The Yellow & Blue won the first leg of their first round Europa League qualifier at the Netanya Stadium 2:0 thanks to goals by Yonatan Cohen and Eli Dasa. The return leg will take place next Thursday, July 6th in Tirana, Albania.

Head Coach Jordi Cruyff’s Starting XI included Serbian keeper Predrag Rajikovic with a defensive quartet of Eli Dasa, Tal Ben Haim, Eitan Tibi and Ofir Davidzada in front of him. Manning the midfield was Captain Sheran Yeini, Shlomi Azulay and Eyal Golasa while Omer Atzily, Yonatan Cohen and Vidar Kjartansson providing the attack.

Available on the bench were keeper Daniel, Yuval Shpungin, Barak Itzhaki, Dor Peretz, Eliel Peretz, Egor Filipenka and Aaron Schoenfeld.

First Half
A nice run by Dasa and Atzily came up empty in the 5th minute as Azulay fanned in the box early on. In the 19th minute Kjartansson turned in the area but couldn’t get a shot off as Maccabi continued to control the pace of the contest. Four minutes later, Dasa swung a magnificent ball into the box but Cohen’s header went wide of the goal as the score remained 0:0.

Atzily tried his luck from long distance on his off wing but the ball just skipped by the right post in the 25th minute. However, the Yellow & Blue made sure to find the back of the goal two minutes later as Cohen slammed home the ball from 20 meters out for the 1:0 lead. The Icelander left the ball for the youngster and the new number 24 knew how to find the far corner.

The hosts almost doubled their advantage two minutes later when Davidzada left the ball for Kjartansson but the Tirana keeper made a kick save while in the 37th minute Davidzada’s sharp angled chance was pulled in by the Albanian shot stopper Lika. Tirana had a chance in the 44th minute as a give and go between Hoxhallari and Sentamu was stopped by Rajikovic as the sides headed into the break with Maccabi holding a 1:0 advantage.

Second Half
Maccabi looked to add to their lead early on but Kjartansson’s header just missed the goal off of an Atzily corner in the 53rd minute while Azulay’s 18 meter chance also came up short 4 minutes later.

But Eli Dasa would break the second half ice with a terrific strike in the 64th minute. Kjartansson gave Davidzada a wonderful pass who in turn sent the ball to a streaking Dasa off of the right side of the pitch who put the ball home for a 2:0 advantage. Following the goal, Eliel Peretz came on in place of Eyal Golasa, in the 72nd minute Barak Itzhaki was introduced for Omer Atzily and six minutes later Cruyff made his club’s final substitution bringing on Aaron Schoenfeld in favor of Vidar Kjartansson.

In the 85th minute Itzhaki sent Davidzada a nice pass who crossed it into the box, but Cohen’s attempt bounced over the goal as the score remained 2:0 for the Yellow & Blue. Three minutes later the Tirana captain Karabeci almost pulled a goal back but his chance just went by the right post as Maccabi wrapped up a 2:0 win with the second leg taking place in Tirana, Albania next Thursday, July 6th.