which beat Marcelin and Dahan, but his effort from 12 yards struck Miguel Silva as he came off his line and spread himself, and the ball went off for a corner.
Out of the blue Beitar scored a fabulous equaliser. A long ball into area by Micha was chest controlled by Silva Kani, escaping from Glazer, and a clever left footed finish on the half volley with the outside of his foot went over the keeper and bounced into the net for a quality finish. 1-1 with 79 minutes played.
Dahan looked to have suffered a nasty looking injury when shepherding a ball out of play only to be clattered into by Hapeol substitute Maksim Grechkin. Play was held up for three minutes, but Dahan was unable to continue and had to be replaced. He did though receive a yellow card for coming back onto the pitch before collapsing again !
Beitar thought they had taken the lead two minutes from the end of normal time when Mozorov’s left footed chip was met by Twumasi, whose close-range header from a well-timed run was parried into the air by Zamir, but Twumasi, using the goalpost for support, headed home on the goal line. The goal was reviewed by VAR, and after a 6-minute delay, it finally determined there had been a foul on Badash by Twumasi in the build-up, although Hapoel did have a chance to subsequently clear through Glazer, so the goal came well into the second phase of play.
Anyway, the goal was ruled out so it stayed 1-1. Whilst it did look like a foul, the fact it came well before the goal being scored it raised questions of how long an offence needed to be before VAR should intervene. In some cases in England, the fact that Hapoel had the chance to clear but failed to adequately do so, has allowed the second phase of play to continue. Beitar had a right to feel aggrieved by this interpretation by VAR.
9 minutes of added minutes were announced, partly due to it taking so long over the VAR decision, plus the injury to Dahan and a raft of substitutions, but as play only resumed after the VAR decision in the 94th minute it was likely at least 13 extra minutes would be played.
Beitar came close to snatching the winner in the 97th minute, but Micha blazed over the bar from 10 yards after a low cross ricocheted to him.
Hapoel’s last chance was a free kick from a promising position on the left after Grechkin was brought down by Zohar Zasno, but the delivery sailed over everyone’s head for a goal kick.
In the 12th minute of added time Glazer’s heavy touch allowed Twumasi to nick the ball off him and the desperate lunge from Glazer brough down the Beitar forward. Glazer was shown a straight red, which looked harsh, as there appeared to be at least one, and maybe two covering defenders.
Beitar though had run out of time and Hapoel held on for a point. For the neutral it was an enjoyable game to watch with the neat passing football and good technical skills. Beitar were on the rough end of a couple of decisions, but Hapoel also missed a couple of good chances.
Beitar remained in 4th place in the table and Hapoel stayed in 9th place and now very unlikely to make the top six and the Championship Round.
Highlights : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7ZixH03kVQ
Beitar Jerusalem : Miguel Silva – Muzie ( Twumasi ), Dahan ( Zasno ), Marcelin, Cohen, Morozov – Yona, Soro ( Micha ), Yarin – Atzili, George ( Silva Kani )
Hapoel Jerusalem : Zamir – Yao, Malmud, Glazer, Nadir – Badash ( Agvadish ), Don, Madmon ( Farada ), Distalfeld ( Eshata ), Hozez ( Grechkin ) – Almog ( Ransom )
No comments:
Post a Comment