Preview

Maccabi arrived at the MD22 ONE ZERO League encounter away to inform Maccabi Netanya aiming to return to winning ways following the two draws in the previous two matches.

Maccabi, currently third in the table, eight adrift of the league leaders and four behind second place Hapoel Be’ersheva – a week before hosting the Southerners at Bloomfield stadium.

With his side facing Netanya that are unbeaten in their last six league matches and nine in all competitions, Maccabi’s coach, Aitor Karanka, made a single change from the side which was held to a draw by Sakhnin. Ofir Davidzada stepped into the side at left back with Enric Saborit replacing Nir Bitton at the heart of defence. Derrick Luckassen partnered Saborit as the second central defender in front of goalkeeper Daniel Peretz while Andre Geraldes completed the back-four at right back. Dan Glazer and Dor Peretz were assigned to the midfield engine room with Gabi Kanichowsky and Parfait Guiagon on both wings. Eran Zahavi led the team out wearing the captain’s armband as the veteran marksman spearheaded the attack and continued his partnership with Djordje Jovanovic which saw the duo bag 37 goals in all competitions.

With Daniel Tenenbaum still nursing a back strain, Yonatan Cohen out with a hamstring injury and Maor Kandil serving a one-match touchline ban, Karanka, included new signing Rares Ilye in the squad for the first time as he named the 19-year-old Romanian winger amongst the substitutes. Alongside Ilye, who waited for his chance to make his Maccabi debut, Karanka had Or Yitzhak, Joris van Overeem, Sheran Yeini, Avi Rikan, Eyal Golasa, Dor Turgeman, Nir Bitton and Matan Hozez.

First Half

In what has almost become a trademark of encounters between the two sides, the match began at a high tempo and battles for each ball at the centre of the park. The hosts came close to draw first blood in the seventh minute as Maccabi’s defence struggled to clear a corner before Igor Zlatanovic flashed a header wide of the post.

Eran Zahavi got a chance at the opposite end as he raced onto a loose ball, but the 35-year-old’s right-foot volley was easily collected by Netanya’s goal-keeper Itamar Nitzan.

Gabi Kanichowsky on the left wing and Parfait Guiagon on the opposite right flank tried supplying some width to Maccabi’s game which didn’t produce any end product. In the 26th minute Ofir Davidzada and Kanichowsky combined well down the left before the ball reached Dor Peretz whose shot sailed over the crossbar. Shai Konstantin was booked for mistimed tackle on Dan Glazer in the 29th minute but Kanichowsky free kick was cleared.

Moments later, a Davidzada corner was flicked by Saborit into the path of Peretz whose effort cleared the crossbar once again. At the opposite end, a combination of Daniel Peretz, Davidzada and the crossbar produced a goalmouth clearance to rescue Maccabi from conceding as somehow Patrick Twumasi’s effort was cleared off the line. While Maccabi struggled to carve an opening, Netanya continued to look dangerous as Aviv Avraham tried a shot from long distance only for his effort to shave the top of the goal.

Second Half

With no goals scored in the first half, Aitor Karanka, and his Netanya counterpart, Ran Kozukh, didn’t make any changes to personnel as both teams emerged unchanged for the restart.

Two minutes later, an Eran Zahavi fierce drive struck Palmin Galabov with Netanya’s central defender requiring treatment before being replaced shortly after by Yuval Sadeh.

Maccabi reached their best chance so far in the 54th minute as an early Davidzada through ball released Zahavi down the left flank. Zahavi’s square ball found Djordje Jovanovic whose first time effort forced Nitzan to a spectacular save. But even if the Serbian’s shot would have beaten the keeper, the goal wouldn’t have counted as the linesman raised his flag for offside. Two minutes later Netanya took the lead with Liran Rotman firing Avraham’s cut-back from inside the area past Peretz.
Karanka reacted with a double substitution in the 61st minute as Kanichowsky and Guiagon bowed out and were replaced by Matan Hozez and Rares Ilye who made is Israeli debut.

Eyal Golasa came in for Glazer in the 79^th minute as Karanka made his third substitution adding a fresh pair of legs into his midfield.

In the 81st minute Netanya doubled their lead in controversial circumstances and spectacular fashion. Referee Nael Oudah waived Hozez’s claims for a foul inside the centre circle before Twumasi launched a long range dipping effort which went in off the post to beat Peretz. In the 87^th minute, Oudah awarded Maccabi a free kick on the edge of the area, allowing Zahavi to curl his shot past Nitzan, and cut the deficit with his 14^th league goal and 20^th in all competitions.

The goal gave Maccabi hope of salvaging a point as even Daniel Peretz joined the attack during one of the corners in the closing stages. Netanya almost exploited the situation and added further misery as from one of those corners they charged forward towards and scored to the empty goal. But Twumasi’s effort was ruled offside. The full time whistle ended Maccabi’s 17 match long unbeaten run in all competitions, but dealt a big blow to any championship aspirations.

A victory against Hapoel Be’ersheva at Bloomfield next week, could see Maccabi cut the deficit and return to the title race shortly before the top Playoff gets underway.

  

Maccabi Netanya faced Maccabi in the league for 148 matches of which Maccabi won 73, lost 36 and drawn 39 with a total goal tally of 243-157.

Over the years Maccabi recorded 1106 league victories. Against Netanya (73), Maccabi recorded the largest amount of victories with Maccabi Haifa (72) second and Maccabi Petah Tikva (68) third.

Maccabi away record in 70 league matches against Netanya is 26 victories, 25 defeats and 19 matches were drawn with a goal tally of 103-97.

Since the Netanya stadium was opened in 2012, Maccabi played 81 league matches at the stadium. During the refurbishment of Bloomfield stadium, Maccabi relocated to Netanya and hosted 58 league matches between 2016 – 2019. In ten years of playing league matches at that venue, Maccabi were the visitors on 23 other matches. With 59 victories, 10 defeats and 12 draws, Maccabi’s success rate at the Netanya stadium currently stands on 78% – the highest of the 20 clubs to play 3 matches or more at that venue.

Maccabi’s highest victory at Netanya was a 6-0 victory over Hapoel Hadera on MD2 earlier this season.

The highest victory Maccabi recorded at Netanya was a 5-0 win over Hapoel Tel Aviv in the 2016/17 season.

Vidar Kjartansson is Maccabi’s leading goal scorer at the Netanya stadium with 27 goals in all competitions.

 

Maccabi’s players took part this morning in an event that marked the long partnership between the club and its’ business partner EURODRIVE which took place at its’ flagship display room in Glilot. Dan Glazer who was one of five Maccabi players who attended together with Enric Saborit, Andre Geraldes, Daniel Peretz, Yonatan Cohen, spoke to the media that arrived to cover the event.

The 26-year-old didn’t hide the disappointment from Saturday’s 1-1 draw against Bnei Sakhnin which came on the back of a draw in the derby, and said: “We are obviously disappointed with the last two results in the league. We wanted to win just like we always want to win matches. We will get back to the training ground and work hard, see our mistakes as well as the good things we did, and do everything to correct what we did wrong”.

On the rest of the season and the race for the league title: “We still feel that we are capable of doing it and believe in our ability to do so. This is something we tell ourselves in the dressing room on a daily basis. We are working hard to try and win this championship. We are aware of the fact that our recent results and our form were not good and we are not hiding from that. We will have to train and work hard in order to improve and win matches even by force. Nothing is over just yet there are plenty of points and matches still left to play for.”

Maccabi’s players Enric Saborit, Andre Geraldes, Daniel Peretz, Yonatan Cohen and Dan Glazer arrived on Wednesday at EuroDrive’s new flagship display room to mark another year of partnership between the club and the leading car leasing company.

Amongst those who attended were EuroDrive’s owners, Eli Shimrich and Shai Messika, Mtro Motor’s CEO Tomer Komarov and Real Estate expert Guy Blushinsky.

The players posed with some of the new vehicles on display and took a couple of the luxury cars for a short test drive.

EuroDrive’s owner Eli Shmirich said: “Today we mark 14 years of partnership with Israel’s premium football club. Just like we had grown as a firm, the partnership with the club has grown as well. EuroDrive and Maccabi Tel Aviv share the same DNA of professionalism and striving for excellence as we are sure this successful collaboration will only continue to grow in the future.”

Dan Glazer, added: “EuroDrive has been part of our family for a long time now. We are happy with the club’s collaboration with them and delighted to be launching this amazing new display room. I wish EuroDrive all the success for the future and to continue the partnership with Maccabi for many years to come.”

Maccabi’s Deputy CEO for commercial development, Daniel Levy, said: “The fact this partnership has been going on for so many years is a victory for us as it proves the client has an added value. They feel and believe that they are rewarded for the money they pay. For us as a club it is an honour to be here and inaugurate this amazing new display room.”

The 1-1 draw against 10-man Bnei Sakhnin at Bloomfield stadium saw Maccabi drop two valuable points in the race for the league title. Goalkeeper, Daniel Peretz, who conceded only his 10th goal in the league this season, admitted: “It is no secret we weren’t at our best today. There are plenty of things we must improve as we must all take a close look at ourselves in the mirror. Improving the little details should come from deep down. We must pick ourselves up and move from here.”

On what didn’t work on the night, Peretz added: “Maybe it is a matter of energies we must improve to be more positive and dominate proceedings on the pitch.”

Knowing that the four-point-gap from the top of the table could be increased to seven, Peretz remained adamant: “We are not out of the title race. There are 16 matches still left to play, and there are plenty of points still left to play for. All the teams are going to drop points, there is the Playoff, and we must remain focused on ourselves from the next game as we believe we are still in this and are capable of coming back.”

Eran Zahavi scored his 13th league goal of the season which cancelled Bnei Sakhnin early lead but he was denied time after time by Gad Amos who helped his side salvage a point at Bloomfield.

The 35-year-old who had a close range header saved by Amos inside injury time, said: “He had a good game but we must not wait for the 90th minute to score. We battled and gave everything we could and should have scored. It is annoying that once again we were chasing the game.”

Zahavi, whose side had a numerical advantage from the 36th minute following the dismissal of Beram Kayal, said: “Sakhnin did a good job as they battled even more than we did and gave everything. We didn’t put away the chances we created which hurts. We are not collecting the points we should and not piling the pressure on the leaders like we should be doing, but we are making their lives easy”.

Zahavi summed up a frustrating night: “We are not creating the tempo we would like. We must string a victory to another victory. For the moment we are not doing that but we will have to improve in every aspect. The players must all take a good look in the mirror and give a 100%. The moment everyone will be on top form, fully focused and giving everything for the team – things will be easier. The players here have the ability I know that without a doubt, but somewhere it has yet to click”.