Preview
Maccabi Tel Aviv arrived at the Doha stadium for the ONE ZERO League MD32 against Bnei Sakhnin with a four-point-lead at the top of the table. Robbie Keane’s side that beat Sakhnin 2-0 when both teams met at Bloomfield last month, will aim to record their 23rd victory of the season and restore the lead at the top to seven points before facing Maccabi Haifa on Saturday.
Keane made no changes from the side that beat Bnei Reineh 3-2 as Roy Mishpati made his 30th appearance in Maccabi’s goal with Enric Saborit and Raz Shlomo lining-up as the two central defenders in front of him. Roy Revivo on the right and Ofir Davidzada on the left completed Maccabi’s back-four with Eden Karzev keeping his place in the anchorman role. Gabi Kanikowsky who scored his 10th goal against Reineh and Dor Perez who took his seasonal tally to 18 in all competitions completed Maccabi’s midfield trio.
Osher Davida who scored the opening goal last week, and Felicio Milson supplied the width to Keane’s formation with Eran Zahavi leading the attack seeking to score his 36th goal in all competitions. Joris van Overeem who recovered from a knee injury, was back in the squad for the first time and named amongst the substitutes together with Daniel Tenenbaum, Idan Nachmias, Dor Turgeman, Dan Biton, Yonas Malede, Eyal Golasa, Matan Baltaxa and Ido Shahar
First Half
Boosted by the support of around 2000 travelling fans, Maccabi began the match on the front foot and had the ball in the back of the net as early as the fourth minute. Sakhnin’s defense failed to clear a cross which fell to Osher Davida who slotted home from close range. But the referee assistant raised his flag for an offside against Davida before the goal was disallowed.
In the 16th minute, Dor Hugi charged half the length of the pitch before the ball fell to Basil Huri whose shot from the edge of the area forced Roy Mishpati to a double save. A minute later, the captains of both teams, Eran Zahavi and Hasan Hilu were booked by referee Orel Grinfeeld for a tussle near the center circle. Zahavi could have opened the score within a minute after he was teed up by Davida, but the veteran marksman blasted his shot high over the crossbar.
Hugi tested Mishpati once again with a shot which was easily collected by Maccabi’s keeper on 21 before Grinfeeld awarded a penalty at the opposite end two minutes later as he spotted a foul on Gabi Kanichowsky. The intervention of VAR called Grinfeeld to the screen as he overturned his initial decision and cancelled Maccabi’s spot kick.
Four minutes after the half hour mark Maccabi needed a last gasp tackle from Enric Saborit to rescue Mishpati from conceding after his attempt to clear the ball with his head caught him in no man’s land allowing Hugi a shot on goal.
Inside injury time Maccabi reached their best chances in the space of two minutes as Dor Peretz and Raz Shlomo couldn’t get enough contact on a telling cross which agonizingly crept wide of the far post. A minute later Sakhnin’s keeper Mohammed Abu Nil spread himself across the goal-line to deny Kanikowsky’s point blank effort.
Second Half
With no changes to either side at halftime, both teams emerged for the second half knowing that only something special would break the deadlock. Four minutes after the restart Kanichowsky carried the ball into the area before his shot was blocked by a Sakhnin defender. In the 53rd minute the deadlock was finally broken at the end of a spectacular Roy Revivo solo run down the right. Revivo’s pinpoint cut-back was swept by Davida in off the post to give Maccabi a promising 1-0 lead.
Four minutes later, Milson could have doubled Maccabi’s lead after Kanichowsky cushioned the ball for the Angolan winger whose shot was saved by Abu Nil. In the 61st minute and shortly after being booked for a tackle on a Sakhnin player, Milson, picked his second booking to leave Maccabi down with 10 men for the final half hour. As if losing Milson from Saturday’s match at Haifa wasn’t bad enough, Sakhnin exploited their numerical advantage in the 67th minute. Hilu rose high above Mishpati to head in a corner, level the score and dampen Maccabi’s mood.
Keane reacted with a double change in the 75th minute as Zahavi and Davida both bowed out and replaced by Matan Baltaxa and Yonas Malede. Sakhnin had the ball in Maccabi’s net in less than a minute later after a goalmouth scramble, but Grinfeeld spotted a handball and disallowed the goal.
In the 88th minute Peretz headed a ball over the bar before Keane made another change as Idan Nachmias came on for Revivo. Maccabi tried desperately to score a late winner, but the full-time whistle meant the spoils will be shared and the gap from second place set on five points with both sides facing each other at the weekend.
