This Thursday, Maccabi Tel Aviv will visit the Nova Gorica Sports Park for the second leg of the first round Europa League qualifying tournament against ND Gorica to decide who will advance to round two. You’ll recall that last week, the Yellow & Blue defeated the Slovenian side 3:0 at the Netanya Stadium as Nosa Igiebor scored a brace and Orlando Sa added an additional goal in the win.
Prior to kicking off against each other, you’re invited to check out the following analysis of three key points from the first leg that were found in the stats sheet after the game and may help prepare you for the second match between the two clubs this evening.
Point #1: Throw-ins
The first Yellow & Blue goal against the Slovenians was scored in the 14th minute by Nosa Igiebor on a gorgeous shot that went by Sorcan and into the Gorica goal. But there’s more to see than just the Nigerian’s nice shot. The play began with a Maccabi throw-in that was right by the Club’s bench as you can see in the picture.
In modern football there are plenty of throw-ins that lead to immediate steals and then to a fast break counter attack. However, the Yellow & Blue were accurate on every one of their 20 throw-ins and in this case, Omri Ben Harush’s long throw-in to Orlando Sa was extremely effective. As the ball went to Sa, many Gorica players converged on the area he was in, allowing him to send the ball to where the opposition wasn’t. Igiebor was able to get by his man Kolenc and made sure to take advantage of the open area in front of him to score a fantastic goal.
Point #2: The Doors
Since both Yuval Shpungin and Eli Dasa were both unavailable, Dor Peretz played as the right defensive back. The youngster was able to play the role to perfection, especially when he went on the attack with Dor Micha. On the defensive side, Peretz felt right at home completing 13 successful defensive actions in the match in addition to 6 successful tackles, the most by any Maccabi or Gorica player.
On the offensive side, Peretz took part in plenty of the action on the right wing and his average position on the pitch was 10-meters deep into the Gorica territory. One of the players that Peretz worked well with was Dor Micha as the two combined together for 24 passes, the most of any other Maccabi players.
If we take a look at the third Maccabi goal, you can see how the two, by working together helped make the goal happen. As they exchanged passes, Peretz was stopped by the Gorica defenders, but Igibeor continued to go and score the 3rd goal. Micha had three passes into the key area and each one was successful.
Point #3: The Bosnian Anchor
Haris Medunjanin received a central role for the Yellow & Blue as Head Coach Shota Arveladze named his first official Starting XI and allowed Number 4 to manage the match. Other than the two central defenders, the midfielder made the most passes of any other Maccabi player with a total of 70/80 passes finding the correct address. What is really amazing is that 61 of his passes were on the attack going towards the opponent’s goal. Dor Micha, Dor Peretz and Nosa Igiebor were the ones who enjoyed the Bosnian’s distribution the most with each one receiving 10 passes from the midfielder.
Medunjanin, who is the all-time scoring leader of the players in the current Maccabi squad also had 10 passes into the key area with 6 of them reaching their intended destination.
The small details:
- Winger Tal Ben Chaim had 6 successful dribbles in the match at the Netanya Stadium
- Whoever steps into Carlos Garcia’s shoes will have to make up for his 24 successful defensive actions in the first leg
- Predrag Rajikovic had a quiet night as Gorica only managed four attempts on goal with two going over the mark and the other pair being stopped by the Serbian keeper
