Preview
Maccabi returned to Bloomfield stadium for the ONE ZERO MD29 league encounter against leaders Maccabi Haifa on the back of two successive victories in the Playoff. Ten points adrift off the top with 58 and currently third in the table, Maccabi is aiming to record a third win in the Playoff against their arch rivals.
Aitor Karanka made a single change from the side which beat Hapoel Jerusalem 2-0 on Saturday, as the Spanish coach kept his defensive line unchanged. Derrick Luckassen partnered Enric Saborit at the heart of defence right in front of goalkeeper Daniel Peretz with Andre Geraldes and Ofir Davidzada completing the back-four. Dan Glazer stepped into the side and took the place of Eyal Golasa to partner Dor Peretz in the midfield engine room. Gabi Kanichowsky and Dan Biton supplied the width to Maccabi’s midfield with Karanka keeping his striking partnership of Eran Zahavi and Djordje Jovanovic upfront.
Parfait Guiagon who recovered from a hamstring injury returned to the squad and was named amongst the substitutes alongside Golasa, Avi Rikan, Yonatan Cohen, Maor Kandil, Shahar Piven, Dor Turgeman, Nir Bitton and goalkeeper Tomer Alon.
Prior to kickoff, Avi Rikan was handed a shirt with the number 300 printed on the back marking the 34-year-old’s midfielder 300 appearances for the club in all competitions.
First Half
The match began with a trademark firework display which saw referee Roi Reinshreiber hold the play until the smoke cleared and resumed the match within three minutes. Maccabi came close to draw first blood in the 9th minute as Djordje Jovanovic teed up Eran Zahavi with a clever back-heal flick following good work by Andre Geraldes and Gabi kanichowsky down the middle. But Haifa’s keeper Josh Cohen stretched himself and punched out the veteran marksman’s right foot effort from the edge of the area. Three minutes later Zahavi was given another chance to score after being fouled by Haifa’s Abdulaye Seck with Reinshreiber awarding a free kick before booking the Senegalese central defender as well as Dor Peretz for dissent. Zahavi tried curling the free kick beyond Haifa’s wall which blocked the shot before it could even reach the target.
Maccabi kept dominating and came centimetres away close opening the score with a slick move through the middle which carved Haifa’s defence open on 23. Derrick Luckassen found Jovanovic with a perfect pass before the Serbian forward slipped the ball to Zahavi who released Peretz into the area. With only the keeper to beat, Peretz struck his shot low past Cohen but saw his effort crash against the base of the post. Dan Biton pounced on the rebound but his left foot shot from inside the area bobbled off a defender and out for a corner.
A minute after the half hour mark, Peretz, was given another glorious chance to break the deadlock as this time he was put through by a delicate Biton chip. But once again Peretz miscued his shot which went wide.
The deadlock was finally broken in the 40th minute by none other than Jovanovic who was at the end of a spectacular team effort. Andre Geraldes who looked lively down the right flank throughout the first half, broke into the area and received the ball from Biton before squaring to Zahavi. Cohen managed to get a hand and deny Zahavi’s initial shot but Haifa’s keeper could do nothing to prevent Jovanovic from scoring his 15th league goal of the season with a close range volley into the top corner.
Second Half
While Aitor Karanka made no changes to personnel after the interval, his counterpart, Barak Bakhar made two changes at the restart as Dolev Haziza came in for Mohamad Jaaber and Din David replaced Frantzdy Pierrot.
The second half began where the first one left off as Ofir Davidzada forced Cohen to push away his left back’s low drive. In the 53rd minute David fired past Daniel Peretz but Haifa’s celebrations were short-lived as the goal was disallowed for offside. Karanka reacted as he made a double change on the hour mark with Eyal Golasa and Parfait Guiagon coming on for Peretz and Gabi Kanichowsky.
A last gasp Enric Saborit tackle on 63 managed to prevent Dia Saba’s dangerous cut-back from reaching a teammate at the heart of Maccabi’s penalty area.
With Haifa pushing forward in a desperate attempt to level the score, Maccabi were given space to attack. In the 68th minute a Jovanovic charged forward and was seemed to have been hacked down by Seck without any response from the referee. Four minutes later however, Reinshreiber awarded Haifa a penalty after Tjaronn Cherry went down in the area but that decision was overturned by the VAR.
In the 80th minute Haifa came close as a combination of a Daniel Peretz save followed by Omer Atzili hitting the post kept Maccabi’s goal locked. Karanka made another double change as Jovanovic and Biton were both given a standing ovation after being replaced by Avi Rikan and Dor Turgeman.
Peretz pulled a reflex save to keep out David’s close range volley on 86 but from the resulting corner Haifa managed to level the score as Seck rolled the ball past Peretz to equalise.
Despite eight minutes of added time Maccabi tried to score a late winner but Reinshreiber’s full time whistle ended the contest with the points shared.
