Local Soccer: Shirazi takes over at Mac Petah Tikva

By ALLON SINAI
Nitzan Shirazi will be Maccabi Petah Tikva's fourth coach of the season after signing an 18-month contract with the club on Monday. Shirazi left Bnei Yehuda 11 matches into the current season after four years in charge of the team from southern Tel Aviv following the team's poor start to the campaign. Petah Tikva's first choice as Guy Luzon's replacement was Israel Under-21 coach Guy Levy, but after he turned the team down on Sunday the Luzon family offered the position to Shirazi, who gladly accepted. "Four months is too long for a coach to be out," Shirazi said ahead of his first training session on Monday. "I've joined a club in a difficult situation and there's a lot of work to do. We need six more points to avoid relegation and we will get them." Shirazi's first league game in charge will be against Maccabi Haifa at Kiryat Eliezer on Saturday. His brother Hezi is the current coach of Bnei Yehuda. He took over from Eli Cohen who replaced Nitzan Shirazi but only lasted a few months