Preview:
Maccabi arrived at Teddy stadium for the MD7 WINNER League encounter against Beitar Jerusalem aiming to bounce back to winning ways following last week’s draw against Bnei Sakhnin. Maccabi are currently second with 16 points, two adrift of Maccabi Haifa, level with Hapoel Tel Aviv and Hapoel Be’ersheva and three points ahead fifth place Beitar.
Kenny Miller will try and guide his charges to victory at Teddy stadium where he won the State Cup Final on the final match of last season. Miller will have to do so against a side Maccabi failed to beat in four attempts last season, losing three and drawing once. In fact, over the past two seasons, Maccabi beat Beitar only once in eight matches, beating the Jerusalem side 5-0 on the final league match of the 2024/25 campaign.
The training ground injury Tyrese Asante picked which will sideline him for several months, meant that Miller will have to manage without the Dutch defender who joins a list of long-term absentees which includes Ion Nicolaescu, Denny Gropper and Kristijan Belic.
A player who fully recovered from the injury he picked before the international window is Helio Varela. The Cape Verde winger who made a second half substitute appearance against Sakhnin, returned to the side replacing Osher Davida.
Other than that, Miller didn’t make any changes as Ofek Melika started in goal behind an unchanged defense of Ali Camara and Raz Shlomo at the heart of defense, while James Tavernier and Noam Ben Harush as the full backs on the right and left respectively. Issouf Sissokho made his 98th appearance for Maccabi in the anchorman role, while he was joined in the engine room by Gabi Kanichowsky on his 199th appearance in Yellow and Blue. Dor Peretz, led the team out with the captain’s armband seeking his ninth league goal of the campaign and 13th in all competitions. With Varela named on one wing, Sagiv Jehezkel started on the opposite flank in support of Ester Sokler who led the line.
With only Itay Ben Hamo as a defensive cover, Miller named U19’s central defender Noam Levy for the first time in the squad. Levy joined goalkeeper Roi Mishpati, Dan Glazer, Elad Madmon, Itamar Noy, Hisham Layous, Ido Shahar, Itay Ben Hamo and Osher Davida.
First half:
A capacity crowd, with Yellow and Black filling three-quarters of the stadium and Yellow and Blue dominating the southwest corner, welcomed both teams onto the pitch.
Maccabi started the match on the front foot as Helio Varela dispossessed Nana Antwi and surged forward into the box in the opening minute. His initial effort was blocked, but the ball fell to Dor Peretz, who flashed his shot wide of the post.
Maccabi continued to push forward as another accurate diagonal ball from Helio Varela picked out Sagiv Jehezkel, who found himself in a promising position before sending a square ball across the face of goal, only for Beitar’s defence to block the danger. Maccabi continued to press forward as a perfect Yehezkel through ball released 3ster Sokler, who managed to send Varela. The Cape Verdean winger, spotted Beitar’s keeper Silva charge off out of his goal but curled his shot wide of the target and missed a glorious opportunity to put Maccabi in front. Beitar gradually managed to claw their way back into the game, and in the 16th minute, a counter-attack saw Ofek Melika punch away a dangerous cross before Maccabi’s defence managed to clear.
Beitar gradually managed to claw their way back into the game, and in the 16th minute, a counter-attack saw Ofek Melika punch away a dangerous cross before Maccabi’s defence managed to clear. Four minutes later, Beitar came even closer as Yarden Shuah slipped the ball through to Kalu, who chipped it over the advancing Melika, only to see his effort strike the post and roll out for a goal kick. A clever backheel flick from Shuah on the half-hour mark released Kalu once again, but his shot from the edge of the area failed to trouble Melika who collected with ease. On the stroke of half-time, Issouf Sissokho joined Ali Camara and Jehezkel as the third player to be booked by the referee with Beitar awarded a free kick. Shuah floated the ball towards Boris Enow whose header was initially punched away by Melika but fell to Omer Atzili who chested it down and with an open goal volleyed wide.
Second Half:
Neither side made changes at the interval, as the end-to-end action of the first half continued after the restart. Beitar looked dangerous as Shuah fired over the crossbar from a tight angle in the 57th minute. Right on the hour mark, Kenny Miller made a double substitution, introducing Elad Madmon and Osher Davida for Sokler and Jehezkel.
Davida’s bursting pace in the 64th minute sent the winger down the right before his square ball reached Gabi Kanichowsky, who was shoved to the ground. Dor Peretz tried a shot which was blocked and eventually reached James Tavernier, whose half-volley sailed wide. A swift Maccabi counter-attack in the 69th minute saw Peretz release Davida, who raced clear through, but with only the keeper to beat, curled his left-footed shot high and wide from a promising position. Atzili almost capitalised on a mix-up between Melika and Camara in the 73rd minute, but the Beitar winger blasted his shot over the crossbar.Kanichowsky came close in the 76th minute as he received perfectly
weighted through ball from Raz Shlomo. Kanichowsky skipped past a challenge but blasted his shot agonisingly wide of the target. A minute later Davida tore down the right and fed Peretz whose powerful drive was blocked by Bryan Carabali. A last gasp Shlomo tackle denied Ori Azo what would have been a dangerous chance. Shlomo limped off on 85 and was replaced by Itay Ben Hemo as Maccabi continued to press forward in search of a breakthrough. In the 87th minute, Peretz cut inside onto his right foot and unleashed a shot which Silva palmed away for a corner. A minute later, Maccabi carved out their best chance of the match as Madmon latched onto a through ball and beat Silva, who had charged out of his area in an attempt to head clear. The ball fell to Peretz, who had only Carabaly to beat on the goal-line, but somehow Maccabi’s captain saw his effort blocked by the Colombian defender. Despite not scoring for the second week in succession, Maccabi did everything but manage to get the ball in the back of the net which wouid have secured a victory.
