The Yellow & Blue received a late equalizer via Vidar Kjartansson to send each club home with a point a piece. Omer Damari opened the scoring for the Greens while Sheran Yeini made his Maccabi return after Avi Rikan had to leave the match due to injury. The Icelander would draw Maccabi even in the second half, but late substitute Roie Kehat gave the hosts a late lead as the match looked to be slipping away from the visitors. However, injury time heroics by number 24 gave the teams a split of the points.

Prematch
Sports Director Jordi Cruyff’s Starting XI included Serbian keeper Predrag Rajikovic with a defense featuring Avi Rikan, Egor Filipenka, Eitan Tibi and Eli Dasa. Gal Alberman was wearing the captain’s armband with Eyal Golasa and Yossi Benayoun beside him. Barak Itzhaki, Tal Ben Chaim and Vidar Kjartansson provided the attack up front.

Available on the bench were keeper Daniel Lifshitz, Omri Ben Harush, Sheran Yeini, Sagiv Yehezkel, Eliel Peretz, Haris Medunjanin and Dor Micha.

First Half
Itzhaki tried to get Maccabi on the board first, but his sharp angle effort in the 2nd minute was just tipped over the bar while Rikan’s corner was headed by number 10 at the Haifa goal forcing Ohad Levita to make a terrific save.

As the contest hit the 9th minute, Haifa began to threaten the Maccabi goal and found the back of it two minutes later. Amit Zaneti led a counter attack for the Greens and crossed the ball across the box to an oncoming Omer Damari who easily tapped it in beating Rajikovic to give the hosts a 1:0 lead.

Rikan was forced to leave the game due to injury in the 14th minute as Sheran Yeini made his return to the Yellow & Blue coming on for the left back. Golasa was then issued a yellow card for a reckless tackle in the midfield as Maccabi looked to regain control of the match. However, it would be Haifa with a brilliant chance to double the score as Gili Vermouth and Damari teamed up to almost beat Raijkovic, but Yeini cleared the ball off of the line to safety.

As the fast paced game hit the 22nd minute Alberman handed off the captain’s armband to Yeini as number 13 put it around his left arm. Dasa found Kjartansson three minutes later but the Icelander’s chance missed the mark. Ben Chaim began to break downfield in the 29th minute but Gary Kagelmaher’s professional foul earned the Greens captain a yellow card for his efforts.

Haifa’s Anis Alushi also picked up a yellow card in the 34th minute as the Greens had another quality chance to score, but Rajikovic scooped up the ball to end the threat. Alberman received a yellow card for his foul in the Haifa zone as the match entered the 43rd minute while Benayoun had a wonderful chance to silence the crowd, but his header just went wide of the goal off of an Itzhaki left side corner as the referee blew the halftime whistle.

Second Half
Cruyff inserted Omri Ben Harush into the fray for Egor Filipenka to begin the second half as Maccabi looked to find the equalizer. In the 52nd minute, Alberman had a weak shot on goal which was easily taken by Levita while seven minutes later Benayoun laid the ball off for Ben Chaim but his screamer went way over the goal.

In the 64th minute, Itzhaki’s surprise effort almost fooled Levita, but the Greens keeper just pushed the ball over the bar as Maccabi got closer and closer to finding the back of the Haifa goal.

And what would you know, that’s exactly what they did the next time down the field two minutes later. Benayoun gave Dasa a fabulous pass and number 2 sent Kjaratannson a wonderful ball that he slotted right between Levita and the right post to tie the game up at 1:1.

Itzhaki picked up a 70th minute yellow card while Kjartansson was issued one of his own three minutes later as Haifa began to come back into the game following the Maccabi goal. With both sides going end to end the Yellow & Blue made their third substitution of the evening as Cruyff introduced Dor Micha for Itzhaki in the 81st minute.

However, it would be Haifa who would find the marker to break the deadlock as Roie Kehat who had come on in the 82nd minute headed home a San Menchem ball to give the Greens a 2:1 advantage. Maccabi looked to draw even and pressured the Greens defense while time ticked down and the Yellow & Blue looked for a savior.

And a savior they would find in Kjartansson who bagged a late brace thanks to a brilliant pass by Micha as the Icelandic striker would slam the ball home high into the Haifa goal, helping the sides split the points. Maccabi will now prepare for a 1 versus 2 showdown on Saturday night, 21:00 against Hapoel Beer Sheva at the Netanya Stadium.