Maccabi Tel Aviv faced Hapoel Raanana at Bloomfield Stadium on Matchday 29 of the WINNER League Championship Playoffs as the club introduced the “Ex-Players Club” with the 1995/96 Double squad and honored the memory of football legend Johan Cruyff, father of Sports Director Jordi Cruyff.
Prior to the match, the members of the 1995/96 Double Season team were recognized as the first class of the brand new “Ex-Players Club” to a standing ovation by the fans in attendance. Nir Klinger, Eli Drikes, Avi Nimni and Shura Uvarov were just some of the players on hand to receive the love and cheers by the supporters. Each player wore a Maccabi jersey with their name and number emblazoned on the back as they paraded around the stadium with the State Cup to the delight of the crowd.
The Club then paid homage to footballing great Johan Cruyff who passed away at the age of 68 after a battle with cancer. Jordi Cruyff, son of the late Johan Cruyff and the club’s Sports Director could not be on hand for the ceremony but sent his thanks in an emotional video message to the fans on the Official Website.
All of the Maccabi players then placed flowers around the number “14” on the pitch as the fans unfurled a huge picture of Cruyff with a sign “Johan Cruyff 1947-2016 RIP” beneath it. The players and training staff stood around the center circle while the whole stadium stood up at once and clapped hands for a minute long tribute to one of the game’s legends.
Head Coach Peter Bosz started Serbian keeper Predrag Rajikovic in goal with a defensive quartet of Yuval Shpungin, Omri Ben Harush, Eitan Tibi and Carlos Garcia. Gal Alberman and Haris Medunjanin manned the midfield while Dor Micha, Tal Ben Chaim, Captain Eran Zahavi and Orlando Sa provided the attack.
The match started off on the right foot for Maccabi as it didn’t take long for the Yellow-and-Blue to score a goal after coming back from the International break. Following a brilliant curling effort by Ben Chaim in the 2nd minute that just missed the mark, Dor Micha lofted a ball into the area from the right side in the 7th minute and a Raanana player handled it the box good for a penalty. Zahavi stepped up and confidently slammed the ball home to give his side the 1:0 lead. The goal was his 29th on the year as his chase towards the single season goal scoring record continued unabated.
Raanana, however had two quality chances in the 20th and 22nd minutes when Evans Kangwa’s effort just went wide of the goal and Rajikovic came up big to stop former Maccabi striker Dejan Radonjic on a one-on-one opportunity. Ten minutes later Ben Chaim beat two Raanana players but his strike went wide while Sa’s long range effort from 25 meters out missed the target to keep the score as is.
Kangwa, who proved dangerous all half had a marvelous chance in the 43rd minute to draw his team even, but his effort all alone in front of the goal was stopped cold by Rajikovic’s kick save as the sides headed into the halftime break with Maccabi holding a slim 1:0 advantage.
Medunjanin had the first chance of the second half for Maccabi in the 52nd minute but his sizzler was saved by an alert Arik Yanko who rallied his team on as Raanana had the better chances over the next quarter hour. Yuval Shabtai looked to have evened up the match in the 59th minute, but Rajikovic saved the day yet again with an unbelievable stop to keep his clean-sheet intact.
Coach Bosz introduced Dor Peretz for Sa in the 64th minute and just three minutes later the Yellow-and-Blue took a 2:0 lead. A scathing attack by Maccabi allowed Zahavi to lay the ball off for Ben Chaim who avoided a Ranaana roadblock to chip the ball magnificently over a helpless Yanko good for the two goal advantage.
However, Maccabi wasn’t satisfied just yet and in the 75th minute Medunjanin added his name to the scoresheet. The Bosnian took a wonderful Micha ball in the box, pulled Yanko out of his goal, turned a couple of Raanana defenders inside out and put the ball into the one goal for the 3:0 advantage.
The Yellow-and-Blue made a pair of substitutions over the last ten minutes of the match as Eden Ben Basat and Barak Itzhaki came on for goal scorers Ben Chaim and Medunjanin as Maccabi leapfrogged Hapoel Beer Sheva into first place with the southern side playing Monday night at Beitar Jerusalem.
