Preview
A week after beating Hapoel Haifa 2-0 on the final day of the regular season, Maccabi returned to Bloomfield stadium for the MD27 WINNER League match against the same opponents to begin the Playoff round.
Even before the team entered the stadium, Zarko Lazetic’s side discovered their gap from the top was increased to four points after Hapoel Be’ersheva won the early kickoff match against Maccabi Netanya by 2-0.
With that in mind, Maccabi’s aim will be to leave for the international break with a victory and restore the gap to a point before facing Be’ersheva for a top of the table clash at Turner.
Lazetic was forced to shuffle his side as he was missing Raz Shlomo, Dor Peretz and Elad Madmon who all served a one-match-touchline ban while Weslley Patati was nursing an ankle injury. Idan Nachmias returned to the side and partnered Tyrese Asante and Nemanja Stojic as three central defenders in front of goalkeeper Simon Sluga. Roy Revivo as a left wing-back and Osher Davida on the right supplied the width to Maccabi’s formation. Issouf Sissokho and Joris van Overeem were assigned to the engine room with Gabi Kanichowsky completing the midfield trio in a more attacking role. Dor Turgeman and Eran Zahavi led Maccabi’s attack in charge of scoring the goals which could lead to a second victory over Hapoel Haifa in one week.
On the bench Lazetic welcomed back Sagiv Jehezkel who was named in the squad for the first time since recovering from the ankle injury which sidelined him since January 4th. Jehezkel was named amongst the substitutes together with goalkeeper Roi Mishpati, Avishay Cohen, Stav Lemkin, Yonas Malede, Henry Addo, Ofir Davidzada, Hisham Layous and Ido Shahar.
Prior to kick-off an emotional ceremony took place where Emily Damari who was released from captivity in January was presented with her shirt on his first return to Bloomfield. Damari was accompanied by Romi Gonen, a Hapoel Haifa fan who was also released from captivity and was presented with a shirt of her beloved team.
First Half
The pre-match ceremony saw Emily Damari address the crowd in a plea to keep fighting for the release of all the hostages and in particular fellow Kfar Aza kibbutzniks and Maccabi fans; Gali & Zivi Berman didn’t leave a single eye dry. When Damari then continued with the microphone to chant one of Maccabi’s famous chants, the entire stadium was bouncing. Maccabi’s reaction on the pitch to the atmosphere created by Damari was almost instant as Zarko Lazetic’s side dominated right from the start. A Roy Revivo cut back in the seventh minute was cleared by Haifa’s defense reached Gabi Kanichowsky who chested the ball down for Issouf Sissokho on the edge of the area.
The Mali midfielder pulled the trigger and sent a right foot drive which Yoav Gerafi couldn’t hold onto. Osher Davida pounced on the loose ball and sent the rebound between the legs of Gerafi to break the deadlock. Eran Zahavi came close to double the score in the 13th minute as the veteran striker who started upfront alongside Dior Turgeman rose high to meet Davida’s free kick but guided his header onto the roof of the net
In the 24th minute Turgeman’s defensive skills saw the young forward deny the visitors an equalizer from a corner as he headed off his goal-line with Simon Sluga beaten. Five minutes after the half hour mark at the opposite end Roy Revivo doubled the score as he rose at the far post to head in Kanichowsky’s corner. Four minutes later Tyrese Asante dribbled past three defenders before carving Haifa’s defense to release Turgeman. The 21-year-old striker burst forward and fired a shot which beat Gerafi but narrowly cleared the crossbar.
On the brink of halftime Thiemoko Diarra was booked by referee Sapir Berman for a foul on Zahavi near the corner of Maccabi’s penalty box. But VAR intervened and called Berman to the screen as the initial yellow card was changed to red leaving Haifa with 10 men.
Second Half
Haifa’s coach Ronny Levy made two changes after the restart as he introduced Liran Serdal and George Diba for Anis Porat Ayash and Aboubacar Doumbia. But within a minute Levy lost his second player to a red card leaving the visitors to fight with nine men for the rest of the game.
Zahavi stole a ball on the edge of Haifa’s area before Dramane Salou slid in with a tackle and was initially booked. Once again VAR called Berman to the screen and the card was changed to red.
Sissokho drilled a powerful drive which narrowly missed the target in the 58th minute before Lazetic made a double substitution introducing Ido Shahar and Henry Addo for Joris van Overeem and Davida. A minute later and with his first touch Shahar increased Maccabi’s lead as the diminutive midfielder side-footed home Turgeman’s square ball to make it 3-0 on the hour mark.
Shahar came close to score a second three minutes later as he reacted first to a Gerafi save from a Kanichowsky shot. But Haifa’s keeper managed to deny the 23-year-old from scoring Maccabi’s fourth. In the 67th minute Sagiv Jehezkel made his first appearance since the beginning of January as he replaced Nemanja Stojic.
Addo had the ball in the back of Gerafi’s net in the 72nd minute but the referee assistant raised his flag and even a long review by the VAR didn’t help award the Ghanian with a goal. In the 81st minute Gerafi was at full stretch to deny Turgeman after he was released by Kanichowsky. This was Kanichowsky’s final contribution on the night as he bowed out to a standing ovation together with Revivo as Lazetic introduced Ofir Davidzada and Younas Malede.
The full-time whistle confirmed Maccabi’s victory and the gap at the top from Be’ersheva reduced back to a point before the two sides meet at Turner on March 31st.
