Pregame
Three days after the Conference League Playoff first leg against Shakhter Karagandy in Kazakhstan, and four days before the return leg at Bloomfield that would decide who qualifies and enters the group stage draw – Maccabi Tel Aviv lined-up to face Hapoel Jerusalem for a Toto Cup match.
Maccabi’s coach Patrick van Leeuwen rested a lot of his first team players giving a chance for some of the younger members of the squad, as well as several youth team players a chance to impress on the big stage.
Andreas Gianniotis, whose last appearance for Maccabi was in July 2020 on the final day of the 2019/20 season, returned to goal. Matan Baltaxa and Idan Nachmias were named as the two central defenders in front of Giannniotis while Guy Mizrahi was handed his senior debut at right-back and Ofir Davidzada completed the back-four on left side of defence.
Eden Shamir, who made a substitute debut appearance and celebrated it with a goal away to Karagandy on Thursday, was handed his home debut at Bloomfield. Eden Kartzev and Ido Shahar completed the midfield engine room while Ronen Hanzis, was also handed a debut a start on one of the wings. Matan Hozez, led the team out with the captain’s armband while Eylon Almog led the line from the striker’s role.
Sheran Yeini, Osama Khalaila and goalkeeper Or Yitzhak together with Dor Turgeman and Bar Cohen were the first team players named on the pitch as well as Oscar Gloukh, Bar Lin, Roy Revivo and Ofek Sasson from the youth team who completed the list of substitutes.
First Half
Maccabi began the match on the front foot with pressure on the newly promoted side as an Ido Shahar shot was blocked by a Jerusalem defender in the 6th minute. Five minutes later Eylon Almog created himself the time and space to take a shot from the edge of the area which was blocked off for a corner.
In the 18th minute, Ronen Hanzis dribbled past two defenders on the edge of the box and released a shot that forced Adebayo Adeleye to push the ball around the post. The resulting corner, saw Shahar force another save from Adelye after another powerful right foot shot before the diminutive midfielder sent a chip that was headed by Idan Nachmias onto the roof of the net.
Maccabi continued dominating the play while Jerusalem sat back and tried to hit on the counter attack. In the 33rd minute and against the run of play, Idan Shemesh blasted a powerful shot which rocketed high over the framework and into the tribune. A misplaced Guy Mizrahi pass on 39 left Andreas Gianniotos in no man’s land and allowed Jerusalem’s Hamed Sholaja to break forward before Cletus Nombil sent the cut-back over the bar.
Second Half
While Patrick van Leeuwem didn’t make any changes after the interval, his Jerusalem counterpart, Ziv Ariye, made three substitutes. Three minutes later however, the deadlock was finally broken as Hanzis celebrated his debut start with a goal. Almog carved Jerusalem’s defence open as he cut into the area and forced Adelye to charge out of his goal and dive at his feet. But the keeper’s initial save fell to Hanzis who side-footed the ball into the open goal.
In the 53rd minute Idan Nachmias was penalised for a foul on the edge of area, before Shemesh rattled Gianniotis’ crossbar from the resulting free kick. Right on the hour mark Van Leeuwen made a double change as Bar Cohen replaced Eden Shamir and Oscar Gloukh was handed his senior debut as he came in for Hozez.
Three minutes later however, Gianniotis was forced to a last gasp save with his feet to deny Guy Hadida who broke free through the middle. Van Leeuwen made another double change in the 70th minute as Dor Turgeman replaced Hanzis and Ofek Sasson received his senior debut coming on for Nachmias.
A minute later, the visitors were awarded a penalty after Ido Shahar fouled a Jerusalem player in the area. Hadida sent Gianniotis the wrong way to level the score at 1-1.
Roy Revivo received his senior debut for the final 11 minutes as he replaced Almog in the 79th minute. Guy Mizrahi tried testing Adeleye with a powerful low drive from the corner of the area but Jerusalem’s keeper took a dive to his left and caught the ball with two attempts.
With no goals scored and despite four minutes of added time, Nael Oudah’s full-time whistle sent both teams to settle the tie with sudden death penalties.
Jerusalem took the first penalty and beat Andreas Gianniotis with every spot kick, a fact which left Maccabi’s players to chase and score each penalty in order to stay alive. Matan Baltaxa, Ido Shahar, Ofir Davidzada, Dor Turgeman and Bar Cohen all scored, but as Yurai Maliach scored the sixth spot-kick, Adebayo Adeleye saved Oscar Gloukh’s effort to deny the youngster and turn what could have been a dream senior debut to end in tears.
