It was no doubt a busy weekend at Bloomfield Stadium as both Tel Aviv soccer teams hosted the two clubs who are duking it out for the Israel Football League Championship. The results of the pair of clashes that saw Hapoel fall to table leaders Hapoel Beer Sheva 2-0 on Friday afternoon and Maccabi come up short 2-1 against Beitar, should not come as such a big surprise.

In theory, both Hapoel Tel Aviv and Maccabi Tel Aviv had absolutely nothing to play for in the league which already creates issues as some players may not give 100% at this point of the season when there have been games every few days or so and an injury or two is right around the corner.

For the reds, European qualification has already been accomplished and a win for their opponents would keep their hated rival Beitar Jerusalem entrenched in second place. The yellow-and-blue may have no chance to win the league title but they are going to challenge Hapoel Beer Sheva for the Israel State Cup in a little over a week, with the hardware being the ultimate goal right now.

Of course, just because Hapoel Tel Aviv’s got three games to go that are immaterial in the greater scheme of things, doesn’t mean the referee also has to help them out which is exactly what happened when Andrian Kraev was a pair of yellow cards in the first half and was sent off, leaving the hosts with ten men.

The same can be said on a controversial offside call that was confirmed by the VAR after a goal by Maccabi Tel Aviv against Beitar which potentially would have crushed their title hopes right then and there.

Instead, in the case of Beer Sheva, Ron Kozuk’s charges finally broke through when substitutes Ofir Davidzada came off of the bench to score a brilliant goal while Amir Ganach put in the insurance marker which handed the visitors the 3-points to go up by five at that point, a day before Beitar Jerusalem would play.

Maccabi arguably put in their best performance of the season against Beitar and could have taken a 1-0 lead into the halftime break but the VAR interfered with what looked to be a good goal as it was ruled that Amir Sahaiti was just offside when he took a Sayed Abu Farhi pass. Despite Dor Peretz heading home the opening marker of the game early in the second half, Beitar Head Coach made all the right moves following the tying goal that was set up by Yarden Shua and scored by Omer Atzily.

In came Timoti Muzie and Gonzalez who teamed up on the former’s winner, while Kenny Miller’s substitutions did the opposite and ruined a terrific showing from the yellow-and-blue. However, Miller and Maccabi are out of league contention and have one thing and only one thing on their minds which is winning the State Cup. If it means playing what will be his starting lineup for only 60 minutes, then so be it, Miller is doing what is best for his team.

If it means that he will start a slew of bench players against Hapoel Beer Sheva Tuesday night, then so be it; his mission is not to help Beitar, but to help himself and his team. Beitar had their chance to help themselves, twice over the past week. They fell to Maccabi Haifa 3-0 and then drew 1-1 with Hapoel Beer Sheva after having been in front 1-0, to allow the southern reds the opportunity to go back into first place.

At this stage of the season, there is no reason to think that anyone is going to do any favors for Beitar. They may still win out at Hapoel Petach Tikva on Tuesday night and then against Hapoel Tel Aviv at home to close out the season but those six points won’t make any difference if Beer Sheva takes care of Maccabi and then Maccabi Haifa with both games being played at the friendly confines of Turner Stadium.

Now that there are two games to go for both teams, it’s crystal clear that Itzhaki will play his preferred lineup and not make any changes unless there is some sort of injury. He is going to run out the guys that he trusts to give him the result that Beitar needs, be damned at the issue of fatigue and exhaustion.

Kozuk on the other hand has been making some lineup changes to ensure that his players are as fresh as can be, but right now, with two matches to go, it’s got to be all hands on deck and whoever are the best players are the ones who have to play even if it’s on fumes.

Usually in these situations, the teams that need the points are going to be the ones who are going to take them. But there is still a sliver of hope that Beitar will leapfrog Beer Sheva one more time and that’s ultimately the beauty of sports as the championship heads right down to the wire.