The Yellow & Blue visited Bnei Lod for an Israel State Cup Round of 32 matchup and got their campaign off to a fine start with a 3:0 win thanks to a first half brace by Vidar Kjartansson and a second half marker by Yossi Benayoun.
Sports Director Jordi Cruyff stood on the sidelines for the Israel State Cup Round of 32 contest and the Starting XI consisted of keeper Predrag Rajikovic with a defensive quartet of Eli Dasa, Eitan Tibi, Egor Filipenka, Avi Rikan. Dor Peretz, Haris Medunjanin and Yossi Benayoun manned the midfield while Sagiv Yehezkel, Vidar Kjartansson and acting captain Tal Ben Chaim provided the attack.
Available on the bench were Daniel Lifshitz, Dor Micha, Tal Ben Haim, Eliel Peretz, Barak Itzhaki, Eden Ben Basat and Nosa Igiebor.
First Half
Peretz tried to get Maccabi going early with a 4th minute shot that missed target while Amran Elkrinawi’s attempt one minute later was caught by Rajikovic. In the 9th minute Wail Marisat almost put Bnei Lod on the board first but Rikan brilliantly cleared the ball by heading it over the goal.
In the 17th minute Ben Chaim sent a dangerous cross in the box that was cleared by Emil Duko while Tibi’s bicycle kick attempt off the ensuing corner just went wide left of the goal. Two minutes later Peretz had a chance on goal but his header went over the bar to keep the match goalless.
However, it wasn’t goalless for long. In the 23rd minute Kjartansson took a gorgeous long pass from none other than the keeper Rajikovic and scored to make it 1:0 for the Yellow & Blue. The Serbian had dribbled the ball out of the box and found the Icelander streaking down the left side who buried his chance behind the Bnei Lod keeper.
If you thought that Kjartansson was done you were mistaken as he took a pinpoint perfect corner kick from Medunjanin and headed it home for a 26th minute 2:0 Maccabi advantage. Just prior to the break Ben Chaim’s 45th minute left side free kick whacked off of the bar as the whistle sounded.
Second Half
After almost a quarter hour of quiet, Dasa fed Benayoun a nice ball in the box that the veteran easily slotted home to give the Yellow & Blue a 3:0 lead in the 58th minute. Three minutes later Dasa himself almost added his name to the scorers list after taking a gorgeous pass from Yehezkel but the right back’s effort just skipped by the far left hand post.
In the 64th minute Maccabi made a double substitution as Dor Micha & Eliel Peretz entered the fray in favor of Haris Medunjanin & Tal Ben Chaim while in the 75th minute Eden Ben Basat was introduced for Kjartansson. Three minutes later Micha smacked the ball off of the bar while Yehezkel’s follow up hit the left post.
In the 89th minute, Yehezkel had another good chance to score but came up empty while Micha also also had an opportunity that was saved by the keeper. As the clock hit the 93rd minute, the referee blew the whistle to end the contest giving Maccabi an Israel State Cup Round of 32 3:0 win.
