Did you have a lot of snow this time ?

As expected Beitar beat Hapoel Tel-Aviv, a superb performance by Hapoel's GK earned Hapoel an honorable 1-0 defeat. From what I've seen it was supposed to end 5 or 6. It seems as if Beitar are on their way to a 2nd consecutive championship and Hapoel are on their way to the 2nd division.

Maccabi Haifa - Toto cup winner 2007-2008!!!

1st title of the year goes to Haifa!!!
A 2-0 victory over Sakhnin in the league's cup final with 2 goals by Renato. The 1st on the 54th minute from the penalty spot after Refaelov was braught down inside the box and the 2nd in the 86th minute to seal off the match. Great victory for Haifa giving us a happy winter break.

After a 3 week vacation Israeli football is back. On saturday Maccabi Tel-Aviv (now with their new Canadian owner) continued improving and beat Kfar-Saba 3-0 away. Hapoel Tel-Aviv got their 2nd win of the season, this time a 1-0 victory agaisnt Bney-Yehuda causing the two to switch place in the table. The rest of the games, which included teams from the higher half of the table ended in draws.
Beitar drew 1-1 with Herzelia, Natanya and Sakhnin ended their game with a boring 0-0 as did Ashdod and Kiryat-Shmona.
Since all of the upper half teams drew Haifa had an opportunity last night to advance to 2nd place but they blew it. We played away agaisnt Petah-Tikva and in 90 minutes Petah tikva only managed 2 strikes at goal, one got in on the 54th minute after a bad pass back from Bokoli found Tsemah free infront of goal. 19 minutes later Katan scored the equalizer. On the 87th minute Arbeitman had a great chance of winning the game for us but he stumbled and the game ended at 1-1.

After 14 games the table is like this:

1.Beitar Jerusalem____34__+23
2.Maccabi Natanya____25___+10
3.Maccabi Haifa____24___+10
4.M.Petach Tikva_____24___+6
5.Kiryat Shmona_____24___+6
6.Sakhnin___________24___+3
7.Kfar Saba_________20___-2
8.M.Tel-Aviv_________14___-4
9.Herzeliya__________12___-10
10.Ashdod___________12___-17
--------------------------------------------------
11.H.Tel-Aviv________9___-10
12.Bney Yehuda______8___-15

You're back at the top, there are 5 maccabi in your league. Hapoel have won but it's against a team who is in the bottom.

I'm a little hammered so I hope I dont make too many mistakes...
Anyway Beitar finally lost, 1-0 to Skahnin at home after Maor Buzaglo scored on the 89th minute. This with 3 other top half wins by Kiryat-Shmona (2-1 at home agaisnt Petah-Tikva), Netanya (3-0 at home agaisnt Ashdod) and Haifa's 3-1 agaisnt Maccabi Tel-Aviv (goals by Rosso, Afek and Gita) made the gap between Beitar and the runner ups only 6 points, the league is open again.
Also Hapoel Tel-Aviv are back to losing, this time 2-1 against Kfar-Saba. Hapoel missed a penalty kick in the 91st minute. Bney Yehuda got a chance to push Hapoel back to last place but they concided they're 10th loss in a row (1-0 at home to Herzeliya) and finshed the 15th day in the last place.
The table is now like this:

1.Beitar Jerusalem____34__+22
2.Maccabi Natanya____28___+12
3.Maccabi Haifa____27___+12
4.Kiryat Shmona_____27___+7
5.Sakhnin___________27___+4
6.M.Petach Tikva_____24___+5
7.Kfar Saba_________23___-1
8.Herzeliya__________15___-9
9.M.Tel-Aviv_________14___-6
10.Ashdod___________12___-19
--------------------------------------------------
11.H.Tel-Aviv________9___-11
12.Bney Yehuda______8___-16

Ashdod are pretty low which sucks, i like to consider them my israeli team

Ashdod? Why'd you pick them???
People from Ashdod didnt pick them!

That'l be why then!!

Years ago i had a poster to make in RE(Religious education) we did it on Ashdod(because at the time we were immature and liked the name), our justification was it had something to do with judaism

Needless to say the teacher wasnt impressed!

Ever since ive looked out for their results really.

Haifa is finaly close to the top. After watching Natanya end their game with Petah-Tikva in a goaless draw Haifa went to Kfar-Saba and beat the loacal team 3-0 with Refalov scoring the 1st on the 6th minute and Kfar-Saba's defense doing the rest with 2 own goals on the 21st and 92nd minutes.
Maccabi Tel-Aviv managed to score a late equalizer agaisnt Kiryat-Shmona in the 91st minute ending tehir game 2-2.In the bottom Bney Yehuda took a point away from Sakhnin and stopped a 10 losses strik, and Hapoel Tel-Aviv won a crucual match agaisnt Herzelia 3-2 with a dodgy penalty kick on the 85th minue. This win sent them back above the red line after Beitar managed a 2-1 away win agaisnt Ashdod.

So, 16 days into the league and the table is like this:

1.Beitar Jerusalem____37__+23
2.Maccabi Haifa____30___+15
3.Maccabi Natanya____29___+13
4.Kiryat Shmona_____28___+7
5.Sakhnin___________28___+4
6.M.Petach Tikva_____25___+5
7.Kfar Saba_________23___-4
8.M.Tel-Aviv_________15___-6
9.Herzeliya__________15___-10
10.H.Tel-Aviv________12___-10
--------------------------------------------------
11.Ashdod___________12___-20
12.Bney Yehuda______9___-16

What do you think? Does Haifa has a chance of winning it?

Do beiter jerusalem still have trhat striker Aberjil?? He was class on FIFA 05

Good result for you Eurxe, i think you can win it because Beitar have lost at home last time, and your results are good now. Hapoel Tel Aviv seems to be better.

Hapoel's results are better the past few weeks but they are still playing badly. They can only thank luck (and the refs) for the points they took.
We still have two games against Beitar so maybe we have a chance, the problem is they are both going to be in Jerusalem and Beitar is a very good team at home.

shaggy, are you sure it was FIFA05? Aberjil played for Beitar only in 2000/01.

A disapointing weekend for Haifa. Haifa Traveled to Kiryat-Shmona this weekend and tried to become the 1st team to win there but couldnt do it. Kiryat-Shmona took the lead on the 16th minute and Haifa (Rosso) set the score of the game on the 25th minute. Beitar beat Petah-Tikva 2-1 at home and Natanya beat Maccabi Tel-Aviv 1-0 with a goal on the 92nd minute. Put all these together and you get Haifa back to 3rd place, 1 point less than 2nd and 9 less than 1st, the title doesnt seem likely at this stage.
Next two weeks Haifa has Natanya (2nd) at home and Beitar (1st) away, I'm not optimistic.
Sakhnin beat Hapoel Tel-Aviv away and Bney Yehuda fianlly won a game after 12 with no win, 3-2 at home agisnt Ashdod which are down to the last place.
Also, Herzelia and Kfar-Saba ended their game in a goaless draw.
The bottom of the table is very crowded with 3 teams having 3 wins, 3 draw and 11 losses with only goal difference seperating them.

The Table after 17 games:

1.Beitar Jerusalem____40__+24
2.Maccabi Natanya____32___+14
3.Maccabi Haifa____31___+15
4.Sakhnin___________31___+5
5.Kiryat Shmona_____29___+7
6.M.Petach Tikva_____25___+4
7.Kfar Saba_________24___-4
8.Herzeliya__________16___-10
9.M.Tel-Aviv_________15___-7
10.H.Tel-Aviv________12___-11
--------------------------------------------------
11.Bney Yehuda______12___-15
12.Ashdod___________12___-21

How many clubs are there in Haifa ?

1 in the top division (Maccabi Haifa), 1 in the 2nd division (Hapoel Haifa) and few others in the 5th and 6th divsions.

Have Hapoel Haifa already played in the top division and have they already played a european cup ?

Hapoel Haifa was traditonaly the stronger team in Haifa up untill the 80's. They won their 1st and only championship back in 1999 and won 3 cups in 63, 66 and 74.
They also played in the champion's league qualification after their championship they beat turkish team Basiktas and went on too lose in the fianl qualification round to Valencia. They than went on to the UEFA cup beating Club Brugge from Belgium and losing in the next round to Ajax Amsterdam.
They are one of the top 3 hated teams by Haifa fans, right at the top with Maccabi Tel-Aviv and Beitar Jerusalem. When they got relegated to the 2nd divsion in 2002 while Maccabi Haifa won their 2nd title in a row, it was the best season ever!

I wanted to give you link to their website but unfortently their dont have an english website, only hebrew.

Thanks, i've seen that you won your first title in 1984 and your first cup in 1962.

Yeah, Maccabi Haifa won the league 10 times between 1984 and 2006. 45% success!