Maccabi Tel Aviv's final pre-season friendly during their Austrian training camp against Bundesliga side Sturm Graz ended in a goalless draw
After winning against SC Weiz and SC Weiner Neustadt, Maccabi Tel Aviv's final pre-season friendly during their Austrian training camp against Bundesliga side Sturm Graz ended in a goalless draw. Graz are the most senior side Maccabi have faced during the camp, having secured three Austrian Bundesliga titles in the past and a fifth-place finish last season. Maccabi head coach Oscar Garcia fielded 21 players during the course of the match, with only recent arrival, veteran defender Yuval Shpungin, unavailable due to a light injury.
The match opened with both sides trying unsuccessfully to penetrate their opponent's areas to set up scoring threats. Graz keeper Christian Gratzei was the first to be seriously tested when he fended off a free kick by midfielder Eran Zahavi just past the ten minute mark. Three minutes later at the other end Graz tried to put Maccabi keeper Barak Levi to the test but Sandi Lubric's weak shot proved no menace. The most promising chance of the first half came eight minutes from the break when Eran Zahavi's header sailed close past the Graz goalpost, but further action was absent from a largely uneventful 45 minutes.
At the interval head coach Garcia made seven changes to his side, leaving only defenders Eytan Tibi and Omri Ben Harush and midfielder Ben Reichert to play on. Three minutes in one of the substitutes, Swedish striker Rade Prica, produced Maccabi's best chance of the match when he headed on to the crossbar. The next clear chance was produced by Graz substitute, Tajiki full back Naim Sharifi, who did the same at the other end at Maccabi keeper Juan Pablo's goal. Midfielder Mahran Radi, who scored from a free kick in Maccabi's previous friendly against SC Neustadt, came close to repeating the feat but a Sturm Graz defender managed to deflect it on to the crossbar. Ten minutes from time Juan Pablo kept his goal clean when he saved from an onrushing midfielder Andreas Gruber and without any further scoring the match against Sturm Graz ended in a goalless draw.
This was Maccabi's final pre-season friendly in Austria, with the next friendly being played at the Kiryat Shalom training ground in Tel Aviv next Thursday July 10th against Hapoel Petch Tikva.
