The Yellow-and-Blue advanced to the semifinals of the Cup competition after defeating Kfar Saba at home 2:0 and 5:0 on aggregate after a 3:0 away win. Shlomi Azulay and Eden Ben Basat provided the offense as Maccabi will be drawn against either Maccabi Haifa, Bnei Sakhnin or Hapoel Beer Sheva for one of the semifinal matches.
Head Coach Peter Bosz made wholesale changes in his starting lineup for the State cup match as second choice keeper Daniel Lifshitz was given the nod between the posts. A defense featuring Yuval Shpungin, Tal Ben Haim, Dor Peretz and Yoav Ziv played behind acting captain Gal Alberman, Shlomi Azulay and youngster Eliel Peretz in the midfield. Eden Ben Basat, Barak Itzhaki and Under-19 winger Eylon Almog provided the attack.
Maccabi dominated the first half, controlling the tempo and flow for the first 45 minutes of the game. Yoav Ziv had the Yellow-and-Blue’s first opportunity of the match in the 5th minute when his long range effort whipped past the right post of the Kfar Saba goal.
Finally after 23 minutes of action, the home side found the back of Ben Rahav’s goal. Ben
Basat gave Azulay a beauty of a pass inside the box as the midfielder had an easy time slotting home for the 1:0 advantage. Just before the strike of halftime, Ben Basat was again the center of attention as Rahav yanked him down in the box setting up number 9 for a 45th minute penalty.
Ben Basat stepped up to the spot and confidently fired the ball past the helpless keeper as the sides headed into the break with Maccabi ahead 2:0.
The second half began with no substitutions for Maccabi as Ben Basat looked to add to his State Cup goal total. In the 53rd minute he had a chance to do just that but Rahav was in place to keep the striker at bay.
Kfar Saba looked to get on the scoreboard but Mavis Tchibota’s 57th minute opportunity scooted by Lifshitz’s right post to keep the clean sheet intact. Itzhaki tried to add to the Maccabi lead but his effort floated over the Kfar Saba goal in the 72nd minute.
Eran Zahavi, Haris Medunjanin and Eli Dasa all came in as second half substitutes as Maccabi advanced to the Israel State Cup semifinals with a 2:0 home victory and a 5:0 advantage on aggregate.
The semifinal round draw will take place on Thursday when Maccabi will learn who their opponent will be amongst the three other remaining teams; Maccabi Haifa, Bnei Sakhnin or Hapoel Beer Sheva.
