Maccabi Tel Aviv began the Championship Playoff Round with a home defeat to Hapoel Haifa. The Yellow & Blue struck first via Eli Dasa but the Carmel Reds received second half goals by Maxim Plakuschenko and Haim Megrelashvili to take the 3-points and the win just ahead of the International break.
Head Coach Jordi Cruyff’s Starting XI included keeper Predrag Rajikovic along with Yuval Shpungin, Eli Dasa, Eitan Tibi, Jean-Sylvain Babin, Dor Micha (C), Eyal Golasa, Dor Peretz, Avi Rikan, Nick Blackman and Vidar Kjartansson.
Available on the bench were keeper Daniel Tenenbaum, Jose Rodriguez, Barak Itzhaki, Eliran Atar, Aaron Schoenfeld, Tal Ben Haim and Ofir Davidzada.
First Half
Owner Mitch Goldhar was in attendance and after ten minutes of midfield play, Radu Ginsari had the contest’s first chance for Haifa but his attempt went over the bar. Five minutes later Maccabi had their opening opportunity and found the back of the goal when Micha sent a tremendous through ball by the Haifa defense right to Dasa who headed it home for a 1:0 lead. In the 21’ Dasa almost helped double the lead when he gave Vidar a nice ball, but the Reds keeper Ernestas Setkus came off his line to make the stop on a one on one situation.
The Yellow & Blue continued pressing for a second goal and in the 29’ Dasa again was in the mix as he gave Rikan a terrific pass but his chance went over the bar. Golasa (35) and Peretz (42) tried their luck just outside of the box but Setkus made the save in each case.
Second Half
The second half began just as the first, but in the 56’ Rozlan Barsky had to be replaced by Maxim Plakuschenko due to an injury. Two minutes later Haifa almost found the equalizer via Alon Turgeman but Rajikovic was in place to make the save. In the 63’ Dasa took a long distance attempt but his opportunity was skied over the bar. However, five minutes later the visitor’s drew even. Plakuschenko took the ball 25 meters from goal and unleashed a scorcher that made its way behind Rajikovic.
Cruyff made a pair of substitutions in the 71’ as Atar and Davidzada came on for Blackman and Shpungin. Six minutes later Micha lifted a ball from the left side to Rikan but his header from a tough angle went out while Cruyff made his third substitution when he inserted Jose Rodriguez for the aforementioned Rikan. Maccabi looked for the winner but the ball came to Haim Megrelashvili in the box and the Haifa defender headed it into the goal for a 2:1 Hapoel Haifa victory.
