Maccabi Tel Aviv moved their preparations for the new season into high gear as they played their first preseason match under new Head Coach Jordi Cruyff. The Yellow & Blue had to deal with a squad that was missing a number of players due to being with their national teams earlier in the month.
Left back Matan Baltaxa who joined the Club this summer featured in the Starting XI along with Daniel Tenebaum, Sean Goldberg, Dan Glazer, Dor Peretz, Eliel Peretz, Tomer Altman, Oscar Scarione, Eylon Almog, Yonatan Cohen and Aaron Schoenfeld.
First Half
The Yellow & Blue controlled the flow of play and had their first chance in the 3rd minute thanks to Oscar Scarione, but the Slovakian keeper was in the right place to make the save. Eylon Almog’s 11th minute header via a Yonatan Cohen cross also missed the mark as Maccabi threatened early. Scarione had a number of opportunities for Maccabi over the course of the half, while Almog needed to be substituted out of the contest in the 40th minute after a hard tackle by the keeper and was replaced by Eden Kartzev.
Second Half
Cruyff made wholesale changes to start the second half as keeper Daniel Peretz along with Yuval Shpungin, Sheran Yeini, Fadi Najar, Marcelo dos Santos, Shlomi Azulay, Sagiv Yehezkel and Vidar Kjatansson were all inserted into the lineup.
In the 52nd minute, Terecin took the lead via Čataković who stole the ball near the Yellow & Blue box and beat the keeper Peretz for a 1:0 lead. Five minutes later, Berancos almost doubled the score but Peretz was able to keep the ball out of the goal to keep the deficit as is.
In the 75th minute, Shlomi Azulay broke the ice for Maccabi and slotted home their first goal of the new campaign to draw even at 1:1. Eight minutes later Najar was taken out injured and was replaced by Tomer Altman. In the 91st minute Cohen almost found the winner but his header went off of the bar and out as the match ended in a 1:1 draw.
