Maccabi took an early lead in the 9th minute as Jonathan Cohen charged down the left before cutting the ball back to Nick Blackman whose delicate left foot flick beat Katamon’s keeper Adebayo Adeleye. Five minutes later Andreas Gianniotis’ attempt of a clearance fell to Ashta Awaka who needed one touch to slot in the equaliser from the edge of the area.
Eylon Almog rattled the woodwork with a powerful drive in the 27th minute.
Four minutes after the half hour mark Katamon took the lead as Lidor Nakshari found the top corner with a fierce drive from outside the area which gave Gianniotis no chance.
In the 37th minute Awaka grabbed his second and Katamon’s third as he dispossessed Avi Rikan on the edge of the area and with only Gianniotis to beat sent his shot into the Greek keeper’s bottom corner.
On the brink of halftime Schahar Piven limped off after a collision with Awaka. Eleven fresh players came out for the second half, as four minutes after the restart, Ofir Davidzada was fouled inside the area allowing Ruslan Barsky to cut the deficit with a successful right-foot spot kick.
On 59 Eden Kartzev forced Adeleye to dive to his right and save a low powerful drive. Five minutes later, the Nigerian keeper pulled a stunning last gasp save to deny Bar Cohen after Eduardo Guerrero and Dor Turgeman combined well to carve Katamon’s defense open.
In the 67th minute however, Adeleye could do nothing to keep out Ido Schahar’s right foot shot which went in off the post to make it 3-3. Maccabi’s keeper Omer Katz kept Maccabi in the game as he denied Ahmed Ibrahim who ran clear through. Gal Leibovic’s full time whistle ended the first friendly match of pre-season in a 3-3 draw.
Maccabi’s Performance Director, Patrick van Leeuwen said at the end of the game: “We worked during the first week of pre-season on different things I would like to see. In the first half, it was a bit of searching for the opportunities were there. It was a more difficult as we had some the experienced players who were used to something else as we tried to add something to what they had done in previous seasons. I want to give them something that adds to their footballing development. In the second half we had younger players who are a little more familiar with the things that I have been doing in recent years. So it looked a little bit better. Fatigue is also a factor in a pre-season training camp, especially if you train in the morning and play in the evenining. It doesn’t always help but it does help the players to think about simple solutions and that has worked well in the second half”.
Ruslan Barsky, whose penalty began Maccabi’s second half comeback, added: “From the first training session we are working hard and the team is getting into good shape. Today was our first match, every player got 45 minutes and for the moment we are not bothered about the result or the goals, who scored and who didn’t. We are trying to build something which will help us run forward and reach our targets – this is what is important right now”.
