Beitar’s ‘Crazy 8s’: Yitzchaki’s faith rewarded in historic Netanya rout

It’s not every day that you see a match that ends in an 8-2 scoreline. It’s rare in the game of ice hockey, but in soccer? It’s nearly impossible.

- By JOSHUA HALICKMAN

BEITAR JERUSALEM coach Barak Yitzchaki oversees his side's emphatic 8-2 victory this week over Maccabi Netanya, a result that reignited the club's league title charge.

(Yehuda Halickman)

So when Beitar Jerusalem started to score, score and score some more this week at Maccabi Netanya you could feel that the floodgates had opened and there was history in the making.

The contest got off to a slow start due to some flares and extracurricular activity from the Beitar stands, and that led to a goal by the hosts that stunned Barak Itzhaki’s squad and the Jerusalem faithful who filled the east stand to the gills of the Netanya Stadium.

However, that was perhaps the shock that Beitar needed to give it the necessary jolt in order to get it back on track.

Itzhaki’s team came into the away clash after having gone winless in five straight games, with a brutal State Cup quarterfinal loss to Bnei Yehuda along some tough draws at Ashdod, at home versus Hapoel Haifa and then again at home against Maccabi Tel Aviv. Plus there was a league defeat thrown in there at Hapoel Beersheba. But the past two games — the one in the southern capital as well as the goalless draw against Maccabi at Teddy Stadium — gave the bench boss some positive hope that his team was going to be just fine.

In fact, more than fine.

There’s no question that Beitar was the better team in the Maccabi game, as it created chance after chance, and it was at least the equal of Beersheba at Turner Stadium despite coming up short 2-1 in that league loss. Itzhaki was very upbeat after those two performances and wouldn’t let anyone talk to him about his team being in any sort of crisis because it really was not.

Perhaps Jerusalem was experiencing a short-term slump, but it was nothing more than that as the 8-2 win will put the past five games in the rear view mirror.