New Club record
The new week began with a big smile as Maccabi broke yet another record.
The 2:0 win over Ashdod was the Club’s 31st straight match without a defeat which is a new Maccabi record!
The victory in Ashdod broke a record that was set back in 1958/59, while the league record is held by Maccabi Haifa with an undefeated streak of 46 matches which took place in the mid-1990’s.
Maccabi’s run began on April 21, 2018 with a 2:0 home win over Bnei Yehuda and has continued for 10 months. This includes 24 wins and 7 draws with 6 of the matches occurring last season and the balance have been in this campaign.
Credit to the defense and Rajkovic
One of the main reasons for this record is the fine defensive play by Maccabi this season. This past contest was Maccabi’s 5th clean sheet in a row across all competitions and the 14th of 25 League contests.
Maccabi has completed 25 Matchdays in which they didn’t allow more than one goal in a single contest. Only 2 other clubs have accomplished this feat. Beitar Jerusalem in 1978/79 (who gave up 4 goals on Matchday 30) and Maccabi Haifa in 2009/10 (who gave up a pair of goals on Matchday 27).
This was also the third match in a row against Ashdod that the Yellow & Blue recorded a clean sheet (2 wins and a draw).
Aztili X 2
In terms of the players, Omer Atzili was the star of the show with two goals to up his league total to 9 markers this season. Eliran Atar has 11 goals while there are 3 other players who have more.
What is interesting about Atzili’s goals is that they usually come in pairs. This was #7’s 4th brace of the campaign (against Beitar Jerusalem, Kiryat Shemona, Netanya, Ashdod) while he had only one goal versus Hapoel Haifa.
Atzili also has a knack for scoring goals from distance and leads the league with 5 goals from outside of the area and attempts with 38.
In the zone
Dor Micha assisted on Aztili’s first goal and is now in the league lead with 10, one assist more than Kiryat Shemona’s Valon Ahmedi.
Since the start of 2019, just a bit over two months, Micha has 6 goals and 5 assists. The midfielder also leads the league in key passes with 47 according to the league statistics while Maor Melikson is in 2nd place with 41.
