After a season opening win at Bnei Sakhnin last week, the Under-19 side hosted Hapoel Hadera on Matchday 2 of the Israel Youth Premier League at the Ramle Stadium.
Head Coach Guy Tzarfati’s Starting XI: Daniel Peretz, Michael Chilaka, Alon Shtrozberg, Amit Glazer, Tomer Machluf, Tamir Glazer, Mufleh Shalata, Yoav Hofmayster, Rave Assayag, Omer Barami, Eyal Hen.
First Half
The young Yellow & Blue opened the match well and took control of possession early on. In the 5’ Maccabi had their first opportunity as a Shalata free kick made its way to Hen but his shot missed the target while four minutes later Tzarfati’s squad began an attack down the left wing. Hen and Machluf exchanged passes as the latter crossed the ball into the box but Assayag’s header went out.
In the 10’ Hadera’s chance went by the post while over the next quarter hour both sides didn’t come up with any dangerous opportunities. Hofmayster took the ball in the midfield in the 25’ and went by a pair of Hadera players but his attempt went over the bar, however, two minutes later Maccabi found the back of the goal. Tamir Glazer sent the ball to Barami who beat the Hadera keeper Ofir Abarbanel to give the Yellow & Blue a 1:0 lead.
Tzarfati’s side continued to press and in the 28’ they almost doubled their advantage but Shalata’s chance went out while his 37’ attempt was saved by Hadera keeper. Peretz needed to be sharp right before the break as visiting striker Shado Godfrey’s opportunity was saved by the shot blocker as Maccabi took a 1:0 into halftime.
Second Half
The Yellow & Blue began the half pressuring Hadera and their efforts paid off when Assayag’s shot beat Abarbanel for a 2:0 Maccabi lead in the 52’. Godfrey looked to pull a goal back for the visitor’s in the 64’ but his attempt just went by the post and four minutes later David Daoudi’s long range strike hit the post and went out.
In the 80’ a pair of Maccabi substitutes, Bar Cohen and Gil Ben Shalosh almost added the third goal but the latter’s attempt also went off the post while Tal Yaguayev went down the left side and beat his defender but Abarbanel was again up to the task. As the match began to wind down, Ben Shalosh’s chance went over the bar in the 89’ and a nice defensive play by Amit Glazer helped Maccabi “Shachar” to the clean sheet and a 2:0 win.
