Gonzalo Garcia (44), Eliran Atar (50, from 11m and 90m) and Mehran Radi (82) granted the yellow team a 4-0 victory and the first place on the table.
Watch the gallery from the game
Playing for 12,171 spectators at Bloomfield Stadium, most of them yellow, Maccabi Tel Aviv reported its fourth league victory after scoring 4-0 against Ironi Kiryat Shmona. The yellow team kept their perfect balance since the season started, with an invigorating game of four goals and two red cards. Gonzalo Garcia made the first goal, one minute to the end of the first half. Atar scored at the beginning of the second half and Radi added another goal of his own at Minute 82. Shir Tzedek and Darko Tasevski of Kiryat Shmona were removed from the game at the beginning of the second half.
The first half opened slowly, with the yellow team moving forward but failing to risk the goal. The first significant kick of the game was made in Minute 25, when Roberto Colautti managed to get the side netting. Maccabi Tel Aviv's defense thwarted the guests' offensive attempts while Mehran Radi could have scored from the box, only to be stopped by Danny Amos. The most dangerous situation occurred one minute to the end of the first half, as did the first goal of the game. Garcia stopped a long ball from Alberman, penetrated the box and, facing Amos, sent an accurate kick to the corner. This was the Uruguayans first goal this season, taking the yellow team to halftime with a lead.
The second half, unlike the first, opened with a storm. In Minute 49, Roberto Colautti received a ball in the penalty box and was tripped by Shir Tzedek, who received his second yellow card and was taken out of the game. Atar took responsibility and scored his fifth goal in the first four rounds, 2-0 for Maccabi Tel Aviv. Two minutes past and Darko Tasevski also received a red card from Menashe Mashiach after he saw him hit Yoav Ziv. The yellow team took over the game until it ended and another player to celebrate his first league goal was Mehran Radi, who scored at Minute 82 with a good long kick. The icing of the game belonged to Eliran Atar who, in overtime, received the ball in the penalty box, turned and propelled the ball into the goal, sealing the final score at 4-0 to Maccabi Tel Aviv.
The goals made by Radi and Atar also guaranteed that Maccabi Tel Aviv would end the fourth round in first place, with a better gap than FC Ashdod. The yellow team will head down south to the Negev's capital next Monday to meet with the renewed HaPoel Be'er Sheva and to try to maintain their winning streak.
