The top of the table is tight with only a few points separating the top 4 teams and this Saturday night at 20:30 Maccabi Tel Aviv faces one of the closest rivals in the upper half of the Israel Premier League standings.
With the Championship playoffs right around the corner, the Yellow & Blue will host Hapoel Haifa in a huge contest at the Netanya Stadium. The club from the Carmel has returned to being a footballing force in Israel and over the course of the years, there have been some terrific matches between the two. Ahead of the latest chapter, let’s look back at some of those great games of the past.
1995/96: Hapoel Haifa 3:0 Maccabi Tel Aviv
Usually we don’t like to feature defeats, but this historic season had a traumatic beginning, but the trauma actually united the team and helped them go on to have one terrific campaign. In a match that Alon Brumer was lost due to a broken foot, many emotions came to the forefront. Maccabi ended the game with only 8 players, but this was only the first chapter against the Carmel Reds.
1995/96: Maccabi Tel Aviv 1:0 Hapoel Haifa
“I’m happy for the guys who fought for me,” Alon Brumer said after the win. This was the second match against Haifa during the season and it closed the circle after a difficult defeat in the first contest. After a tight battle, the Yellow & Blue were able to capture the 3 important points in the title fight. Check it out (minute 56:00)
1999/2000: Hapoel Haifa 2:4 Maccabi Tel Aviv
The two clubs were in the upper half of the table and what made this match stand out was Maccabi’s first half blitz. Despite being hosted by the prior season’s champions (Hapoel Haifa won the championship in 1998/99) in Haifa, the Yellow & Blue scored 4 goals in the first 45 minutes. WATCH:
2000/01: Hapoel Haifa 2:2 Maccabi Tel Aviv
The second Matchday of the season pitted the two foes against each other as Hapoel Haifa was still a strong side while Maccabi brought in Shlomo Sharf to man the sidelines. Unfortunately, the only highlight video available is missing the first goal, so we’ll remind you of what happened. Ofer Talker gave the host’s the lead in the 41’ which held up until the 83’ when the match broke wide open and the drama began. Grzegorz Wedzynski scored a screamer of a strike to even up the contest, however, Ami Azulay gave Haifa the lead in the 89’. But the last word was thanks to Kobi Refuah deep into injury time. The match is also remembered for the Shlomo Sharf and Avi Nimni’s interview which led to the early departure of the Head Coach.
