Preview:
Maccabi arrived at Sammy Ofer stadium for the MD19 WINNER League match away to fourth place Maccabi Haifa. While Maccabi are third with 36 points, seven ahead of Haifa in the table, they will look to narrow the nine point-gap from leaders Beitar Jerusalem and six behind second place Hapoel Be’ersheva. Boosted by the dramatic penalty shoot-out victory over Hapoel Tel Aviv on Wednesday, Zarko Lazetic’s side that beat Hapoel Jerusalem (3-1) and Bnei Sakhnin (1-0) in the league will try and continue their run. Since the re-appointment of Barak Bachar in October, Haifa have improved their results and are on a run of 1 defeat in 13 matches in all competitions.
With Roy Revivo serving a one-match touchline ban following his dismissal in the derby, Lazetic was forced to make changes. Itay Ben Hemo who scored the winning penalty, partnered Ali Camara as the two central defenders. Noam Ben Harush stepped in to replace Revivo at left-back with Tyrese completing Maccabi’s defensive line infront of the other Cup hero goalkeeper Ofek Melika. Issouf Sissokho in the anchorman role was joined by Ido Shahar with the captain’s armband in the engine room while Kervin Andrade kept his place at the top of the midfield trio. Helio Varela whose goal on Wednesday was his second for Maccabi in the Cup, will seek his debut league goal. With the Cape Verde winger on one wing, Lazetic named Osher Davida on the opposite flank with the 24-old aiming to end his barren run in the league that stretches since MD on September 16th. Upfront, Lazetic named Elad Madmon who scored three league goals and five in all competitions.
On the bench alongside goalkeeper Roi Mishpati, Heitor dos Santos, Sagiv Jehezkel, Raz Shlomo, Yonas Malede, Ben Lederman, Itamar Noy, Saied Abu Farchi and Dor Peretz.
First Half:
A sea of colour and a wall of noise welcomed both sets of players at Sammy Ofer with Maccabi’s 3000 travelling fans tucked in the south west corner of the stadium aiming to give the hosts a vocal fight.
A counter attack in the 15th minute almost saw the hosts draw first blood in as a counter attack reached Guy Melamed in the middle of the penalty area. But with only the keeper to beat and in a comfortable position to score Melamed fired his shot wide. Three minutes later Michael Ohana shrugged off a challange and burst forward but his shot which beat Ofek Melika bounced off the base of the post. Tyrese Asante who was carrying an injury from Wednesday’s derby was forced to limp off and replaced by Raz Shlomo in the 19th minute.
The fatigue from the derby claimed another casulty just before the half hour mark Osher Davida also limped off and was replaced by Sagiv Jehezkel.
Four minutes later Melika was at full stretch when Melamed sent a shot from the edge of the area that was accurate but lacked the power to beat the Maccabi custodian.
Inside added time Haifa had the ball in the back of the net as Maccabi’s defense didn’t manage to clear the danger as the ball fell to Michael Ohana who buried his half volley past Melika. The linesman raised his flag for offside but VAR intervened and after several minutes of waiting referee Gal Leibovic awarded Haifa the goal.
Haifa almost doubled their lead before the break as Navot Ratner curled a cross into the area which was headed by Kenny Saief but Melika managed to pull a reflex save and claw the ball which was making its way in.
Second Half:
Lazetic made a third change after the break introducing Heitor dos Santos for Ali Camara at the restart switching to three central defenders across the back. The change almost paid off instantly as a Jehezkel cross into the box was missed by Elad Madmon but fell to Ido Shahar. Maccabi’s top scorer took his volley first time but Haifa’s keeper Georgiy Yermakov pulled a stunning save to deny the skipper on the night from increasing his tally.
In the 52nd minute Maccabi were back on level terms as Shahar carved Haifa’s defense open with a through ball to Jehezkel whi raced clear through. Jehezkel bursting run into the box resulted with a powerful shot which was saved by Yermakov but as Haifa failed to clear the danger the ball fell to Jehezkel who didn’t fail in his second attempt as he rifled his shit home.
In the 68th minute Lazetic made a double change as he introduced his two final substitutions sending out Dor Peretz and Saied Abu Farchi for Kervin Andrade and Madmon.
Four minutes after their introduction Peretz was released into the box by Abu Farchi but once again Yermakov came to Haifa’s rescue with a save.
Jehezkel was in the thick of things on 78 as he cut inside from the right and with his left unleashed a powerful drive which was punched away by Yermakov. Less than 30 seconds later at the opposite end Haifa restored their lead as Pierre Cornud floated a cross from near the corner before Melamed swept it home with a volley. Haifa increased their lead to 3-1 in the 81st minute as Kenji Gore was given the time and space to dribble down the left as he cut inside and blasted a shot that found Melika’s bottom corner. Maccabi came close to cut the deficit as a corner fell to dos Santos whose powerful volley was saved by Yermakov.
Haifa had the ball in the back of the net in the 88th minute as Lisav Eisaat carried the ball out of defense before releasing Nov Gabay who rounded Melika and rolled the ball home to make it 4-1.
