Head Coach Jordi Cruyff’s lineup included Predrag Rajikovic in goal with defenders Sean Goldberg, Tal Ben Haim, Dor Peretz and Matan Baltaxa in front of him. Marcelo dos Santos, Eliel Peretz and Shlomi Azulay manned the midfield while Sagiv Yehezkel, Yonatan Cohen and acting Captain Barak Itzhaki provided the firepower up front.
Available on the bench were keeper Daniel Tenenbaum, Fadi Najar, Tino Susic, Aaron Schoenfeld, Eden Kartzev, Dor Micha and Vidar Kjartansson.
First Half
Hapoel Raanana began the match off extremely chippy as Shimon Abuheitzera collected an early yellow card in the 3′ and Mohamed Shaker picked up a red card for a tackle on Cohen in the 11′. Azulay sent a ball into the box in the 20′ but just missed Itzhaki’s head as Maccabi continued to look for a way to break through the Raanana defense.
In the 40′ Azulay took a long shot that made its way to Itzhaki, but the veteran striker couldn’t get off a good attempt. A give and go between Yehezkel and Itzhaki left the former at the top of the box who sent the ball to Eliel Peretz but his quality chance went off of one of the defenders for a corner. With Maccabi searching for a first half goal they would find it in the 45’via an unlikely source in Ben Haim whose 30 meter attempt found the back of the goal right before the break for a 1:0 lead.
Second Half
Daniel Tenenbaum replaced Rajikovic to begin the half as Maccabi looked to add to their lead. And add to the lead they would in the 55′ as Azulay put the ball into the left corner of the goal thanks to Itzhaki who handed it off to the midfielder at the top of the box.
Cruyff made wholesale changes in the 67′ and 72′ as Fadi Najaf, Tino Susic, Eden Kartzev and Dor Micha all came on for Baltaxa, Eliel Peretz, Dos Santos and Azulay. Dor Hugi took a Roie Shukrani pass and cut the Maccabi lead to 2:1 in the 83′ as he beat Tenenbaum to his right. Micha had a solid effort in the 89′ but the Raanana keeper was in place to deny number 15 as Maccabi advanced to the quarterfinal round of the Toto Cup.
