Pre Match
With the Europa League put aside for 24 hours or at least until the round of 32 draw which is set to take place at UEFA’s Headquarters in Switzerland tomorrow (14:00), Maccabi’s coach Georgios Donis made several changes to his side for the league match against Hapoel Haifa.
Ben Biton who limped off with a hamstring injury during the 3-2 defeat to Ashdod and Maor Kandil rested following Thursday’s match, meant that Shahar Piven received his first league start of the season at right-back. Ofir Davidzada, stepped into the side at left-back replacing the scorer of the winning goal against Sivasspor, Enric Saborit, to complete a back-four which also included Eytan Tibi and Luis Hernandez. Dan Glazer and Dor Peretz were assigned to the roles of the two anchormen in midfield while Yonatan Cohen and Eylon Almog were named on both wings.
Itay Schechter completed his one-match touchline ban to partner Aleksandar Pesic as the two strikers leading Maccabi’s charge to return to their winning ways.
First Half
Maccabi reached the first chance three minutes from the start as Yonatan Cohen’s corner fell to Dor Peretz who couldn’t keep his shot down as the ball ballooned high over the crossbar. Ten minutes later, Haifa’s keeper Ran Kadoch was at full stretch to deny Itay Schechter’s header following Eylon Almog’s pinpoint cross. Within two minutes, Kadoch needed a finger-tip save to push Eytan Tibi’s header out for a corner as the veteran central defender got behind Cohen’s free kick to direct the ball under the crossbar.
Against the run of play, the visitors were awarded a penalty after Shahar Piven tripped Keys Ghanem inside the area. Referee David Fuxman pointed at the spot before Gal Erel sent Daniel Tenenbaum the wrong way to give Haifa a 1-0 lead.
Haifa doubled their lead in the 26th minute as Ghanem received the ball behind Maccabi’s defensive line, sent the ball across the face of goal which was tapped innat the far post by Hanan Mamman.
Shechter had the ball in Kadoch’s net on 29 after a through ball from Aleksandar Pesic but the striker was caught offside and the goal disallowed.
Nothing could deny Yonatan Cohen from cutting the deficit in the 31st minute as the forward latched onto a loose ball after a goalmouth scramble involving Dor Peretz. Another dangerous Almog cross, this time from the right, found Schechter unmarked in the area but his header which beat the keeper narrowly missed the target on 35.
Ghanem could have increased Haifa’s lead on the brink of halftime but his volley missed Tenenbaum’s goal from close range.
Second Half
Donis made a triple substitution at halftime as Sheran Yeini, Avi Rikan and Eyal Golasa replaced Piven, Glazer and Almog at the restart.
Maccabi began the second half with pressure right from the start as twice in the space of two minutes Rikan first and Cohen tried beating Kadoch with long range efforts which sailed over the crossbar.
Pesic had a powerful effort blocked in the 50th minute and Golasa struck the woodwork within a minute as Maccabi kept pushing forward. But at the opposite end, Ghanem almost scored as his volley beat Tenenbaum but bounced back into the hands of the keeper from the post
In the 58th minute however, Haifa’s defense struggled to clear a corner which fell to Golasa who whipped in a cross which was headed in by Pesic to level the score at 2-2.
A minute after the hour mark, Hernandez found Rikan with a long diagonal ball, but the midfielder’s one touch knockdown was volleyed by Cohen high over the goal.
On 71 Kadoch made a last gasp save to deny Cohen’s free kick which threatened to bounce in at the near post. While a minute later, Maccabi’s on loan midfielder Ido Shahar who made a substitute appearance at Haifa had a goal ruled out for offside.
Maccabi were awarded a penalty in the 77th minute as Cohen’s volley following Rikan’s corner hit the hand of Yahav Gurfinkel. But the intervention of VAR cancelled the spot kick.
Tal Ben Chaim replaced Tibi for the final seven minutes in a bid to win the game. But in the 87th minute Sa’ar Fadida gave Haifa a 3-2 lead as he headed past Tenenbaum at the near post.
This thrilling game continued with goals at both ends when Rikan leveled the score in the 88th minutes and as the fourth official gave seven minutes if added time it was clearly going to have some crescendo. Four minutes in injury time, Cohen was brought down inside the area before Fuxman pointed at the spot once again. Cohen stepped up, successfully converted the spot kick to put Maccabi in front for the first time in the game and make it 4-3.
