1) Andreas Herzog named his Israel Football National Team squad for the upcoming UEFA Nations League Match at Albania on September 7th and a friendly at Northern Ireland the following week. Former Captain Eran Zahavi is back in the fold while youngster Manor Solomon received a callup. The squad includes – Ariel Harush, Guy Haimov, Dani Amos, Taleb Tawhatha, Shmuel Scheiman, Ben Bitton, Loai Taha, Shir Tzedek, Ayed Habshi, Eitan Tibi, Niso Capiloto, Eli Dasa, Dan Einbinder, Dor Micha, Dan Glazer, Dor Peretz, Maxim Flachenko, Manor Solomon, Beram Kayal, Bibras Natcho, Eran Zahavi, Tomer Hemed, Monas Dabbur, Alon Turgeman, Dia Saba.

2) Israel Football Premier League Matchday 1 Recaps and Highlights:

Maccabi Tel Aviv 2:0 Maccabi Haifa
Two second half goals by Itay Shechter and Dor Peretz gave the Yellow & Blue the win and three points to open up the season.
Maccabi Petah Tikva 4:1 Beitar Jerusalem
Lidor Cohen, Yossi Benayoun, Gidi Kanuk and Ty Beribo scored for Petah Tikva as Beitar could only muster an own goal (Martial) as the Moshe Hogeg era began with a defeat at the Moshava Stadium.

Hapoel Hadera 2:1 Hapoel Tel Aviv
In a batter between the two newly promoted sides, Niso Avitan’s Hadera bested the Reds of the Tel Aviv 2:1. Muhamed Abu-Fani scored in the 21′ while Omer Damari drew Tel Aviv even. However, Asi Guma’s 88′ goal gave Hadera the win.

Hapoel Haifa 5:0 Maccabi Netanya
Hapoel Haifa shocked Maccabi Netanya 5:0 on goals by Dor Malul, Eli Elbaz and Nes Zamir (x2) and Rasmus Sjöstedt as Nir Klinger’s side took the three points.

Kiryat Shemona 1:1 Hapoel Beer Sheva
Guy Melamed gave the visitor’s the lead but Nigel Hasslbaink helped the host’s split the points.

Ashdod 1:0 Bnei Yehuda
Amit Bitton scored a 90′ goal as Ashdod snatched the 3 points just before the final whistle.

Bnei Sakhnin 0:0 Hapoel Raanana
The two teams played to a goalless draw and split the points in Sakhnin.

3) Yulia Glushko advanced to the second round of the US Open as she defeated Monica Niculescu 3-6, 7-5, 6-4. Check out the interview The Sports Rabbi did with Glushko a few weeks ago in The Jerusalem Post.

4) Maccabi Tel Aviv BC gets practice underway

Maccabi Tel Aviv BC began practice for the 2018/19 campaign as most of the players have arrived. The last will be Jeremy Pargo who comes in on Thursday.

Quick Hits – Hapoel Jerusalem guard Yogev Ohayon has an ankle that will keep him out for 3 weeks…