State Cup Soccer: Jerusalem makes easy work of Acre to move into Cup quarters

The cup holder was anything but impressive, but had no trouble in getting the better of Acre.

By ALLON SINAI
barak Itzhaki 224.88 (photo credit: AP)
barak Itzhaki 224.88
(photo credit: AP)
Betar Jerusalem cruised into the quarterfinals of the State Cup on Wednesday night, defeating National League side Hapoel Acre 2-0 at Teddy Stadium. The cup holder was anything but impressive, but had no trouble in getting the better of Acre, with Barak Itzhaki and Amit Ben-Shushan scoring either side of the interval. "In cup games against an opponent from a lower division you often feel helpless, but overall our players did well," Betar coach Reuven Atar said, before revealing who he would like to face in the last eight. "My players want to play a Premier League opponent and, considering we struggled against teams from lower divisions last season, I also prefer a Premier League side." There wasn't much to separate the teams in an uneventful first half, but Betar still had the lead at the break after an Acre defensive mistake. Aviram Bruchian crossed the ball for Itzhaki, who made the most of Ron Ben-Nahum's slip in the box and slotted in the opener in the 25th minute. The hosts killed off the game with a second goal three minutes into the second half. A cool finish by Ben-Shushan secured the victory, which was slightly marred in the 62nd minute when Idan Tal was sentoff after being shown his second yellow card, meaning he will miss Monday's crunch Premier League match against Hapoel Tel Aviv. On Thursday, the Premier League's top two teams meet at Bloomfield Stadium, when Hapoel Tel Aviv hosts Maccabi Haifa. The round of 16 will be completed next Tuesday. Bnei Yehuda vs Bnei Sakhnin; Ironi Kiryat Ata vs Hakoach Amidar Ramat Gan; Ashdod SC vs Ness Tziona; Hapoel Petah Tikva vs Hapoel Kfar Saba; Ahi Nazareth vs Hapoel Ashkelon.