The Yellow-and-Blue defeated Kfar Saba on a brace by Orlando Sa and goals by Dor Micha, Eran Zahavi and Barak Itzhaki. The win cuts Beer Sheva’s lead to 2-points as the playoff round begins next week at Bloomfield Stadium.

 

Yellow-and-Blue Head Coach Peter Bosz made a number of changes to the Starting XI that defeated Kfar Saba 2:0 on Wednesday night in the second leg of the Israel State Cup quarterfinals. Serbian keeper Predrag Rajikovic was back in goal with a defensive quartet of Eli Dasa, Eitan Tibi, Carlos Garcia and Avi Rikan playing in front of him. Gal Alberman and Haris Medunjanin played in the midfield while Dor Micha, Tal Ben Chaim, and Captain Eran Zahavi played just behind striker Orlando Sa.

 Maccabi began the match firing on all cylinders as Dor Micha quickly put the defending champions onto the scoreboard in the 3rd minute. Zahavi took a Dasa pass and headed the ball at the Kfar Saba goal but Ohad Cohen knocked it right down onto Micha’s foot who slammed it home for the 1:0 lead.

The Yellow-and-Blue looked to add to their advantage, but Tibi missed his 11th minute opportunity while Zahavi’s header was saved by Cohen in the 14th minute and his effort two minutes later was also collected by the Greens keeper. Hugo Lopez gave Kfar Saba their first chance of the evening going one-on-one with Rajikovic but the Maccabi shot stopper was in the right place to make the save in the 24th minute.

With Maccabi searching for a second goal, they didn’t have to look further than Sa’s brilliant header in the 32nd minute. Dasa’s perfect cross into the box met the Portuguese striker’s head, cleanly beating Cohen for the 2:0 lead. Each side had a couple of chances before going into the halftime break with the Yellow-and-Blue maintaining a two goal advantage.

The second half began just as the first did with another early Maccabi goal. Sa picked up his second marker of the night as he headed another ball past Cohen for a 3:0 lead. Rikan had come down the left side of the pitch and passed the ball to Zahavi in the center of the box. The Captain headed the ball right to Sa who was standing just to his left and powered it with authority behind the keeper.

With Maccabi in cruise control it was time for Zahavi to add to his league leading goal total in the 58th minute. The Captain raced into the box from the left side as his cross met Kfar Saba’s Liran Jan’s hand, good for a penalty. Zahavi stepped up to the spot and slammed home his 27th goal of the season.

The Yellow-and-Blue didn’t lift their foot from the pedal as Coach Bosz made a couple of substitutions as Eden Ben Basat came on for Ben Chaim in the 59th minute while Dor Peretz was introduced for Alberman ten minutes later. Rikan had a brilliant opportunity at the top of the visitors box in the 82nd minute but his effort went wide and over the goal.

With the hosts looking for a fifth goal against a shell shocked Kfar Saba they found it in Maccabi’s third substitute of the match, Barak Itzahki who had come into the game a few minutes earlier. Number 9’s low shot scooted by Cohen in the 88th minute as the Yellow-and-Blue picked up the 5:0 win while closing to within 2 points of table leaders Hapoel Beer Sheva.

The Yellow-and-Blue picked up three valuable points against Netanya at the Moshava Stadium as Eden Ben Basat, Eran Zahavi and Tal Ben Chaim all scored in the 3:1 away victory.

Head Coach Peter Bosz made a couple of changes to his starting lineup from last match against Hapoel Kfar Saba in the first leg of the State Cup quarterfinals.

Dor Micha received the starting nod in place of winger Tal Ben Chaim as did central defender Carlos Garcia for Omri Ben Harush who was out due to yellow card accumulation. Rounding out the defense in front of Serbian keeper Predrag Rajikovic was Eli Dasa, Avi Rikan and Eitan Tibi. In the midfield was Gal Alberman, Nosa Igiebor and Haris Medunjanin with Eden Ben Basat, Captain Eran Zahavi and Micha providing the attack.

After  a quiet opening ten minutes, Maccabi finally broke the deadlock when Ben Basat received a terrific ball from Medunjanin and put his effort right by a
helpless Barak Levi to give the Yellow-and-Blue a 1:0 lead. Netanya tried to even the score up in the 20th minute but an alert Rajikovic was able to make a last second save and tip the ball over the bar for a corner kick to maintain the one goal lead.

Just  minutes later, Medunjanin took a Micha ball, swung around in the box but put his opportunity just wide right of the goal. Zahavi had a pair of chances to double the lead but his first effort was saved by Levi and the second from 25 meters out went wide of the goal. Iso Lingana’s long shot went over the goal as the Yellow-and-Blue took the slim 1:0 lead into the break.

The start of the second half saw Netanya looking for the equalizer and it took them only three minutes to get it. With the home side putting immense pressure on Maccabi Tel Aviv in the 48th minute, Milan Smiljanic sent Saar Benbenishti a fantastic ball in the box that he headed behind the Serbian keeper to draw Netanya even at 1:1.

With the score back to square one, Coach Bosz made a tactical substitution in the 55th minute introducing winger Tal Ben Chaim for goal scorer Ben Basat. And what would you know, the change would pay dividends soon thereafter. In the 61st minute, Dor Micha raced down the right side, sent the ball to Medujanin whose effort on goal was saved by Levi but Zahavi was in the right place at the right time to slam home the rebound to take a 2:1 lead.

Netanya didn’t give up hope as the Diamond City side looked to draw even once again as a Gael Margolis 17 meter chance was blocked by Rajikovic while Smiljanic’s opportunity went just wide left of the goal. On the other side of the pitch, Maccabi looked to increase their advantage.  Medunjanin’s 76th minute free kick was saved by Levi, Zahavi’s corner was cleared a minute later and Ben Chaim found Zahavi in the box but the captain couldn’t find the handle on the ball as the score remained 2:1 as the match entered the final ten minutes.

Finally in the 84th minute Maccabi found their third goal of the evening. Dor Micha sent Ben Chaim a ball right into the box as number 11 turned Levi inside out and slotted it home for the 3:1 lead as the Yellow-and-Blue collected the three points as they head into their Matchday 24 clash against Hapoel Haifa on Saturday February 20th at 17:00.

The Yellow-and-Blue collected another three points to stay within one point of first place Hapoel Beer Sheva with the help of Tal Ben Chaim’s first half marker, Nosa Igiebor’s goal and Shlomi Azulay’s second of the season. Acre had a man sent off early on in the match as Hatem Obida was shown a red card in the 5th minute for kicking Eran Zahavi to the ground.

Head Coach Peter Bosz’s starting XI was similar to his first match with the club as the Dutchman started Predrag Rajikovic in goal with a back four of Eitan Tibi, Omri Ben Harush, Carlos Garcia and Tal Ben Haim. Gal Alberman took his usual position as the defensive midfielder along with Shlomi Azulay and Nosa Igiebor with a on attacking threesome of Tal Ben Chaim, Dor Micha and Captain Eran Zahavi.

It didn’t take long for the action to heat up while the wind and cold air swirled around the Acre Municipal Stadium. In the 5th minute, Acre’s Hatem Obida kicked Maccabi captain Zahavi who crumpled to the ground far away from the run of play. After consulting with the linesman, referee Sahar Arbeli handed the home side’s central defender a red card forcing Acre to play with only 10-men for the balance of the match.

Being a man to the good, the Yellow-and-Blue controlled the ball for large portions of the half. Zahavi would have a number of quality chances, first in the 11th minute as his free kick went wide of the goal. Number 7’s 23rd minute effort from a tough angle was picked off by Acre keeper Dani Amos and his 31st minute scissors kick opportunity was saved by the shot stopper as well.

In the 43rd minute, Maccabi finally broke through with the wind in their faces. Alberman cleanly stripped the ball from Adnan Zahirovic and smartly played it to Ben Chaim. The speedster raced into the box and launched a screamer past Amos to give his team a 1:0 lead as the match headed into the break.

To open the second half, Head Coach Peter Bosz made a tactical substitution taking off central defender Garcia for striker Barak Itzhaki to try and open up the Maccabi attack. However, aside from an Igiebor chance in the 60th minute few opportunities presented themselves to the Yellow-and-Blue. Bosz made an additional substitution in the 67th minute introducing striker Eden Ben Basat for Ben Chaim who had earlier picked up a yellow card.

Just two minutes later, Maccabi doubled their lead as Igiebor calmly slotted the ball by Amos to go up 2:0. Igiebor took an amazing pass in the box from Itzhaki and went in all alone on the Acre keeper to score his second league goal of the season. The visitors looked for another marker but Itzhaki’s scorcher clanged off of the bar,

Alberman’s long distance effort was collected by Amos and Ben Basat’s header went out. However, Azulay fixed the situation quickly thereafter with an intelligent low shot that beat Amos to give the Yellow-and-Blue a 3:0 lead in the 82nd minute and the valuable three points.

Maccabi Tel Aviv’s next match will be on Saturday night, 20:00 at Bloomfield Stadium as they will welcome back their former striker Rada Prica and Maccabi Petach Tikva on Matchday 20 of the WINNER League.