10/7/2013: Haifa lose another pre-season friendly

Football:

A dissapointing game for Haifa last night.(maccabi hafia)

Maccabi Haifa were beaten again in pre-season action by  Russian side Terek Grozny 1-0.
Terek's goal came in the 80th minute from striker Zaur Sadayev who played last season for Israeli club Beitar Jerusalem.  Haifa barely troubled the Grozny defense but Grozny came close to scoring a second when Sadayev hit the post. "It was a good training match against a good and physically strong team", commented Haifa manager Arik Benado.
Last nights loss was Haifa's last game in their training camp in Austria and they will start their season next Thursday with a game in the Europa League 2nd Qualifying Round against Khazar Lankaran of Azerbaijan. "Their were good aspects and their were not so good aspects which we will fix and work on. We finished a good training camp in which the players became closer and we moved forward professionally", said Benado, " We will go back to Israel as a much better team". The high point of Haifa's time in Austria came when they beat Baku 3-0.

Maccabi and Ashdod players in action yesterday (sport5)

Maccabi Tel Aviv also had another bad off-season friendly yesterday when they drew 0-0 with Ashdod. Maccabi came close to winning but their star midfielder Eran Zehavi's penalty was saved in the 61st minute by the Ashdod's goalie Roi Mishpati. The game added to a not so impressive pre-season by Maccabi in which they got a loss, 2 draws and only 1 win whilst only scoring 3 goals in all 4 of the games. (All 3 of the goals were scored in the same game.)

Yossi Shivhon (wiki)

Maccabi are still looking to secure a goalkeeper for next season after Nigeria's national team goalie Vincent Enyeama revealed that he is thinking about walking out on them after they made an offer to him, that Enyeama claimed, "did not include enough money". Maccabi are closely watching Real Madrid Castilla goalie Tomas Mejias in case Enyeama does decide to leave. 

Amit Ben Shushan (wiki)

Ironi Ramat Hasharon have handed midfielder Yossi Shivhon a lifeline after he was relegated with Maccabi Netanya from the top flight, by giving him a 1 year contract at the club. The Israeli 31-year-old will officially sign the deal that will keep him in the Ligat Ha'Al for at least another season after the Jewish fast day of Tisha B'av. Shivhon played 32 games and scored 4 goals last season in the Netanya ranks.

Beitar Jerusalem had to wave a painful goodbye yesterday to Amit Ben Shushan after the Israeli striker decided to leave after 10 years at the club. The 28-year-old will play next season for Cypriot side Anorthosis Famagusta.
Ben Shushan scored 46 goals in the 248 games that he played for Beitar.. "Beitar Jerusalem will always be my home", said a very emotional Ben Shushan, "I am starting on a new path in a good club that has proved itself in the last few years. I want to personally thank  the Beitar fans who have supported me all the way and wish Beitar a lot of success next season".

"Sofo" (wiki)

Basketball:

Nizan Hanochi (BSL)

Maccabi Tel Aviv have managed to convince Greek center Sofoklis Schortsanitis to return to the Israeli club for a second stint. The 28 year old who played last year for Greek side Panathinaikos has signed on at Maccabi on a 3 year deal that will see him earn $2.5million. The move was made easier for Maccabi after earlier this month Panathinaikos told "Sofo"  that he will not be carrying on at the club. Sofo (2.08 meters) averaged 10.3 points and 3.5 rebounds in 17.6 minutes per game in his first stint at Maccabi. 

Hapoel Eilat have added another player to their roster for next season by signing 27-year-old  Nizan Hanochi from Maccabi Rishon LeZion. The Israeli shooting guard who is 1.94 meters also captained Rishon LeZion last season all the way to the semi-finals. "I am very exited about this signing", commented Eilat Manager Oded Katash. Chanochi averaged 9.2 points per game last season. Chanochi is not the first guard to sign for Eilat his summer, as they also signed Niv Berkovic who averaged 9.9 points per game last season.

Dagan Yavzuri (safsal)

Maccabi Haifa have agreed a one year deal with shooting guard Dagan Yavzuri. 28-year-old Yavzuri has been playing for the last 4 years at Hapoel Gilboa Galil and by signing for Haifa, joined the 7th club of his career. Haifa are still looking for a new coach and a new player to replace Gal Mekel who recently became just the second Israeli to officially sign for an NBA team when he signed for the Dallas Mavericks.
 

Maccabiah 2013:

The Israel Team (The IAB)

Israel's Baseball team's squad for the 19th Maccabiah Games has been announced.  Israel will face strong competition from Baseball heavyweights U.S.A and Canada in their bid to win the tournament that will start next Thursday. All the games in the competition will be played at the Yaron Sports Complex in Petah Tikva (otherwise known as "Baptist Village"). The team's head coach during the competition will be Amit Kurz.
Israel's Squad: Adam Miller, Assaf Lowengart, Avi Watson, Binyamin Mor, Elan Bash, Gilad Zwilling, Ilan Klein, Matan Ritz, Meir Ginensky, Menachem Lafazan, Noam Calisar, Mordy Roth, Roye Shelem, Tal Erel, Yechiel Scheinfeld, Yehuda Joffe, Yoav Halper, Yoav Meoded, Yotam Ben Amram, Ben Laks, Shlomo Lipman,  Elyashiv Segal.