Pre Game
Carrying a 2-0 lead from last month’s Quarter Final first leg, Maccabi Tel Aviv returned to Bloomfield stadium knowing that anything besides a major upset against third division outfit Maccabi Jaffa will see them secure a place in Sunday’s State Cup Semi Final draw.
Three days after guiding Maccabi to a 3-1 victory away to Nof Hagalil, Mladen Krstajic, whose side played six matches since facing Maccabi Jaffa a month ago, made several changes to his starting line-up.
Daniel Tenenbaum started in goal behind Matan Baltaxa and Sheran Yeini who led the team out wearing the captain’s armband. Maor Kandil, who started at right-back at Nof Hagalil, kept his place with Matan Hozez deputising as a make-shift left-back. Eden Shamir and Avi Rikan who both introduced in the second half, started in midfield alongside Eyal Golasa and Brandley Kuwas. Tal Ben Chaim and Eylon Almog, who scored a brace against Jaffa in the first leg, led the attack with four players from the Under 19 Youth team – Shon Edri, Orel Baye, Oscar Gloukh and Bar Lin amongst the substitutes.
First Half
Maccabi began the match on the front foot aiming to score an early goal in a bi to kill off the tie. After less than 2 minutes, Matan Hozez curled a right foot shot that Jaffa’s keeper Almog Malul easily collected.
Four minutes later, Malul could do nothing to prevent Hozez from scoring as the Jaffa keeper couldn’t hold onto an Avi Rikan powerful strike before Hozez reacted first to slot in the rebound and put Maccabi in front. Tal Ben Chaim came close to double the score minutes later as he held off two Jaffa defenders before firing a right foot shot that gave the keeper no chance but sailed agonisingly wide. An ambitious Rikan long range effort from 40 meters out caught the keeper off his line on 12, but what would have been a glorious goal just cleared the crossbar .
Eylon Almog, who began the move that led to the opening goal, flashed a shot that rolled across the face of goal and wide of the target on 22. Matan Baltxa also tried to get his name on the scoresheet as he charged from the halfway line in the 24th minute but wasn’t accurate enough while Rikan’s shot a minute later was accurate but lacked power.
In the 28th minute Maccabi were rewarded for their efforts as Almog latched onto a back-pass before firing a low powerful drive that doubled the lead and took his tally to three goals in this tie. On the stroke of halftime Maccabi scored the third as Brandley Kuwas led a counter attack from the middle, released Hozez who skipped past a defender and teed-up Rikan who fired past Malul to make it 3-0.
Second Half
Mladen Krstajic handed Shon Edri his senior debut as the 18-year-old defender replaced Brandley Kuwas at the restart.
Right on the hour mark, Almog and Rikan exchanged passes on the edge of the area before the forward let fly but the shot missed the target. Five minutes later Almog turned provider as he held off a defender on the halfway line before carving Jaffa’s defence open with a through ball to Hozez. The winger who scored the opener kept his calm and with only the keeper to beat burried his shot low into the net for Maccabi’s fourth.
Krstajic made a triple change on 66 as Oscar Gloukh who made his senior debut in a Toto Cup match earlier this season, replaced Hozez. Orel Baye and Bar Lin were also handed their senior debuts replacing Golasa and Eden Shamir. Almog was replaced by Osama Khalaila in the 74th minute as Krstajic gave the 23-year-old striker 15 minutes to try and make an impact.
In the 89th minute Gloukh released Ben Chaim who fired with his right into the top corner, but the goal was disallowed for offside as this was the final piece of action on the night.
