Maccabi Haifa came into the Netanya Stadium and handed the Yellow & Blue their first league loss of the season as former Tel Aviv striker Eliran Atar broke the goalless affair in the first half while Gary Kagelmacher added a second half insurance marker for the Greens. Maccabi will now prepare for the first leg of the Toto Cup Quarterfinals against Kiryat Shemona on Thursday night (21:00) at the Netanya Stadium.
Prematch
Head Coach Shota Arveladze made a few changes to his Starting XI from the match in Alkmaar as Yossi Benayoun and Nosa Igiebor opened the game and Vidar Kjartansson along with Gal Alberman began on the bench. Serbian keeper Predrag Rajikovic was in goal with Eli Dasa, Eitan Tibi, Tal Ben Haim and Omri Ben Harush in front of him. Eyal Golasa, Igiebor and Haris Medunjanin were in the midfield while Benayoun, Oscar Scarione and Tal Ben Chaim provided the attack.
The Maccabi bench included Daniel Lifshitz, Yuval Shpungin, Alberman, Kjartansson, Barak Itzhaki, Dor Micha and Egor Filipenka.
First Half
Coach Arveladze had to make an early substitution as the Yellow & Blue hero from the Alkmaar game Eyal Golasa picked up an injury and was replaced by Gal Alberman in the 7th minute. As both sides continued to play tentatively in the first quarter hour it was a former Maccabi player who scored for Haifa.
In the 16th minute Mario Musa lifted a ball into the box right to the feet of Eliran Atar who perfectly placed it into the far right hand corner beating Rajikovic to give the visitors the 1:0 lead. Scarione tried to even the score up in the 24th minute as he beat two defenders but his shot missed the mark while Igiebor’s followup was saved by Glazer. Three minutes later Medunjanin’s long range effort was scooped up by the Haifa keeper as Maccabi continued to threaten.
However, Haifa almost doubled their score in the 28th minute, but Atar’s hard shot went wide left of the goal. Seconds later Benayoun sent Igiebor a magnificent ball in the box but the Nigerian’s chip just missed the target. As the match hit the 38th minute Medunjanin gave Benayoun the ball on the right wing but number 51’s cross just scooted by Scarione as the score remained 1:0 to Haifa.
With the match going into first half injury time Medunjanin laced a scorcher of a shot from close range but Glazer denied the midfielder as the sides headed to the lockerrooms with Haifa holding a slim one goal advantage.
Second Half
Coach Arveladze made his second substitution of the match to open the second half as winger Tal Ben Chaim was replaced by striker Vidar Kjartansson who got right into the thick of things as he made a brilliant pass to Igiebor who’s shot just went by the short side post and out.
Scarione pressed his luck from outside of the box but his shot sailed over the bar in the 51st minute. Maccabi then made their third substitution in the 68th minute as Barak Itzhaki was introduced for Eli Dasa and the Yellow & Blue moved to a 3-5-2 formation.
However, it was Haifa who would double their lead as Gary Kagelmacher unleashed a scorcher that went into the top left hand corner of the goal beating Rajikovic for a 2:0 lead in the 72nd minute. Undaunted, Maccabi looked to cut the lead as Itzhaki’s chance in the box was just tipped by Glazer in the 76th minute while Scarione, Kjartansson, Benayoun and Itzhaki all had chances to no avail.
As the match wound down the Yellow & Blue continued to look to cut the Green’s lead but it was not to be as Maccabi fell to their first league defeat of the 2016/17 campaign.
