The Under-19 club hosted Hapoel Raanana on Matchday 8 of the Israel Youth Premier League as the young Yellow & Blue entered the contest in 3rd place with 4 wins and 3 draws. Raanana began the day in the 7th place with 3 straight draws.

Head Coach Guy Tzarfati’s Starting XI: Or Itzhak, Michael Chilaka, Amit Glazer, Alon Shtrozberg, Dan Lugassi, Nadav Nidam, Eduardo Guerrero, Yoav Hofmayster (C), Rave Assayag, Bar Cohen, Eyal Hen.

First Half
In the 8’ a through ball made it’s way to Assayag but his shot went over the goal while three minutes later the visitor’s had their first chance of the contest as Golan Beni took the ball in the box, but his attempt deflected off a Maccabi defender and went out for a corner. Beni had another opportunity in the 14’ but his attempt went out, while a minute later Chilaka sent the ball to Cohen but his attempt went over the bar. Four minutes later Cohen took a Lugassi pass and made it by two defenders, but his chance just missed the goal.

Guerrero had the ball in the 23’ but his shot was saved by Ariel Mesika, while 11 minutes later Hen took the ball on the right wing and sent it into the box to Cohen but his chance was again stopped by Mesika. Guerrero’s 35’ long distance opportunity missed the goal and just before the break Raanana’s Roie Levy’s attempt from inside the box was cleared to safety by the Maccabi defense as the match remained deadlocked at 0:0 after 45 minutes.

Second Half
The visitor’s received a penalty in the 47’ which Levy converted to give Raanana a 1:0 lead after Shtrozberg and a Raanana player tangled up in the Maccabi box and the referee awarded the spot kick. In the 63’ Tal Yagudaev, who had come on as a substitute took the ball in the middle of the pitch, moved forward towards the Raanana area, but his 20’ meter attempt missed the target. Three minutes later Guerrero found another substitute Gil Ben Shalosh at the top of the area but his opportunity missed the goal.

Following chance after chance, Guerrero found the back of the goal in the 82’ for Maccabi when Omri Ram went down the right side and crossed a beauty of a ball to the striker who put home the equalizer, 1:1. The Yellow & Blue pressed for a winner and almost found one four minutes later when Ben Shalosh’s chance was batted away by Mesika. However, as the match went into injury time, Guerrero put away another Ram cross to give Maccabi a 2:1 win and the 3 points.