Preview:

Three days after securing qualification to the Playoff of the Conference League, Maccabi arrived at Doha stadium for the Toto Cup Semi Final against Bnei Sakhnin. Four days before hosting the first leg against Slovenian outfit NK Celje at Bloomfield, Maccabi’s Head Coach, Robbie Keane, made several changes to his starting line-up.

Daniel Peretz kept his place in goal with Enric Saborit and Derrick Luckassen named as the two central defenders. Shahar Piven on the right and Ofir Davidzada on the left completed Maccabi’s four-man defensive line in front of the 23-year-old keeper. Eyal Golasa occupied the anchorman role with Gabi Kanichowsky and Dor Peretz completing the midfield trio. Yonatan Cohen and Milson supplied the width to Maccabi’s attack with Dor Turgeman leading the line in his first start of the season.

First Half

Maccabi dominated the early stages of the game as Milson making his first start, tormented Sakhnin’s defenders. In the 16th minute Maccabi were rewarded for their efforts as Dor Peretz, Maccabi’s captain on the night, struck a shot that deflected off a Sakhnin defender to beat Nicholas Hagen at the near post.

A rare Sakhnin counter attack in the 33rd saw the ball squared to Dor Hugi who was in the middle of the area but he sliced his shot wide of Daniel Peretz’s post. Dor Turgeman was booked by referee Aviad Shiloah in the 35th minute while at the opposite end a minute later Baseel Khouri had a dangerous shot blocked by Derrick Luckassen for a corner.

In the 42nd minute Ofir Davidzada exchanged passes with Pererz to break into Sakhnin’s box from the left but from a comfortable position rushed his shot and cleared the crossbar. On the stroke of halftime, Khouri, was booked for yet another foul on Milson but the intervention of VAR saw Shiloah walk to the screen and change the color of the card to red.

Second Half

Two minutes after the restart Shiloah awarded Maccabi a penalty after a Milson shot was judged to have struck the arm of Naser Yazen. But once again VAR intervened, and the decision was overturned.

In the 54^th minute and despite their numerical disadvantage Sakhnin were back on level terms. Maccabi’s defense allowed Saher Taji the time and space on the edge of the area before Sakhnin’s diminutive midfielder blasted a right foot shot that rocketed into the top corner giving Peretz no chance.

Maccabi restored their lead within three minutes as the ball fell to Yonatan Cohen inside the area before he fired half volley that struck the underside of the crossbar to land behind the goal-line.

The blitz continued and in the 59th minute Milson released Dor Turgeman who timed his run well to charge from the halfway line and slide the ball between Hagen’s legs. The linesman raised his flag for offside but VAR corrected the referee’s team to award Turgeman his first goal of the season and Maccabi’s third on the night.

Robbie Keane made his first changes as Milson and Peretz both bowed out to a standing ovation by Maccabi’s travelling with Ido Shahar and Eran Zahavi coming on.

Cohen scored his second and Maccabi’s fourth with an accurate left foot shot that curled in in the 67th minute.

Two minutes later, Keane made a double change as Cohen and Enric Saborit were replaced by Eylon Almog and Idan Nachmias who returned for the first time since recovering from a knee injury.

On his way out, Saborit handed Nachmias the captain’s armband in a gesture that had an emotional effect on the tall central defender.

Gabi Kanichowsky who had a quiet game came off in the 80th minute a d was replaced by Dan Biton as Keane made his fifth and final substitution. Two minutes later Biton joined in the celebration as his accurate left foot shot from the edge of the area crept into the bottom corner to make it 5-1.

A Derrick Luckassen acrobatic diving header saw the Dutchman clear a Dor Hugi shot that beat Peretz off the goal line on 83.

The final whistle confirmed that Maccabi secured their place in Toto Cup Final as now Robbie Keane and his charges could turn their attention to qualifying to the Conference League Group stages as well.  

The 2023/24 campaign is the 39^th season in which the Toto Cup is being played with Maccabi winning the title 7 times more than any other club.

Besides the 2020/21 season when the competition’s format was shortened due to COVID, the Toto Cup featured a Semi Final.

Since the Toto Cup was introduced in the 1984/85 season and until the 2010/11 season, 36 of the 54 Semi Finals were staged at the Ramat Gan national stadium. Ever since the 2011/12 season the Semi Final is being staged in various venues, some of which in the home stadiums of the teams that qualified.

Over the years, 27 different clubs reached the Semi Final of the Toto Cup. Maccabi qualified to the last four of the competition 20 times, more than any other club, playing 13 times at Ramat Gan and 7 more elsewhere.

Maccabi has a 50% success rate in the Toto Cup Semi Finals, advancing through in 10 attempts and suffering a knockout in 10 others.

Maccabi faced 12 different opponents in the Semi Finals, with local city rivals Hapoel Tel Aviv supplying the opposition the most. Maccabi won all 3 Toto Cup Semi Final derby encounters (1991/92, 2008/09 and 2018/19).

Two Semi Finals involving Maccabi were decided in a penalty shoot-out:

Maccabi beat Maccabi Petah Tikva 4-3 in a penalty shoot-out to reach the 1992/93 Toto Cup Final.

The following season Maccabi were beaten 5-4 on penalties by Maccabi Haifa to suffer a Semi Final exit.

Eli Driks (8) made the most Toto Cup Semi Final appearances for Maccabi.

Driks, Yonatan Cohen, Avi Nimni and Jose Duarte are Maccabi’s leading goal scorers in the Semi Finals with 2 goals to their names. Nineteen other players scored a goal each in that stage of the competition.

Maccabi faced Bnei Sakhnin 11 times in the Toto Cup, winning 7 ties, drawing 2 and losing twice.

Ten of the encounters with Bnei Sakhnin were in the group stages between 2002/03 and 2010/11. One tie saw both sides meet in the 2020/21 Toto Cup Final when Matan Baltaxa and Dan Biton scored the goals on the way to a 2-0 victory at Doha stadium.

Eran Zahavi’s 86th minute penalty at Bloomfield secured Maccabi’s 2-1 aggregate victory over AEK Larnaca and a place in the Conference League Playoff: “There are no easy matches at this level, they made it tough for us, we created many chances but the ball simply didn’t want to go in”. Zahavi said, “I am delighted we didn’t concede today which was very important because when we keep a clean sheet then the chances that do go in could give us a narrow 1-0 victory. This is our team effort and it is important that we will be very strong, keep creating chances and score as well. Let us just hope that it will come with a bit more ease.”

Ahead of the rest of the season, the 36-year-old striker added: “There is always room for improvement as sometimes things go easier and sometimes more difficult. I like the way we advanced the hard way as we suffered a bit but this way we get to appreciate it. There are situations you must suffer for each other in order to progress and raise your standards. Our ai now is to rest today, we have another match on Sunday (Toto Cup Semi Final against Bnei Sakhnin) and we will try and be as ready as we possibly can”.

Preview

A week after being held to a 1-1 draw in Cyprus, Maccabi returned to Bloomfield stadium for the 3rd qualifying round return leg against AEK Larnaca. With a place in the Conference League Playoff at stake, a sell-out crowd braved the hot and humid weather conditions to come and cheer-on Robbie Kean’s side to victory.

Keane made no changes to his starting line-up as Daniel Peretz whose penalty save in Larnaca denied AEK a late comeback, started in goal. Enric Saborit and Nir Bitton were the two central defenders with Yvann Macon on the right and Roy Revivo on the left completing the back-four. Joris van Overeem was named at the heart of Maccabi’s midfield in the anchorman role with Dor Peretz and Dan Biton completing the midfield trio. Yonatan Cohen, the scorer of Maccabi’s goal last week, supplied the width on one wing while Parfait Guiagon who scored the opener in the previous round in Moldova on the opposite flank. Eran Zahavi, led the team out wearing the captain’s armband as the veteran forward led the attack to spearhead Keane’s formation.

Milson, who recovered from a groin injury, was named by Keane on the bench ready to make his official Maccabi debut. Roi Mishpati, Dan Glazer, Dor Turgeman, Gabi Kanichowsky, Idan Nachmias, Eyal Golasa, Derrick Luckassen, Ofir Davidzada, Eylon Almog, Shahar Piven and Ido Shahar were also named amongst the substitutes waiting to be called on and make an impact.

First Half

Maccabi began the match with pressure on AEK right from the off as Yonatan Cohen came close to score in the opening minute. But Cohen’s left foot curling shot deflected off Gustavo Ledes forcing goalkeeper Kenan Piric to claw the ball out with a reflex save. Enric Saborit who headed the resulting corner just over the framework, carved AEK’s defense with a cleaver through ball to Eran Zahavi in the 4^th minute, but the veteran striker had his shot saved by Piric. Maccabi kept on pushing forward with Parfait Guiagon who led a counter attack but the Ivorian’s pass which found Cohen didn’t result with a shot on target. The visitors looked dangerous going forward as an Adam Gyurcso shot come cross rolled across the face of Daniel Peretz’s goal in the 16th minute.

Maccabi’s best chance came in the 24^th minute with Dor Peretz and Guiagon exchanging passes deep inside their own territory. Peretz then exchanged passes with Zahavi and continued his run into the AEK area before releasing Zahavi with a clever back-heal flick only for Zahavi’s shot which seemed to have beat the keeper – ultimately blocked by a Larnaca defender for a corner.

Imad Faraj whose scored AEK’s equalizer in Larnaca was the first player to be booked by Croatian referee Fran Jovic in the 26^th minute while Roy Revivo was also shown yellow on 43 for a mistimed challenge on Facundo Sanchez.

With no goals scored, the halftime whistle sent both teams to catch their breaths and regroup in the dressing rooms before emerging for the fourth quarter of this close two-legged tie.

Second Half

Robbie Keane made no changes at the restart while his AEK counterpart Jose Luis Oltra introduced Rafael Lopes for Fran Sol. Three minutes after the restart, Zahavi stole the ball from a defender just inside AEK’s half. Zahavi then cut the ball back for Dan Biton whose left foot effort from the edge of the area sailed high over the crossbar.

In the 62nd minute Milson was handed a chance to make his Maccabi full debut as he came on for Cohen. Within two minutes, Guiagon sent the pacy Angolan winger with a long ball, but what seemed like a tug of the shirt by a Larnaca defender went unpunished by the referee.

Bruno Gama who was introduced minutes earlier at Larnaca, curled a right foot shot that landed on the roof of Peretz’s net in the 65th minute. Dor Peretz should have scored at the opposite end within a minute as Zahavi managed to pick him with a perfect pass. Peretz, who missed a handful of chances last week, shrugged off a defender but from five meters out saw his effort saved by Piric. Maccabi continued to press in a desperate attempt to break the deadlock but Zahavi’s left foot drive that beat the keeper on 72 struck the base of the post.

In the 77th minute Peretz rose high to meet Biton’s corner but sent his header over while two minutes later AEK came close as the ball deflected off Joris van Overeem and crept out for a corner. Bloomfield was silenced for a second as the resulting corner was bundled in at the end of a goalmouth scramble only for the referee to rule it out for a foul.

Keane made a double change in the 84th minute as Shahar Piven and Gabi Kanichowsky replaced Yvann Macon and Biton. Less than 30 seconds later Maccabi were awarded a penalty after Milson was tripped inside the area. Zahavi stepped up, kept his calm, and successfully sent Piric the wrong way to convert the spot kick and put Maccabi in-front.

Guiagon came off to a standing ovation by the 26,152 fans as he was replaced by Eyal Golasa for the closing stages. The full time whistle allowed Maccabi fans and players alike to breathe out in relief and prepare for next week’s first leg of the Playoff against Celje of Slovenia that won their tie against Neman of Belarus 4-1 on aggregate.

Djorje Jovanovioc, will join FC Basel after Maccabi Tel Aviv FC reached an agreement for his sale of the 24-year-old Serbian striker who joined from Cukaricki in January 2022.

Thank you Djole and Good luck!