The first phase of the TASE Premier League will be completed this weekend and Maccabi Tel Aviv will host Maccabi Netanya, the only outfit who can still do what none of their rivals have yet managed this season in the league, to score a goal against Maccabi.
This will be the 140th league meeting between the two clubs, third on Maccabi’s list of most-played rivals, behind Maccabi Haifa (160) and Hapoel Tel Aviv (154).
Over years of league contests, Maccabi have beaten Netanya 69 times, the most wins against any opponents.
Maccabi have hosted Netanya 73 times in all competitions and have won 43 of those clashes. More significantly, perhaps, they have won their last eight meetings.
Only 12 of the meetings between the clubs have finished goalless and there have been no such results in the past decade, so the odds would point heavily to goals being scored on Saturday.
Last season, the two clubs met four times and Maccabi won all four matches. In one of those, they scored within 28 seconds, a league record for the season and the third fastest goal ever.
The biggest ever win over Netanya, 9-0, was scored in 1946-47 when Shiye Glazer and Aharon Sidi each scored four goals.
The biggest win since Israel’s foundation in 1948 was 7-1, achieved in 1949-50 when Joe Merimovich and Shmuel Israeli each scored hat tricks.
The best half for Maccabi against Netanya was in 1977 when after a 1-1 scoreline in their State Cup semi-final, Maccabi scored five more goals to win 6-1, as Viki Peretz and Benny Tabak each scored hat tricks.
