Maccabi Tel Aviv scored three goals in the second half to go on to defeat Bnei Sakhnin 3:0. Barak Itzhaki headed in the first thanks to a Micael helper while Schoenfeld assisted on Ruben Micael’s first goal for the Yellow & Blue’s second of the evening as Tal Ben Chaim finished off the show as he took another brilliant pass by Micha to score the third marker in the win.
Prior to the game Eran Zahavi was honored by Maccabi Tel Aviv as the superstar was back in Israel about to join the National Team for their match in Spain next week. Zahavi left the field in tears as he was emotionally touched by the cheers he received by the Yellow & Blue faithful.
Head Coach Lito Vidgal’s Staring XI included Serbian keeper Predrag Rajikovic along with defenders Eli Dasa, Eitan Tibi, Tal Ben Haim and Captain Sheran Yeini. Gal Alberman, Ruben Micael and Dor Micha manned the midfield while Barak Itzhaki, Tal Ben Chaim and Vidar Kjartansson provided the attack.
Available on the bench were keeper Daniel Lifshitz, Marcelo dos Santos. Yossi Benayoun, Avi Rikan, Egor Filipenka, Oscar Scarione and Aaron Schoenfeld.
First Half
Maccabi had a couple of quality chances in the 5th and 7th minutes as Micael’s effort just missed the goal while Itzhaki’s header was caught by the keeper as the match remained goalless early on. In the 12th minute, Dasa sent Kjaratansson a ball in the box but his opportunity missed the target.
Ben Chaim had an unbelievable chance in the 31st minute but his 35th minute effort was even better however, Kandil made the save as the ball almost went into the corner of the Sakhnin goal. Dasa picked up a yellow card a minute later as the balance of the half didn’t produce any chances.
Second Half
Tibi was sharp coming out of the break as he stopped Firas Mugrabi cold before he could go one on one with the Yellow & Blue keeper in the 48th minute while 3 minutes later Ben Chaim came off of they left wing but his shot just went wide left of the goal as Maccabi got closer and closer to scoring…Which they promptly did in the 55th minute as Micha’s brilliant cross found Itzhaki in they box who headed the ball into the right hand corner of the goal for a 1:0 lead.
Sakhnin made a pair of substitutes in the 60th minute, bringing in Ramzi Sfori and Yuval Abider as they looked to find the equalizer. As the visitors began to press, Vidigal countered with a fresh striker in the 71st minute introducing Aaron Schoenfeld for Kjartansson in a move that would pay dividends almost immediately.
Ben Chaim came through the middle of the pitch and passed the ball to Schoenfeld on the left wing who sent it back into the box and right to Micael who found the back of the goal for his first strike in Yellow & Blue to give Maccabi a 2:0 advantage in the 72nd minute.
If you thought Maccabi was done, then you’d be mistaken as Ben Chaim roofed the ball into the goal thanks to Micha’s second assist of the evening for a 3:0 lead in the 77th minute. Ten minutes later Ben Chaim tried to add another marker to his resume, but his curler just missed to the right of the goal as Maccabi came away with a 3:0 win.
