Category: First Team

Maccabi held to 1-1 draw in Sakhnin

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Preview

Maccabi Tel Aviv arrived at the Doha stadium for the ONE ZERO League MD32 against Bnei Sakhnin with a four-point-lead at the top of the table. Robbie Keane’s side that beat Sakhnin 2-0 when both teams met at Bloomfield last month, will aim to record their 23rd victory of the season and restore the lead at the top to seven points before facing Maccabi Haifa on Saturday.

Keane made no changes from the side that beat Bnei Reineh 3-2 as Roy Mishpati made his 30th appearance in Maccabi’s goal with Enric Saborit and Raz Shlomo lining-up as the two central defenders in front of him. Roy Revivo on the right and Ofir Davidzada on the left completed Maccabi’s back-four with Eden Karzev keeping his place in the anchorman role. Gabi Kanikowsky who scored his 10th goal against Reineh and Dor Perez who took his seasonal tally to 18 in all competitions completed Maccabi’s midfield trio.

Osher Davida who scored the opening goal last week, and Felicio Milson supplied the width to Keane’s formation with Eran Zahavi leading the attack seeking to score his 36th goal in all competitions. Joris van Overeem who recovered from a knee injury, was back in the squad for the first time and named amongst the substitutes together with Daniel Tenenbaum, Idan Nachmias, Dor Turgeman, Dan Biton, Yonas Malede, Eyal Golasa, Matan Baltaxa and Ido Shahar

First Half

Boosted by the support of around 2000 travelling fans, Maccabi began the match on the front foot and had the ball in the back of the net as early as the fourth minute. Sakhnin’s defense failed to clear a cross which fell to Osher Davida who slotted home from close range. But the referee assistant raised his flag for an offside against Davida before the goal was disallowed.

In the 16th minute, Dor Hugi charged half the length of the pitch before the ball fell to Basil Huri whose shot from the edge of the area forced Roy Mishpati to a double save. A minute later, the captains of both teams, Eran Zahavi and Hasan Hilu were booked by referee Orel Grinfeeld for a tussle near the center circle. Zahavi could have opened the score within a minute after he was teed up by Davida, but the veteran marksman blasted his shot high over the crossbar.

Hugi tested Mishpati once again with a shot which was easily collected by Maccabi’s keeper on 21 before Grinfeeld awarded a penalty at the opposite end two minutes later as he spotted a foul on Gabi Kanichowsky. The intervention of VAR called Grinfeeld to the screen as he overturned his initial decision and cancelled Maccabi’s spot kick.

Four minutes after the half hour mark Maccabi needed a last gasp tackle from Enric Saborit to rescue Mishpati from conceding after his attempt to clear the ball with his head caught him in no man’s land allowing Hugi a shot on goal.

Inside injury time Maccabi reached their best chances in the space of two minutes as Dor Peretz and Raz Shlomo couldn’t get enough contact on a telling cross which agonizingly crept wide of the far post. A minute later Sakhnin’s keeper Mohammed Abu Nil spread himself across the goal-line to deny Kanikowsky’s point blank effort.

Second Half

With no changes to either side at halftime, both teams emerged for the second half knowing that only something special would break the deadlock. Four minutes after the restart Kanichowsky carried the ball into the area before his shot was blocked by a Sakhnin defender. In the 53rd minute the deadlock was finally broken at the end of a spectacular Roy Revivo solo run down the right. Revivo’s pinpoint cut-back was swept by Davida in off the post to give Maccabi a promising 1-0 lead.

Four minutes later, Milson could have doubled Maccabi’s lead after Kanichowsky cushioned the ball for the Angolan winger whose shot was saved by Abu Nil. In the 61st minute and shortly after being booked for a tackle on a Sakhnin player, Milson, picked his second booking to leave Maccabi down with 10 men for the final half hour. As if losing Milson from Saturday’s match at Haifa wasn’t bad enough, Sakhnin exploited their numerical advantage in the 67th minute. Hilu rose high above Mishpati to head in a corner, level the score and dampen Maccabi’s mood.

Keane reacted with a double change in the 75th minute as Zahavi and Davida both bowed out and replaced by Matan Baltaxa and Yonas Malede. Sakhnin had the ball in Maccabi’s net in less than a minute later after a goalmouth scramble, but Grinfeeld spotted a handball and disallowed the goal.

In the 88th minute Peretz headed a ball over the bar before Keane made another change as Idan Nachmias came on for Revivo. Maccabi tried desperately to score a late winner, but the full-time whistle meant the spoils will be shared and the gap from second place set on five points with both sides facing each other at the weekend.   

The doctor who helped capture Adolf Eichmann

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The Maccabi Tel Aviv Academy hosted today (Tuesday) on the Holocaust and Heroism Remembrance Day, doctor Danny Elian who told the Club’s Under 16’s and Under 15’s about his father’s involvement in the operation to capture the Nazi criminal Adolf Eichmann in Argentina and bring him to Israel for trial.

Yonah Elian was an Israeli anesthesiologist in the 50’s and 60’s and a Holocaust survivor. Despite being a civilian anesthesiologist, Elian took part in various undercover Mossad operations. Born in Romania in 1929, Elian who survived the Holocaust made Aliya and began working as an Anesthesiologist at Tel Hashomer hospital. Elian was recruited to the Mossad and in addition to his regular work, participated in various undercover operations until the late 60’s. He is best known for sedating Adolf Eichmann during the Mossad legendary operation to capture and repatriate the Nazi criminal in Buenos Aires in 1960 before he was smuggled onto a plane back to Israel to stand trial.

“Many times, I asked him, ‘Dad, why won’t you talk about this? What’s so secret?” Danny Elian, told the players as his father’s tale, and the secret he kept, only came to light in recent years.

Dubbed an “architect” of the Holocaust, Eichmann oversaw the deportation of Jews to their deaths. He escaped to Argentina after the war before he was tracked down by Mossad agents in 1960, captured Eichmann, held him in a safe house, then dressed him in an Israeli flight crew uniform and sneaked him past Argentinian airport authorities onto a plane headed back to Israel.

Elian senior, injected just the right dose of sedative to pass Eichmann off to Buenos Aires airport authorities as a sick crew member. Eichmann was brought to Jerusalem for a trial that was broadcast around the world, with more than 100 Holocaust survivors taking the witness stand. He was sentenced to death by hanging in December 1961. At age 56, Eichmann was hanged in June 1962.

Davida: “We must continue focusing on ourselves”

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Osher Davida’s 13th minute goal at the Green stadium in Nof Hagalil took his seasonal tally to three goals in all competitions and set Maccabi on course for a 3-2 victory away to Bnei Reineh. The 23-year-old forward who joined Maccabi in the summer from Standard Liege and scored his second league goal of the season, said at the end of the match: “The first thing I take from here is the three points which are firmly in our pockets. The second thing was our start of the match which was fantastic, we took an early 2-0 lead, played well but then when they scored and went to 2-1 I don’t know what happened, but it made us go back and experience minutes where we were not so good. We scored the third on the brink of halftime to go 3-1 but in the second half made our lives difficult lost concentration and conceded the 3-2. From that stage onwards it was a tough match, very untidy, plenty of fouls with long balls on a difficult pitch. We weren’t as good as we were last week, but at the end of the day, big teams would lose points here and the important thing is that we won this match.”

Davida, whose last goal was in the State Cup away to Hapoel Hadera at the end of January, spoke about his first season at the club: “It took me a while to score this goal, as I didn’t have too many chances, but the goal came from the pressure we did and a mistake by their keeper for which I am grateful. After scoring the goal I experienced a burst of emotions. I am delighted to continue receiving my place in the starting line-up for the past few matches and I simply wish to continue proving to the coach that I deserve to play. I think I am capable of doing a lot more, I can do more and I hope that this goal against Reineh will give me that necessary push forward.”

Peretz: “It’s a super important victory”

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Dor Peretz scored his 18th goal in all competitions this season as the 28-year-old midfielder said at the end of the first victory over Bnei Reineh this season: “To win this match was super important, especially now when we reached this stage of the season. It is a super important match as now we can be happy from the result. In terms of our ability, I think the first 20-25 minutes were good but after that we had some good spells yet I am sure we can play better football, more aggressive with more passion. Gladly we came out with the victory which is most important.”

On his personal numbers this season, Peretz said: “This is something which is evident on the pitch, but I am happy to reach quite a few chances. Robbie gives me a lot of credit to play in a position I am used to. I am delighted with this but we are not at the stage of summing things up just yet. We will wait for that until the end of the season.”

Ahead of the season run-in which leaves Maccabi with five matches to play, Peretz said: “On my side we will do everything and continue in the same way that got us here so far. We will focus on ourselves as this is the only way for us.”

MACCABI BEAT REINEH 3-2

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Preview

Maccabi Tel Aviv returned to the Green stadium at Nof Hagalil, the stadium they were held to a 2-2 by this season’s surprise package Bnei Reineh on a cold night in January. This time round, with the Passover holiday and temperatures well into the 20’s – Maccabi had a strong following of around 3,500 fans for the Saturday early kick off.

Robbie Keane, whose side has a comfortable seven-point-lead at the top of the table ahead of second place Maccabi Haifa, will aim to record a victory against the side it couldn’t beat on two occasions this season. Having served his one-match touchline-ban against Hapoel Haifa last week, Eran Zahavi was back in the side as the veteran marksman led Maccabi’s attack in what was Keane’s only change.

Roy Mishpati kept his place in goal just behind an unchanged defensive line that had Enric Saborit and Raz Shlomo as the two central defenders.

Roy Revivo on the right and Ofir Davidzada on the left completed Maccabi’s back-four. Eden Karzev named by Keane in the anchorman role with Gabi Kanikowsky who scored his 9th goal and added his 10th assist in last week’s 4-0 victory at Bloomfield, was also named in midfield. Dor Perez who scored his 17th in all competitions last week completed Maccabi’s strong midfield trio.

Felicio Milson, whose goal tally reached 7 last week, was named by Keane on one flank with Osher Davida supplying the width on the other. Upfront, Zahavi will try and add to his 35 goals in all competitions against a side he couldn’t find the back of the net in two attempts.

On the bench, Keane named Daniel Tenenbaum, Avishai Cohen, Idan Nachmias, Dor Turgeman, Dan Biton, Yonas Malede, Eyal Golasa, Matan Baltaxa and Ido Shahar.

First Half

Maccabi began the match on the front foot pinging Bnei Reineh in their own half. Ten minutes from the start Reineh’s coach, Sharon Mimer, was forced to make his first change after Eyad Hutba landed awkwardly on his shoulder, limped off and was replaced by Ashraf Rabbah. In the absence of their influential captain, the hosts looked vulnerable in defense and were punished almost instantly. Osher Davida exploited a mix-up between Gad Amos and his defense as he took the ball around the keeper to give Maccabi an early 13th minute lead.

In the 22nd minute a spectacular team effort saw Maccabi double their lead as Dor Peretz, Gabi Kanichowsky and Eran Zahavi exchanged flicks on the edge of the area before Zahavi slipped the ball to Kanichowsky. With only the keeper to beat, the diminutive midfielder swept the ball home to double Maccabi’s lead and take his tally to 10 goals in all competitions this season. Three minutes later Reineh showed why they are in the top playoff as Keys Ghanem managed to latch on a ball Roy Mishpati spilled, before teeing up Mohamad Osman who blasted home to cut the deficit.

On the stroke of halftime as the fourth official signaled four minutes of added time, Maccabi restored their two-goal lead at the end of another spectacular team effort. Felicio Milson picked the ball down the left flank and squared to Kanichowsky who teed-up Peretz. The 28-year-old sent a low powerful drive that beat Amos to find the bottom corner and make it 3-1 with his 18th goal of the season.

Second Half

The second half began with Maccabi looking composed while Reineh looked dangerous on the counter-attack. In the 54th minute however, Keys Ghanem took advantage of a mistake by Raz Shlomo as he charged into the box. Despite pressure from Enric Saborit and Mishpati charging off his line to try narrow the angle, Ghanem calmly clipped the ball past the keeper to cut the deficit. With the score at 3-2 and in-order to try and stabilize his defense, Keane, reacted instantly as he replaced Shlomo with Idan Nachmias.

In the 75th minute Keane added a fresh pair of legs as he made his second change with Dor Turgeman coming on for Zahavi. Three minutes later Maccabi’s defense struggled to clear a corner before Mishpati needed a double save to catch Noaf Bazea’s powerful shot from the edge of the area.

In the 83rd minute Peretz rose high to head a corner which was caught by Amos on his line while at the opposite end a minute later Bazea rattled the base of Mishpati’s post with a fierce half volley. Keane made two more changes as Avishai Cohen replaced Davida while Eyal Golasa came on for Eden Karzev.

Turgeman could have put the game to bed on 88 after Kanichowsky stole the ball from Reineh’s defense and released the young forward. But with only the keeper to beat, Turgeman rushed his shot and fired the ball high and wide. Seve minutes were added to the regular time, but Maccabi managed to hang on and celebrate the precious three points which increased the gap at the top to 10. Now attention will turn to Bnei Sakhnin as Maccabi continue their journeys with the second of three away trips in succession at Doha next Monday.