Pre Game

After several postponements due to the security situation, Maccabi Tel Aviv arrived at Sammy Ofer for the Semi Final of the State Cup that was relocated to Haifa.

With Louis Hernandez, Enric Saborit, Andre Geraldes, Aleksandar Pesic, Nick Blackman and Uros Nikolic all allowed to travel to their countries until the current climate calms down, Maccabi’s coach Patrick van Leeuwen had a depleted squad at his disposal.

A long injury list that already included Matan Hozez, Eyal Golasa, Avi Rikan and Maor Kandil was increased even further with the addition of Tal Ben Chaim who sustained a leg injury in training during the week. With van Leeuwen’s squad almost stripped to it’s bare bones, several youth players who bolstered the squad during training in Netanya, were named on the substitutes bench is surely the biggest game in their short careers.

In the absence of Hernandez, Saborit and Geraldes, Maccabi’s keeper Daniel Tenenbaum, making his 52nd start of the season, had a different defensive line in-front of him for the vital match. Eytan Tibi and Matan Baltaxa were named as the two central defenders with Ofir Davidzada and Shahar Piven completing the back-four on the left and right respectively.

Sheran Yeini, wearing the captain’s armband returned to the midfield alongside Dan Glazer as the two anchormen with Dor Peretz enjoying a bit more freedom to push forward.

Upfront, Itay Shechter who made a late substitute appearance during the 2-2 draw at Bloomfield led the attack right in front of Yonatan Cohen and Eduardo Guerrero.

 

Goalkeeper Daniel Peretz, midfielder Eden Karzev, and the two forwards Dan Biton and Eylon Almog were the only regular first-team players on the substitutes bench with Dor Turgeman, Itai Ben Hemo, Roi Revivo, Niv Berkovitz and Or Roizman making the numbers and waiting for a chance to make an impact.

First Half

Maccabi opened the match on the front foot and threatened to draw first blood as early as the third minute when a Sheran Yeini cross reached Eduardo Guerrero whose half volley from the far post was collected by Josh Cohen.

Tjaronn Chery was given the time and space in the 10th minute to blast a left foot shot from the edge of the area that flashed wide of Daniel Tenenbaum’s post.

Haifa’s Ofri Arad became the first player to go into Liran Liani’s book after being penalized for a foul on Shechter that stopped a Maccabi counter attack on 21. In the 29th minute Haifa’s defense struggled to deal with an Ofir Davidzada cross as the ball fell to Yeini whose shot narrowly missed the target.

Maccabi continued dominating as two minutes later, a Guerrero pinpoint cross found Yonatan Cohen at the far post, but the forward somehow managed to direct his close range header to the wrong side of the post.

On 41 Shechter created himself some space down the middle before his shot was deflected over the crossbar. The resulting corner was curled in by Eduardo Guerrero, flicked by Matan Baltaxa but narrowly missed Yeini’s diving attempt at the far post.

With no goals scored in the first 45 minutes, Liani’s halftime whistle sent both teams into the dressing room to regroup and return refreshed for the second half.

 

Second Half

Four minutes after the restart, Yonatan Cohen’s telling cross from the left flank failed to find a Maccabi player as the ball sailed across the face of goal. Two minutes later however, Shahar Piven found Yeini with a pass that carved Haifa’s penalty area open. The skipper sent a first time cross that was deflected in by Shechter to break the deadlock.

A minute after the hour mark Shechter doubled the score as the veteran forward latched onto an Eytan Tibi header following a Yonatan Cohen cross before finding the back of the net once again to make it 2-0.

Van Leeuwen made his first substitution in the 64th minute as Dan Biton replaced the tired Cohen. In his first touch, Biton almost set up a goal as his free kick found Yeini at the far post only to see the captain head high and wide.

Shechter bowed out to a standing ovation as he was replaced by Eylon Almog on 73. Seconds later Dolev Haziza teed-up Mohamad Abu Fani whose shot cleared Tenebaum’s crossbar. With Haifa desperately trying to go level, Biton released Guerrero through with a delicate chip in the 75th minute before the Panamanian had his shot blocked by Cohen. Guerrero who worked tirelessly throughout the match was replaced by Eden Karzev for the final three minutes.

Biton forced a finger-tip save from Cohen on 89 as his left foot shot was pushed out for a corner by the American born keeper. Moments later, Biton already celebrated a goal as he skipped past Cohen to roll the ball home only to see his goal ruled out for offside.  
Inside injury time Tenenbaum pulled a reflex save to deny Rami Gershon’s header as Maccabi’s custodian was adamant to keep a clean sheet. The final whistle saw Maccabi’s players celebrate with a small number of fans who were allowed in by the Israel Football Association in support of the rockets fired from the Gazza strip towards the South of Israel.

Maccabi now face bitter city rivals Hapoel in the final that is set to be played on June 2^nd at Sammy Ofer, unless the IFA relocates it to Bloomfield stadium.

 

 

“As soon as the foreign players left and the sirens began to sound, the coaching staff gathered us and gave us the real confidence we needed in order to be prepared. The players here gave their hearts and in real football, especially at matches like that, the heart is the most significant. I am so proud of my teammates as this victory belongs to them. I saw lions behind me, and we see lions behind you you know that you are in a good place – I am proud in every single one of them”.

The 34-year-old whose goals earned Maccabi a place in the final, added: “Maccabi is a very strong club that gives you all the conditions in order to succeed” the veteran striker added, “Even at times that are not so pleasant we have an extremely strong dressing room that experienced a lot this season. We have here a great team and a great club. We spoke between us prior to the game that in football you don’t reach these moments too often. We needed to pick each other up. Now that we have reached the final it is nice, but worth nothing as the most important thing is to actually win the Cup”

This week’s Semi Final will be the 84^th time in Israel’s history that this stage of the competition is being staged since the State Cup was founded.

Maccabi reached the Semi Final stage 48 times and advanced to the Final on 36 occasions.

Maccabi were eliminated at the Semi Final only twice during the last 15 times they reached that stage of the competition – against Hapoel Ramat Gan (2003) and Bnei Yehuda (2019).

This will be the 7^th encounter between Maccabi Tel Aviv and Maccabi Haifa at the Semi Final stage. No other teams in Israel’s footballing history met so many in the Semi Finals.

Maccabi won five of the six Semi Finals cup ties against Haifa: (1955, 1964, 1983, 1992 and 1996).

Over the years the two sides met 17 times in the State Cup with Maccabi winning 9 times and Haifa winning 8.

Haifa eliminated Maccabi in the Semi Final stage before the State of Israel was established during in 1942 Semi Final that didn’t actually take place. The reason: The Israel Football Association disqualified Maccabi due to a legislation that all Israeli players who must enlist to the army could not participate in the State Cup.

Maccabi’s highest Semi Final victory (9-2) was recorded against Maccabi Zikhron Ya’acov in 1929. The highest Semi Final victory after the State of Israel was established (7-1) was recorded in 1952 over Hapoel Petah Tikva.

Rafi Levy holds the record for the number of goals scored in the Semi Final (5) in 1958 against Shimshon Tel Aviv.

Miko Belo holds the Maccabi appearance record in the Semi Finals with 12.

Maccabi reached a penalty shoot-out in six Semi Finals winning four of them on the way to the Final.

 

“As professional footballers we must accept every decision and face the challenges” Yeini said, “We are the first ones who want to win regardless of what the conditions might be – this is part and parcel of being athletes and players at Maccabi Tel Aviv. We need to know how to face the challenges and manage to extract the best out of ourselves. I really hope that we will be able to advance to the next stage of the Cup”.