Maccabi Tel Aviv visited Hapoel Raanana at the Netanya Stadium for a trip to the Israel State Cup quarterfinals and earned their way to the next round after winning via penalty kicks 4:2 following 120 minutes of action

The Yellow & Blue defeated Hapoel Raanana on penalties as Maccabi scored on all of their spot kicks while Rajikovic made one save and Raanana missed their last kick to pick up the win and move on to the Quarterfinal round of the Israel State Cup. Vidar Kjartansson had scored in the 102nd minute after a goalless 90 minutes but a late penalty which Shimon Abuheitzera converted sent the contest to spot kicks. The draw will take place on Thursday to determine Maccabi’s next opponent in the competition, so stay tuned to the Official Website for all of the latest news and reactions.

Prematch
Sports Director Jordi Cruyff made a number of changes to his Starting XI from last Matchday against Bnei Sakhnin, however, Serbian keeper Predrag Rajikovic wasn’t one of them as he stood in goal for the Yellow & Blue. Eli Dasa, Eitan Tibi, Egor Filipenka and Omri Ben Harush rounded out the defense while Dor Peretz, Haris Medunjanin and Oscar Scarione roamed the midfield. Yossi Benayoun, Dor Micha sporting the captain’s armband and Vidar Kjartansson provided the attack up front.

Available on the bench were keeper Daniel Lifshitz, Yuval Shpungin, Gal Alberman, Barak Itzhaki, Sagiv Yehezkel, Avi Rikan and Eliel Peretz.

First Half
Raanana came out strong in the early goings of the contest as Yarden Cohen and Ben Vahaba threatened Rajikovic’s goal, however came up empty. As the match hit the 14th minute, Cruyff had to make his first substitution due to an injury to Scarione as Sagiv Yehezkel came on in his place. Eli Babayev lofted a free kick to Vahaba, but his header was grabbed by the Yellow & Blue keeper to keep the game goalless in the 18th minute.

Maccabi had their first really good chance of the evening in the 41st minute when Medunjanin sent Yehezkel a terrific ball in the box, but number 17’s opportunity was cleared off of the line at the last second by Vahaba. Two minutes later, Benayoun played a fantastic ball by Medunjanin right on the Raanana goal line but that too didn’t find the back of the goal as the sides headed into the break at 0:0.

Second Half
Maccabi looked to get onto the board first as Yehezkel’s 53rd minute effort was off the mark while number 17 was booked three minutes later when he was shown a yellow card. Abuheitzera’s 20 meter chance missed the goal as Raanana tried their luck to break the ice from long range.

Cruyff made his second substitution of the game in the 81st minute when he inserted Eliel Peretz in place of Dor Peretz as the Yellow & Blue looked for a winner. As the clock wound down in regulation time, Maccabi controlled the tempo but couldn’t find a way past the stingy Raanana defense as the match headed to extra time.

Extra time
The Yellow & Blue made their third and final substitution in the 98th minute as Barak Itzhaki joined the fray in place of Sagiv Yehezkel. With Maccabi pressing for a goal they finally got one via a Kjartansson header thanks to Micha and Benayoun as the Icelander put the visitors ahead 1:0 in the 102nd minute.

With Raanana being forced to go on the attack, Benayoun tripped up Mohamed Shaker in the box in the 119th minute good for a penalty as Shimon Abuheitzera put home the tying goal to send the contest to penalty kicks.

Penalty kicks
Maccabi Medunjanin Goal 1:0
Raanana Nimni Goal 1:1
Maccabi Itzhaki Goal 2:1
Raanana Binyamin Miss, Save by Rajikovic 2:1
Maccabi Kjartansson Goal 3:1
Raanana Yanko Goal 3:2
Maccabi Eliel Peretz Goal 4:2
Raanana Kola Miss 4:2

Maccabi defeated Raanana on penalties, 4:2 to move onto the quarterfinals of the Israel State Cup!

The Yellow & Blue will now prepare for the draw on Thursday and a Matchday 20 contest at Maccabi Haifa.