The Yellow & Blue took a point in a 2:2 draw against Hapoel Haifa at Sammy Ofer Stadium on Matchday 32 of the Israel Premier League Ligat Ha’Al. Omer Atzily opened the scoring on a penalty that was drawn by Aaron Schoenfeld while the American striker sent a beauty of a pass to Blackman to give Maccabi Tel Aviv a 2:0 lead in the 81’. However, Ben Basat scored a brace with his first goal coming in the 88’ and his second in the 93’ to split the points. Schoenfeld was issued a second yellow card in the 89’ leading to a red card and leaving Cruyff’s side with 10 men over the last few minutes of the contest.
Jordi Cruyff’s Starting XI featured Predrag Rajikovic in goal along with Yuval Shpungin, Tal Ben Haim, Jean-Sylvain Babin, Ofir Davidzada, Eyal Golasa, Avi Rikan, Dor Micha (C), Omer Atzily, Nick Blackman and Aaron Schoenfeld.
Available on the bench were keeper Daniel Tenenbaum, Prince Thomas, Tomer Altman, Vodar Kjartansson, Eitan Tibi, Elian Atar and Gidi Kanuk.
First Half
Haifa’s Eden Ben Basat had the contest’s first chance when he made his way past the defensive line, but Babin quelled the threat in the 5’ while three minutes later, Ben Basat tried to head the ball in off a Vermouth corner but his attempt was taken care of by the Maccabi defense. Rikan had the Yellow & Blue’s opening opportunity when he took a long distance shot from 20 meters off a counter but his chance missed the target in the 9’.
Rikan again was in the thick of the action when he took a shot off a short corner in the 13’ that hit the outside netting of the goal while three minutes later #22 tried his luck from far out to no avail. After close to twenty minutes of primarily midfield play, Schoenfeld was issued a yellow card in the 31’ while just a minute later Davidzada cleared a threat in the Maccabi box.
In the 35’ Nisto Mitrevski attempt went over the bar and three minutes later Maccabi had a good chance when Golasa sent the ball to Blackman, but the Englishman was a step too slow to get to the ball in time. Golasa then sent Blackman a gorgeous through ball but the winger couldn’t get a good shot off as the half ended goalless.
Second Half
The second half opened with a bang as Schoenfeld was pulled down in the box by Gabriel Tamas and the Yellow & Blue were awarded a penalty that Atzily promptly converted for his 3rd goal in as many games giving Maccabi a 1:0 lead. Schoenfeld then took a shot from the top of the box in the 50’ but his attempt missed the target while three minutes later Micha sent the ball to Rikan in the box but his chance went wide of the goal.
Babin almost doubled the Maccabi lead but his header was smartly saved by Ernestas Setkus, the Lithuanian National Team keeper in the 60’ and four minutes later Setkus made an amazing leading stop to deny Atzily sending the ball out for a corner. Maxim Plakuschenko took a chance form distance but his ball couldn’t find the intended target in the 65’ and Golasa did the same at the other end of the pitch which had the same result.
Cruyff made his first substitution in the 74’ when he inserted Gidi Kanuk in favor of goal scorer Atzily. and 2 minutes later Rikan picked up a yellow card. Turgeman almost drew Haifa even off a free kick that he headed just inches over the bar in the 77’ while Golasa’s attempt at the Haifa goal was saved by Setkus.
Maccabi found their second goal of the night when Schoenfeld sent a beauty of a pass from the left wing to Blackman who slotted the ball behind Setkus to give the Yellow & Blue a 2:0 lead in the 81’. Eitan Tibi entered the contest in favor of Babin following the goal and Eliran Atar came on for Micha in the 86’.
With Maccabi looking to wrap up the victory, Ben Basat took a Plakuschenko pass and put the ball behind Rajikovic in the 88’ to cut the Yellow & Blue advantage to 2:1. A minute later Schoenfeld was handed his second yellow card and was sent off leaving Maccabi with 10 men for the balance of the match. Plakuschenko tried to even the contest up by himself with a scorcher from 20 meters that Rajikovic was able to parry to safety but just a minute later the same Plakuschenko sent a brilliant pass to Ben Basat in the box that the striker headed behind the Maccabi shot stopper to draw Haifa even as the contest ended in a 2:2 draw with the side’s splitting the points.
