Maccabi Tel Aviv captured the Champions Cup, Israel soccer’s first trophy of the season as the Yellow & Blue defeated Hapoel Beer Sheva 2-0 in the second leg which was played at Bloomfield Stadium after winning 2-0 in the first leg earlier in the week. Yonatan Cohen scored the first goal of the game on a magnificent curler while Eylon Almog scored as well from inside of the box. Performance Director Patrick van Leeuwen guided the club over the two legged tie and will now give way to brand new head coach Giorgos Donis and his staff as they now prepare for their Champions League first round clash at home against Riga.

In Toto Cup action, Ashdod smoked Bnei Yehuda 5-1 as Sagiv Yehezkel scored 4 goals in the victory. Roie Ben Shimon gave hosts Bnei Yehuda an early 1-0 lead but Yehezekel’s 54th minute strike thanks to a magnificent through ball by Samuel Alabi drew his side even. Shlomi Azulay assisted on Yehezkel’s 2nd goal in the 72nd minute and completed a hat trick five minutes later to go up 3-1. Azulay himself got into the act in the 84th minute while Yehzekel put the icing on the cake four minutes later to finish off an unforgettable evening.

Hapoel Haifa and Kiryat Shmona drew 2-2 in an entertaining game at Sammy Ofer Stadium. Reds captain Liran Sardel took a perfect through ball from Nes Zamir and found the back of the goal from 17 meters for a 1-0 lead in the 11th minute. Lucio found the equalizer via a penalty 15 minutes later after a Raz Stain handball in the box. But the William Agada gave the Haifa the advantage once again in the 32nd minute but were reduced to 10-men when Miki Siroshtein was handed his second yellow card of the contest. Ofir Mizrahi made sure to take advantage of the extra player and drew even from 9 meters out in the 72nd minute to split the points.

Bnei Sakhnin surprised Maccabi Haifa 1-0 when Ihab Shami sent Osama Khalaila the ball who headed the ball into the far corner in the 26th minute to take the 3 points and the win.

Beitar Jerusalem and Hapoel Tel Aviv played to a dry goalless draw as Roni Levy’s capital city squad has yet to score a goal in two Toto Cup matches.

Maccabi Petah Tikva slipped by Maccabi Netanya 1-0 thanks to a 63rd minute goal by Or Inbrum.

Hapoel Kfar Saba hosted Hapoel Hadera to a 1-1 draw at the Moshava Stadium. Maxim Plakuschenko gave the visitor’s a 1-0 lead on a 10th minute penalty but Sagi Dror’s equalizer twenty minutes later split the points.