It’s not every day that you see a match that ends in an 8-2 scoreline. It’s rare in the game of ice hockey, but in soccer? It’s nearly impossible.
So when Beitar Jerusalem started to score, score, and score some more this week at Maccabi Netanya, you could feel that the floodgates had opened and there was history in the making.
The contest got off to a slow start due to some flares and extra-curricular activity from the Beitar stands, and that led to a goal by the hosts that stunned Barak Yitzchaki’s squad and the Jerusalem faithful who filled the east stand to the gills of the Netanya Stadium.
However, that was perhaps the shock that Beitar needed to give it the necessary jolt in order to get it back on track.
Yitzchaki’s team came into the away clash after having gone winless in five straight games, with a brutal State Cup quarterfinal loss to Bnei Yehuda along some tough draws at Ashdod, at home versus Hapoel Haifa and then again at home against Maccabi Tel Aviv. Plus there was a league defeat thrown in there at Hapoel Beersheba. But the past two games – the one in the southern capital as well as the goalless draw against Maccabi at Teddy Stadium – gave the bench boss some positive hope that his team was going to be just fine.
In fact, more than fine.
There’s no question that Beitar was the better team in the Maccabi game, as it created chance after chance, and it was at least the equal of Beersheba at Turner Stadium despite coming up short 2-1 in that league loss. Yitzchaki was very upbeat after those two performances and wouldn’t let anyone talk to him about his team being in any sort of crisis because it really was not.
Perhaps Jerusalem was experiencing a short-term slump, but it was nothing more than that as the 8-2 win will put the past five games in the rear view mirror.
Sure, to the naked eye it looked as if Beitar was in bad shape and the alarm bells needed to be sounded loud and clear that the yellow-and-black were in trouble, but the head coach would not even go close to there. Yitzchaki stated over and over again during the past two weeks that his team was in fine shape and that it was going to be OK. It didn’t matter if it was at the pre-match and post-match presser, on TV or in the media room, Yitzchaki repeated himself and the all-good narrative again and again. And now he can take all of the credit for what was the club’s largest win since it smashed Maccabi Herzliya 8-1 way back during the 1994/95 season.
It’s certainly been a long time since Beitar could claim “Crazy 8s.”
Beitar captain says team is ready to aim for championship
Yarden Shua, the captain of the ship, was absolutely magnificent as he worked his magic on the pitch with a pair of goals as well as an assist, all of which came in the first half that saw Beitar head down to the break with a 5-2 lead. That brought his goal total to 12 for second place in the league just behind Dan Bitton, who has 15, to go along with a trio of assists as well.
Shua, now 26 much more mature than he was earlier in his career, played leader extraordinaire and finally admitted that his team is going to battle it out for the championship all the way to the end of the season. It was really the first time that anyone from the club publicly went as far as saying that they are in it to win it.
Usually, the head coach, Shua or any other member of the team would downplay the league title as a goal, but finally the words were uttered that Beitar is here to battle all the way to the end.
And really, why not?
It’s been clear for weeks, if not months, that thanks to a superb start to the season, Beitar would be aiming for the gold and that began with the signing of Luka Gadrani, who arrived just shy of two months into the campaign.
Boris Enow, who was honored by his former team prior to the game, has just gotten better and better while Gonzalez, a true striker – a real-life No. 9 – looked fabulous, not to even mention Nana Antwi, who has brought another dimension to the team.
The Colombian marksman’s goal was scored with a cheeky backheel off a pass from speedster Antwi who was lethal on the right flank all game long. Gonzalez then sent an all-world flick of an assist to an oncoming Enow for his goal which was an even bigger piece of art, right out of the Louvre.
Some fans were all ready to send the striker back home after what had looked like to them as a subpar performance against Maccabi Tel Aviv while their patience level had dropped to the lowest levels. But Yitzchaki saw some good things in that game and he was rewarded for not listening to the outside noise and saw Gonzalez not be a part of a pair of goals and also continuously wear down the Netanya defenders and be a big problem for them in more ways than one.
Antwi was stellar and really got his feet wet in the goalless draw against Maccabi Tel Aviv the week prior, as the defensive back played up and down the right side being an interchangeable part to Yitzchaki’s formation, one that began as a 4-3-3 but also moved to a 5-4-1 at times as well. The 25-year-old Ghanaian looks to be a terrific signing and will be an asset to Beitar as it heads into the championship playoffs.
Enow has just been looking better and better since he joined the squad and has totally found his footing while bringing a certain calm to the pitch with him, knowing what needs to be done and when. A professional footballer of the highest order.
Omer Atzily made his long-anticipated return from injury which will give Yitzchaki another positive headache as to where he will be able to best use him after he made his way onto the field of play for the final five-plus minutes or so.
Add goals by Johnbosco Kalu, Adi Yona, Ziv Ben Shimol and Yarden Cohen and it’s not hard to see that this is a very content crew that spread the wealth around and is ready to, yes, go all the way this season.
With the lead at the top of the table cut to four points from first-place Hapoel Beersheba, and the goal differential being reduced from eight to just two after the victory in Netanya, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that the championship race is wide open. Beitar knew going into Monday’s game that it could make up ground following Beersheba’s home draw with Hapoel Haifa on Sunday night
Beitar didn’t clam up under the pressure, something that it has done quite a bit at home where Jerusalem has scored only 18 of its 56 total goals this season. However, Jerusalem has scored 21 goals after the 75th minute of games this year, which is a tremendous amount, to say the least.
The bottom line is that Yitzchaki and Beitar are going all-in to win and have plenty of real estate left to do it with two more regular season clashes, with Tiberias at home and then an “away” derby against Hapoel Jerusalem at Teddy Stadium.
That will then be followed up by 10 Championship Playoff matches where Jerusalem will play all of the big boys twice, so that means two more against Beersheba, Maccabi Haifa, Hapoel Tel Aviv and Maccabi Tel Aviv, not just for Beitar but for all of those clubs. There will be plenty of points won and lost over the next three months as we head into the stretch run.
That will no doubt make for plenty of fun and excitement.
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