Prematch
After two away matches, Guy Tzarfati’s squad was back at their home Stadium in Ramle as they looked to get back onto the winning track on Matchday 17 of the Youth Ligat Ha’Al against Hapoel Rishon Le’Zion Yehuda. Eylon Almog and Prince Thomas featured in the Starting XI while Amit Rosenboim returned from injury and started the game on the bench. The wine city side sat in 11th place prior to the start of the contest.
First Half
The match opened up in the rain at Ramle as the visitors struck first early on in the 7th minute. Amit Malca stole the ball in the Maccabi half of the pitch, passed it to Gal Asulin who sent it back to the former and found the far corner of the goal for a 1:0 lead. The Yellow & Blue looked to find the equalizer and did just that in the 18th minute as Dor Galili’s effort from 12 meters hit the bar and went into the goal to draw his side even.
Maccabi continued to control the tempo and took the lead soon thereafter in the 32nd minute via Eylon Almog. Galili sent a fantastic cross to Almog who slammed the ball into the back of the goal for a 2:1 advantage. Five minutes later, Asulin almost found the tying strike for the visitors but missed on a one on one chance against keeper Hen Ozeri. In the 41st minute Zamir sent Dasa on his way down the right flank, but his effort was parried away for a corner. Just before the halftime whistle, Asulin had yet another quality chance but missed again on a one on one opportunity against Ozeri as Maccabi went into the break nursing a one goal lead.
Second Half
Almog had a 48th minute free kick from 20 meters but the Rishon keeper caught the ball and kept it out of the goal. Twenty minutes later, the visitors saw the equalizer in their sights, but Ron Gabbay cleared the ball off the line to safety, stoning Malca who was looking for his second marker of the contest. Tzarfati made his first substitution in the 73rd minute as Mahmoud Awesat came in for Galili.
Rishon was given a penalty with 14 minutes to go, but Malca again couldn’t draw his side even as Ozeri went to his right and made the stop as Maccabi still clinged onto the 2:1 lead. The Yellow & Blue Head Coach made another couple of moves and inserted Netanel Peretz in place of Zamir and Amit Shapira was introduced in favor of Or Dasa. In the 87th minute, Ozeri came up big again making the save off of an Asulin attempt as Maccabi held on for the 2:1 win.
