Category: Match day program EN

Know your opponent: Ashdod

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Head Coach
Ashdod had a rough start to the season and has already brought in a new coach. Reuven Atar began the campaign on the sidelines but when the club fell to last place, the coach was replaced by Amir Turgeman who played for Maccabi and helped win the 2002/03 championship. Turgeman is thought to be one of the up and coming head coaches in Israel and has plied his trade in the past in the Yellow & Blue Youth Department, Beitar Tel Aviv/Ramle and has also been an assistant coach with the Israel National Team. Ashdod is his first team in the Ligat Ha’Al.

Arrivals
The biggest name that joined the Ashdod ranks over the summer was 21-year old Blessing Elka who is full of raw potential and as per the local media was purchased for roughly one million Euros. Bulgarian central defender Victor Genev along with Brazilian Edilson Bahia who played with Hapoel Haifa last season were brought on board. Yuval Yakobovic also joined Ashdod over the summer.

What have they done up until now?
After 11 matches this season, Ashdod sits in last place with only 5 points with just one win, 2 draws and 8 losses. The match against Maccabi comes after 3 straight defeats with the last one being a 1:0 loss to Hapoel Raanana. Ashdod is also the club who has sore the fewest goals this season in league play with only 6.

Under the magnifying glass
There have been many players who have left Ashdod over the last few seasons, however, Gadi Kinda, who is thought to be one of the rising stars still finds himself with the club. The midfielder has become a main player for Amir Turgeman and has also assisted on 3 of the club’s 6 goals while also scoring one of them himself.

Stats Talk: The first match against Slavia Prague

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Maccabi Tel Aviv faces Slavia Prague this evening in their last home match of the Europa League Group Stages. Ahead of the contest, we’ve decided to look back at the statistic pages from the last match between the two foes in order to see what the main points were from their previous battle.

The match at Slavia Prague that opened up the Group Stages was disappointing for the Maccabi faithful after they had controlled the pace of play but couldn’t find the back of the goal. The Yellow & Blue maintained possession for 62% of the contest compared to 38% by the hosts with Maccabi holding the ball for 63% of the first half and 62% of the second half. During minutes 60-75 Jordi Cruyff’s players pressed the most when they had 72% of the possession.

In the last match against the Czech side, Maccabi played with 3 central defenders with Ofir Davidzada and Sheran Yeini as wing-backs who were free to attack. Davidzada ended the match with the most key passes with 5, while Yeini played a much more offensive role as usual as his average position on the pitch was much more advanced as you can see from the photo below (#13), second to only Vidar Kjartansson and Eliran Atar. Thursday’s match will be different and Maccabi will most probably play a different formation than they did the first time around.

Slavia Prague’s attacks came mainly from the middle as midfielder Miroslav Stoch and Josef Hušbauer who came on as a substitute played center stage. Each player had 3 key passes a piece, the most on the club. In addition, the Czech’s attacked 30 times from the middle, 30 from the left side and 27 down the right. Maccabi on the other hand attacked 44 times from the right, 38 down the left and 28 from the middle of the pitch.

Another interesting point is that Slavia Prague relied more on a fast and attacking pace rather than controlling the ball as they continuously passed the ball forward. Last match, defensive midfielder Tomas Soucek passed the ball to attacking midfielder Jaromír Zmrhal 13 times, while the latter (#8) and attacking midfielder Jan Sykora (#6) played in the middle alongside striker Tomáš Necid (#27) as you can see in the diagram below.

A little inspiration: The greatest European Group Stage comebacks

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The Yellow & Blue didn’t get off to an ideal start in the Europa League Group Stages with one point in the first 3 matches. It’s true, the situation is not simple, but a look back to the history of the Champions League and Europa League shows us that it’s not impossible. Just ahead of the critical match against Astana, let’s look at 4 clubs whose backs were against the wall:

Champions League 2002/03: Newcastle United
The English club’s campaign will go down in history for being the only Champions League team to advance after losing all three of their first round matches. Newcastle began with an away defeat at Dynamo Kyiv followed by a home loss to Feyenoord and then an another defeat at Juventus. However, they didn’t give up and picked up two wins setting up a winner take all situation against Feyenoord with a place in the next round on the line in the last match of the group stages. In the 91st minute Craig Bellamy scored a super dramatic strike to send The Magpies for a date with Inter Milan from the group’s second position.

Bellamy, Photo: Footyfair ()

Europa League 2009/10: Hertha Berlin
The Bundesliga side opened their continental campaign with a draw and a pair of losses almost signaling the end of their European hopes. But 3 straight wins over Heerenveen, Ventspils and Sporting Lisbon sent the German club through to the next round.

Champions League 2012/13: Galatasaray
After the first three Macthdays, no one would have questioned the Turkish club’s fans if they thought that their European run was over after two defeats and a draw. But then came three wins in a row including a 2:1 victory over Braga on the last Matchday. Galatasaray went on to defeat Schalke in the Round of 16 but fell to Real Madrid in the quarterfinals to end their campaign.

Europa League 2014/15: Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk
With a loss on Matchday 1 and 3 with a draw sandwiched between the two, it looked bleak for the Ukrainian outfit… but unbelievably they made it to the competition’s final. Seven points sent them to the Round of 32 as the Cinderella story went all the way to the final where they fell 3:2 to Sevilla.

At the right time? 3 points to ponder ahead of Astana

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After the away loss at Astana, Maccabi Tel Aviv will look to make amends at home this evening at 20:00 when they host the Kazakhstan side on Matchday 4 of the Europa League. In order to prepare for the match, let’s check out three points to ponder.

A matter of timing?
Just like Maccabi, Astana is also playing in their domestic league and have a very important match upcoming on Sunday. With the season coming to an end, the capital city side leads Kairat Almaty by one point on the table.

On the final matchday of the season, Astana hosts FK Akzhayik Uralsk while Kairat welcomes Aktobe. An Astana win gives them the championship, however, they lost their last contest 2:0 to the same Kairat they are battling for the title.

It’s cold outside
Two weeks ago, Maccabi saw what Astana can do at home up close and personal. But away, the Kazakhstan side is a much different team. The last time the club won a European match outside of their friendly confines was in 2014 when they defeated Swedish side AIK. Over their last two campaigns in the Champions League and Europa League, they lost 5 times and drew once. In the one away match so far this season they fell to Villarreal 3:1.

Pay attention to the left back
Most of the attention from last match against Astana was on a pair of excellent foreigners, Junior Kabananga and Patrick Twumasi who each scored a brace. However a tremendous amount of credit also has to go to left back Dmitri Shomko who was a key participant in the Kazakhstan attack.

Shomko may be a defender, but he was the player who made the most key passes with 3 of 4 being accurate. He also took three attempts at the goal just like Kabananga and second to Twumasi. A look at the picture below shows that Astana likes to attack from the left side and Shomko, #77 was one of three players who was on that side of the pitch.