Maccabi arrived at the Sammy Ofer stadium for their 51st ever State Cup Semi Final against Beitar Jerusalem with one clear task – advancing to the Cup Final on May 23rd. With a 100% record at this venue and at this stage of the competition, Maccabi would like to emulate the success achieved in the previous three attempts against Bnei Sakhnin (2016), Beitar Jerusalem (2017) and Maccabi Haifa (2021).
Aitor Karanka, made several changes to his starting line-up which beat Hapoel Jerusalem 2-1 at the weekend as he welcomed back into the side Dan Glazer and Djordje Jovanovic.
The Spanish coach kept his defence unchanged as Derrick Luckassen and Enric Saborit lined-up in front of goalkeeper Daniel Peretz while Andre Geraldes and Ofir Davidzada completed the back-four on the right and left respectively.
Glazer, who served his one-match touchline ban due to yellow cards, returned to the midfield engine room at the expense of Eyal Golasa. Dor Peretz kept his place while Dan Biton also returned to the starting line-up with Gabi Kanichowsky waiting for his chance on the bench. Parfait Guaigon, who scored the equalizer against Hapoel Jerusalem on Saturday and was unlucky not to score more, remained on the wing in the support of Maccabi’s striking duo.
Djordje Jovanovic recovered from the tight hamstring which kept him out of the squad at the weekend, took the place of young Dor Turgeman to reform the striking partnership with Eran Zahavi upfront. The veteran marksman led the team wearing the captain’s armband aiming to add to his 26th goals in all competitions this season.
On the bench Karanka named goalkeeper Daniel Tenenbaum, Joris van Overeem, Gabi Kanichowsky, Sheran Yeini, Eyal Golasa, Eylon ALmog, Maor Kandil, Shahar Piven and Dor Turgeman.
First Half
Maccabi began the match with pressure on Beitar’s defence right from the start and managed to get the ball in the back of the net as early as the seventh minute. Enric Saborit picked Ofir Davidzada with a perfect through ball before the left-back squared to Djordje Jovanovic who moved to the near post. The Serbian forward flicked the ball past Beitar’s keeper, Miguel Silva but his celebrations were short-lived as Davidzada was judged to have crossed the line before cutting the ball back as the goal was disallowed. Three minutes later a pyrotechnics display of flares and smoke grenades Beitar fans lit in their section and then threw onto the pitch, caused a six minute delay until the smoke cleared.
Trazie Thomas tested Daniel Peretz with a dangerous shot on 22 and Danilo Asprilla blasted a long range effort of his own a minute later. But, on both occasions Maccabi’s custodian equalled the shots to keep his goal locked. Dan Biton tested Peretz’s opposite number, in the 26th minute with a long range free kick, before Saborit tried his luck from long range only for the former to be caught by the keeper and the latter to sail over the crossbar.
Right on the half hour mark Beitar took the lead at the end of a lethal counter attack. Thomas raced through the middle, exchange passes with Yarden Shuah before blasting a right foot shot which gave Peretz no chance.
Boosted by their lead Beitar continued to push forward in the 40th minute as Asprilla rifled a thunderbolt which Peretz could only punch before catching the Colombian’s attempt to head in the rebound.
Four minutes later however, Maccabi were back on level terms and scored a goal that resembled the one which was disallowed earlier. Dan Biton picked Davidzada deep inside Beitar’s penalty box, as the left-back managed to overj bbbbqcome two challenges from Avishai Cohen before heading into the path of Jovanovic. The 23-year-old striker slid the ball home to equalise and score his 23rd goal in all competitions.
Inside injury time Maccabi suffered a major blow as Eran Zahavi raced half the length of the pitch to try and reach a long pass from Daniel Peretz. But the veteran marksman pulled a calf muscle, limped off injured, was forced to withdraw with Aitor Karanka introducing Gabi Kanichowsky before the break.
Second Half
The second half began in the way the first one ended with Maccabi pushing forward trying to find a way past Beitar’s defence. Parfait Guiagon fired two shots but none of them found the target. In the 53rd minute Biton ended a Maccabi counter attack with a dangerous left foot shot which sailed over the crossbar.
In the 60th minute Kanichowsky stripped a Beitar defender of the ball, exchanged passes with Jovanovic before releasing Biton whose shot deflected out for a corner. Karanka made two more changes on 64 as Saborit limped-off with a thigh injury and was replaced by Shahar Piven while Joris van Overeem came on for Dan Glazer. Guiagon, came close once again in the 68th minute as he dribbled into the area but saw his effort role wide of Silva’s left post.
In the 79th minute Jovanovic tried once again with a shot on the turn from the edge of the area but a Beitar defender deflected the ball for a corner which was cleared.
As the clock kept on ticking and the match seemed to be heading towards extra time, Fred Friday restored Beitar’s lead. Friday shook-off Piven and Dor Peretz before sending a toe poke under the body of the advancing keeper to make it 2-1. Karanka introduced Dor Turgeman and Eylon Almog for Davidzada and Biton seconds before the fourth official indicated 6 minutes of added time.
Turgeman almost made an immediate impact as Guiagon found him in the box but the youngster shot agonisingly wide. Almog had a shot saved by Silva as Maccabi tried desperately to level the score and conceded a third from Avishai Cohen who charged half the length of the pitch skipped past Peretz and rolled the ball into the net.
