{"id":176851,"date":"2026-04-20T17:35:52","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T17:35:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/?p=176851"},"modified":"2026-04-20T17:35:52","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T17:35:52","slug":"itzhaki-and-beitar-jerusalem-look-to-reach-the-promise-land-but-must-upend-hapoel-beer-sheva-first","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/itzhaki-and-beitar-jerusalem-look-to-reach-the-promise-land-but-must-upend-hapoel-beer-sheva-first\/","title":{"rendered":"Itzhaki and Beitar Jerusalem look to reach the promise land but must upend Hapoel Beer Sheva first"},"content":{"rendered":"

Beitar Jerusalem will head down south to Beer Sheva this coming Saturday night (8:30pm) to take on the team that they\u2019ve got to beat in order to win the Israel League Championship. There are no ifs, ands or buts. The yellow-and-black are 2-points off the top of the table where Hapoel Beer Sheva currently reside and they will need to beat the best in order to be the best.<\/p>\n

Both teams took care of their Championship Playoff openers with 3-0 wins, Beer Sheva over Hapoel Petach Tikva whose keeper couldn\u2019t get out of his own way all game long and Beitar knocking off a shell of Maccabi Haifa, a once proud and committed team. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Now they will go heads-to-head for a third time this season and the first of two in the playoffs after the southern reds took the first two games, 1-0 at Teddy Stadium and 2-1 at Turner during the regular season. Beer Sheva has proven all season long that they deserve to be where they are right now which is in first place looking down at the rest of the league.
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Dan Bitton – Photo credit: Yehuda Halickman<\/p><\/div>
\nDan Bitton had been such a critical piece of their puzzle with 15 goals to lead the league, but is now out injured due to a heart issue as his goal scoring and playmaking abilities are going to be unavailable for the final ten matches of the campaign. However, Kings Kangwa has turned up the notch on his attacking ability and can\u2019t stop scoring goals. It seems that every time he has sniffed the ball this past month, it lands up in the back of the net.<\/p>\n

Kings is just Kings doing what he knows best which is to play the game of football at the highest of levels with 10 goals and 5 assists. The 27-year old Zambian was on his way out not once but twice, when he went to the African Nations Cup and more recently due to the war with Iran, but he\u2019s still here and not only that, he\u2019s better than ever.<\/p>\n

Add to the mix Igor Zlatanovic who scored a brace against Petach Tikva and looks to have finally found his stride since joining Beer Sheva from Netanya along with Head Coach Ron Kozuk who seems to turn everything he touches into gold.
\n

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Photo credit: Beitar Jerusalem<\/p><\/div>
\nBut Beitar are no slouches either with so many different weapons at Head Coach Barak Itzhaki\u2019s disposal. From his target men up front Gonzalez and Kalu, to endless attacking by Omer Aztily (10 goals\/6 assists) and captain Yarden Shua (13 goals\/5 assists) to go along with so many other players who can turn a game around on a dime, the yellow-and-black are going to be a threat for the top spot.<\/p>\n

As much as Beer Sheva won\u2019t want to believe it, Beitar can match up to them mano-to-mano and they\u2019ve only matured since the last time them met a number of months ago.<\/p>\n

Maccabi Haifa who visited a packed Teddy Stadium would normally have been a good test ahead of a showdown with Beer Sheva, but that\u2019s not the case with this version of the Greens. Barak Bachar and Lior Refaelov will have their hands full over the next few months going through a rebuild of sorts as they desperately have to renew and reinvigorate a squad that looks like a dead horse that has already been to the glue factory and back.
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Photo credit: Maccabi Haifa<\/p><\/div>
\nThe greens could not get anything going offensively as Beitar pressured and pressed high on Haifa from the get go. When Bachar made a triple substitution at the 60th minute, a move that Maccabi Tel Aviv\u2019s Ronny Deila did last week against the Greens in the Israel State Cup semifinal at Teddy, the move changed the entire complexion of the game.<\/p>\n

It was clear that Bachar was hoping for the same, but it was not to be as the players who came on including a much maligned Trivante Stewart, started to backpedal soon thereafter and let in not one goal but two to close out the game.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the Haifa of old would have been able to find a way of creating some sort of havoc and quality chances, but Beitar just kept playing as they had done for the opening hour until they themselves made some moves to refresh the players on the pitch as they ran off with the win.
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Barak Itzhaki – Photo credit: Yehuda Halickman<\/p><\/div>
\nItzhaki has done a more than marvelous job in managing Beitar this season and keeps pressing the right buttons along with making the correct moves. Despite having a pair of regulars in Adi Yona and Yarin Levy on the shelf with injuries, the former star striker seems to always find the right formula to make up for the loss of key players who may not be available. Just last week, in the Jerusalem Derby, Itzhaki pulled another couple of rabbits out of his hat when he started Dor Hugi and Ziv Ben Shimol in place of Shua was out due to yellow card accumulation as well as for the injured Yona and Levy. <\/p>\n

Both contributed in the win over Hapoel Jerusalem while Ben Shimol was once again in the starting lineup in the Haifa victory and drew the penalty that led to Shua\u2019s goal to break the deadlock while also sending Dor Micha a magnificent through ball in the box that led to the third goal. <\/p>\n

As Itzhaki has gotten more comfortable with his squad, he\u2019s been able to mix and match the players and find the right formula for almost every situation imaginable. That also includes the defense an goalkeeper that has now recorded two clean sheets in a row for the first time this season.
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Yarden Shua – Photo credit: Yehuda Halickman<\/p><\/div>
\nWith those two shutouts, 2-0 in the Derby and 3-0 against Haifa, they are now just one marker behind Hapoel Beer Sheva in goal differential which may be crucial as the season comes to a close. Shua explained that the team has been working hard on this aspect their game that they are one unit and that everyone understands what to do. They complement each other and that they had made it a point of not conceding in this game. <\/p>\n

Itzhaki also commented about how their defense doesn\u2019t start only with the defenders, it starts with high pressure and the more aggressively Beitar press, the more the defense benefits. When the ball is lost he wants the players to react immediately which makes the defense even stronger because they then regain control.<\/p>\n

The defense is clearly something that Itzhaki has made a point to concentrate on because he knows that on some days you may not have your best offensive, but you can always have your best defense with effort. He is also very aware that defense wins championships and that\u2019s going to be the club\u2019s big test in the championship playoffs.
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Luka Gadrani – Photo credit: Yehuda Halickman<\/p><\/div>
\nThere\u2019s now question that Luka Gadrani, Brayan Carabali who scored his first goal of the season against Haifa, are anchoring the back line while Nana Antwi along with Yarden Cohen has been superb on the flanks. However, Grigori Morozov, Gil Cohen, Roei Elimelech and Uri Dahan are all capable defenders coming off of the bench and as Itzhaki has said time and time again, he has trust in every single player that wears the yellow-and-black. <\/p>\n

Beitar clearly has the horses to compete for the title and are now so, so close to the top of the table as they breathe down Beer Sheva\u2019s necks who are very well aware that they are coming for them. But Kozuk and the southern reds are not blind to that fact and will do everything in their power to ensure that they take home the championship that they should have last season but came up just short.<\/p>\n

The championship will undoubtedly go down to the wire with both teams wanting to take the gold, however, only one will be able to. As Shua put it, Beitar knows what type of opportunity they have in front of them but that they are also not as experienced in a title race, which is where their head coach Barak Itzhaki comes into play, so to speak, having been involved with plenty over the years as a star striker with Beitar Jerusalem and Maccabi Tel Aviv.
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Barak Itzhaki – Photo credit: Yehuda Halickman<\/p><\/div>
\nItzhaki is connected to the club\u2019s great past and was a part of the 2006-07 championship, the first of two in a row for the yellow-and-black which also happens to be the last league titles that they won. That is not just a trivial fact, but one that will be able to benefit each and every one of his players as they themselves face the pressure that he had once experienced.<\/p>\n

Now Itzhaki guides his charges as he comes full circle in what has been a special season to date for Beitar fans. The big question that now remains is can he finish the job and reach the promised land? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Beitar Jerusalem will head down south to Beer Sheva this coming Saturday night (8:30pm) to take on the team that they\u2019ve got to beat in order to win the Israel League Championship. There are no ifs, ands or buts. The yellow-and-black are 2-points off the top of the table where Hapoel Beer Sheva currently reside […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":176854,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[55],"class_list":["post-176851","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football-israel-2","tag-beitar-jerusalem","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\nItzhaki and Beitar Jerusalem look to reach the promise land but must upend Hapoel Beer Sheva first - Sports Rabbi<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/itzhaki-and-beitar-jerusalem-look-to-reach-the-promise-land-but-must-upend-hapoel-beer-sheva-first\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Itzhaki and Beitar Jerusalem look to reach the promise land but must upend Hapoel Beer Sheva first - Sports Rabbi\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Beitar Jerusalem will head down south to Beer Sheva this coming Saturday night (8:30pm) to take on the team that they\u2019ve got to beat in order to win the Israel League Championship. 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