Prematch
After drawing 1:1 against Arka Gdynia in their first friendly, Maccabi Tel Aviv met APOEL Nicosia from Cyprus for their second match of the preseason. Head Coach Vladan Ivic continued to become familiar with the players and split up the minutes between them against the Cypriot champions near the city of Gdańsk, Poland.
Maccabi Tel Aviv Starting XI: Daniel Tenenbaum, Eli Dasa, Eitan Tibi, Shachar Fiban, Sean Goldberg, Dor Peretz, Eyal Golasa, Avi Rikan, Matan Hozez, Eliran Atar, Aaron Schoenfeld.
First Half
The match began evenly but in the 10’ APOEL took a 1:0 lead from a set piece. The Cypriots sent the corner into the box where central defender Nikolas Ioannou put the ball behind Tenenbaum from 10 meters out. The Yellow & Blue then began to create a number of opportunities including a 22’ Dasa long range attempt from 17 meters that got caught up in the APOEL defense.
After 30 minutes of action, Dasa sent a cross to Schoenfeld but his chance went out as Maccabi controlled the tempo but couldn’t find the back of the goal as APOEL went into the break with a 1:0 advantage.
Second Half
Ivic made a number of changes to begin the second half and inserted Dor Micha, Vidar Kjartansson, Omer Atzily, and Roslan Bersky replacing Rikan, Atar, Schoenfeld and Golasa. In the 52’ Maccabi came close to drawing even when Hozez found Bersky but the latter’s attempt was caught by the keeper, however, five minutes later the Yellow & Blue found the equalizer. Micha took the ball from 40 meters and raced through the middle of the pitch, made his way by an APOEL player and scored from 16 meters out as he found the far corner of the goal, 1:1.
In the 60’ Ivic made three more substitutions as Mavis Tchibota, Dan Glazer and Eliel Peretz were introduced in favor of Dor Peretz, Hozez and Goldberg. Tenenbaum made a pair of saves in the 69’ to keep the score as is and then Maccabi made a few more personnel changes with Or Dasa, Itay Shechter and Yonatan Cohen coming on for Eli Dasa, Tibi and Fiban.
As the match began to wind down APOEL took a 2:1 lead off of a corner that Lucas Vieira De Souza was able to put into the Maccabi goal in the 88’ as the Cypriot side took home the slim victory
