The Yellow & Blue advanced to the Toto Cup Finals after defeating Kiryat Shemona 2:0 at the Acre Stadium. Aaron Schoenfeld scored in the first half while Barak Itzhaki added a marker of his own the the second half as keeper Predrag Rajikovic picked up the clean sheet. Maccabi Tel Aviv will face the winner of the second semifinal between Hapoel Beer Sheva and Maccabi Haifa which will be played on Thursday.
Head Coach Jordi Cruyff’s Starting XI included Predrag Rajikovic in goal with a defensive quartet of Ofir Davidzada, Jean-Sylvain Babin, acting captain Tal Ben Haim and Yuval Shpungin. Jose Rodriguez, Cristian Battocchio and Dor Peretz were in the midfield while Barak Itzhaki, Nick Blackman and Aaron Schoenfeld played up front.
Available on the bench were keeper Daniel Lifshitz, Eitan Tibi, Sheran Yeini, Eyal Golasa, Avi Rikan, Eliran Atar and Vidar Kjartansson.
First Half
Kiryat Shemona had the first chance of the match as Ismael Rian’s shot was scooped up by Rajikovic in the 5’ while Maccabi looked for their first chance of the contest during the first quarter hour and believe it or not, that opportunity would result in a goal.
In the 16’ Ben Haim crossed a ball into the box that both the Kiryat Shemona keeper Itamar Nitzan and Marcus Diniz went for, but Schoenfeld pounced on it first and sent it into the goal to give the Yellow & Blue a 1:0 lead. Two minutes later Itzhaki’s 18 meter chance went over the goal as the sides played mostly in the midfield for the following 20 minutes. Peretz had a 41’ attempt that just went wide of the goal as Maccabi took a 1:0 advantage into the break.
Second Half
The Yellow & Blue looked to double the score and they did just that in the 53’ when Davidzada sent the ball into the box to Itzhaki who while in midair clipped it into the goal for a 2:0 lead. Over the next few minutes Cruyff made a number of substitutes including bringing on Avi Rikan, Sheran Yeini and Eyal Golasa for Davidzada, Rodriguez and Battocchio.
In the 75’ Eitan Tibi came on for Itzhaki as Cruyff continued making wholesale changes. Blackman had a chance in the 83’ minute but his attempt was stopped by Nitzan while the Maccabi coach made his 5th and final substitution when Eliran Atar was introduced for Schoenfeld. In the 88’ Blackman has another chance from the right side but put the ball over the goal as Maccabi took home the win and advanced to the Toto Cup Finals.
