No stopping the Iceman
Vidar Kjartansson scored his 11th league goal and drew even with Tony Nwakaeme for the Ligat Ha’Al league. This was the Icelandic striker’s 15th goal across all competitions and occurred after he switched his number from 24 to 9 and scored in, you guessed it, the 9th minute.
In addition, the Icelander has scored in 6 out of his last 7 matches while finding the back of the goal a total of 8 times.
Teaming Up
Eli Dasa picked up his second assist in as many games on goals by Kjartansson for the right back’s third assist overall this campaign.
Black Jack
This was the 4th time that Maccabi hosted Beer Sheva on Matchday 21 and the Yellow & Blue won each match. The victory was Maccabi’s first in the last 4 matches against the southern side.
In good company
Aaron Schoenfeld and Marcelo both made their debuts becoming one of 15 players who made their first appearance against Hapoel Beer Sheva.
Maccabi defense
Hapoel Beer Sheva maintained possession for 70% of the second half (Maccabi held a slight 52:48 advantage in the first half). But the southern Reds only had one attempt on goal in those 45 minutes which actually occurred during injury time. Another interesting fact is that the average distance of Beer Sheva’s shots occurred from 24 meters out (8 shots, 1 in the box). Maccabi’s average distance was 16 meters with 7 out of 9 coming from inside the area.
Beer Sheva tried to attack 39 times down the left side of the pitch where Tony Nwakaeme plays compared to 28 through the middle and 23 times from the right side. Nwakeme, however, lost the ball 21 times over the course of the match as Ben Sahar lost the ball 11 times.
Aerial defense
Central defender Tal Ben Haim won 7 of 8 battles in the air, winning more than any other player on the pitch.
