Maccabi Tel Aviv began the 2022/23 campaign with Toto Cup exit by the hands of Maccabi Netanya at the end of a penalty shoot-out at Bloomfield stadium. At the end of the match, Maccabi’s coach, Vladimir Ivic, summed up his team’s performance: “In the first half we didn’t play well as our opponents were better and deserved to score. We lost our confidence and had a problem in the build up as we didn’t read the game properly.

“In the second half we played better and could have scored 2 or 3 goals. When you reach a penalty shoot-out its 50:50 and now we have to prepare ourselves for the next game”.

When asked about the things that need correcting, Ivic added: “I said yesterday in the pre-match press conference that we need to find our identity. We are working on it. We need to have more confident and believe in ourselves. We must also bring some players in certain positions. We need to be ready for our next matches as we don’t have too much time as they are very soon”.

Ahead of Maccabi’s forthcoming Conference League match, Ivic said: “Like I said we need to work on our identity, and when we didn’t win any title last season, it effects the confidence. One can restore the confidence by winning games and playing good football. Now we are missing certain things but we will work hard to improve them”.

Maccabi Tel Aviv returned to Bloomfield stadium for the match that officially kick started the 2022/23 campaign as Vladimir Ivic’s side faced Maccabi Netanya for a Toto Cup Quarter Final tie.

The Serbian coach, in his second spell at Maccabi and his first return to Bloomfield in two years, was missing several players as Dan Glazer, Shahar Piven, Eran Zahavi and Nir Bitton are still recovering from their injuries. Zahavi and Bitton who both joined the club in the summer were introduced to the Maccabi fans before kick-off, as was the third new summer signing Joris van Overeem.

With Maccabi facing a trip to Azerbaijan ahead of Thursday’s Conference League 2^nd qualifying round against Zyra, Ivic’s first starting line-up of the season that faced Netanya was particularly interesting for the 10,061 fans who turned up at Bloomfield.

Daniel Peretz who was a youth goal keeper last time Ivic was at Maccabi, but has since developed into an Israeli international, was named in goal for the second season in succession. Veteran captain, Sheran Yeini, led the team out wearing the captain’s armband as the 35-year-old defender started his 18th season in Yellow and Blue. Idan Nachmias lined-up alongside Yeini as the second central defender with Andre Geraldes and Enric Saborit completing the back-four on the right and left respectively.

Joris van Overeem made his official home debut at Maccabi as the 28-year-old Dutchman who joined the club from FC Utrecht started at the heart of midfield. Eyal Golasa starting his 7th season at Maccabi and Dan Biton both joined van Overeem in the midfield engine room. Parfait Guiagon, who returned to Maccabi in the summer after a one-season-long loan-spell at Netanya, was named by Ivic on the wing against his former teammates. Brandley Kuwas was given the nod on the opposite flank while Djordje Jovanovic who scored 11 goals last term since joining Maccabi in the winter, led the line in the striker’s role.

Daniel Tenenbaum, Stipe Perica, Eylon Almog, Gabi Kanichowsky, Avi Rikan, Nadav Niddam, Ofir Davidzada, Maor Kandil and Matan Hozez were all named as substitutes waiting for their chance to make an impression.

First Half

Maccabi began the match on the back foot as Netanya were the first side to reach a goal-scoring opportunity in the game. Four minutes from the start Eden Kartzev was first to react to a Maccabi clearance before unleashing a low drive which Daniel Peretz managed to save. Three minutes later a Shay Konstantini shot from a tight angle forced Peretz to another save. Netyanya kept on looking dangerous as the young Maccabi custodian needed a fingertip save to push a dangerous cross from his goalmouth in the 10th minute.

It took Maccabi 18 minutes to create their first chance as Brandley Kuwas charged down the right flank, slid the ball into the path of Djordje Jovanovic who managed to beat Itamar Nitzan. But the ball which rolled towards the open goal, struck the base of the post before it was cleared. Two minutes later the combination of Kuwas and Jovanovic almost led to the opener as the Curacao international curled a cross from the left and Jovanovic was beaten by Nitzan who charged off his line. Netanya kept on putting Maccabi’s defence under pressure forcing an error from Sheran Yeini allowing Gil Itzhak to have a shot from the middle of the area but Peretz stretched himself to push the ball for a corner.

Itzhak was shaking his head in disbelief minutes later as somehow he managed to hook the ball over the crossbar from close range when it seemed easier to score. Enric Saborit came close as he pounced on a Jovanovic knockdown but the Spaniard was pulled back by a Netanya defender before Nitzan denied him with his feet. With no goals in the first 45 minutes, Snir Levy’s halftime whistle sent both teams to the dressing rooms to cool down from the hot and humid weather conditions.

Second Half

Vladimir Ivic made a single change after the interval as Eylon Almog replaced Dan Biton at the restart.

Jovanovic had the ball in the Netanya net two minutes inside the second half but for some reason Levy disallowed the goal claiming the ball struck Kuwas’ arm. But with no VAR at this stage of the competition, the fact TV footage showed the ball came off Kuwas’ head didn’t help Maccabi’s cause.

In the 50th minute Almog turned inside two defenders before being hacked down by Boris Enow who was consequently booked. Two minutes after the hour mark, Kuwas blasted a left foot free-kick which Nitzan tipped onto his crossbar before Netanya’s defence cleared the danger.

Jovanovic had two more shots on goal but on both occasions the young Serbian striker struck the ball straight at Nitzan. Ivic made his second change of the game in the 72nd minute as he introduced Gabi Kanichowsky for Parfait Guiagon and Stipe Perica for Jovanovic.

Seven minutes later Ivic added a fresh pair of legs on 79 as Kuwas who worked tirelessly throughout the match bowed out to a standing ovation and was replaced by Matan Hozez. Avi Rikan replaced Eyal Golasa in the 81^st minute as Ivic made his fifth change for the closing stages. Netanya were reduced to 10 men on 83 after Konstantini was shown a second yellow for a foul on Kanichowsky.

Inside injury time Maccabi were awarded a free kick on the edge of the area following a foul on Hozez who picked himself up and took the free kick, but the winger curled his shot over the bar.
Snir Levy’s full-time whistle sent both teams to decide the tie by sudden death spot kicks.

Rikan blasted Maccabi’s first spot-kick against the crossbar before Peretz ensured his goal remains locked as he saved Kartzev penalty. Almog put Maccabi in front but Yuval Ashkenazi restored parity. Saborit kept his calm, sent Nitzan the wrong way and gave Maccabi a 2-1 lead but Yuval Sadeh levelled at 2-2. Hozez slotted his shot home to put Maccabi in the lead once again before Amir Berkovitts scored Netanya’s third. Perica blasted in his penalty as Netanya’s fifth penalty taker Patrick Twumasi levelled once again. Idan Nachmias had his spot kick saved by Nitzan and Raz Shlomo successfully converted his spot kick to send Netanya through to the Semi Final of the Toto Cup.

Maccabi Tel Aviv’s preparations ahead of the 2022/23 campaign are well underway and shortly before the team plays its’ first competitive match under Vladimir Ivic in the Toto Cup against Maccabi Netanya (Thursday, 20:00), Maccabi’s Head of Football Department, Barak Itzhaki, spoke about the appointment of the coach, the preparations in the summer and expectations for the new season.

On the changes to the squad and the players who joined:

For the moment there is nothing new, but I know for certain that once we will have some news we will update. Obviously we have the intention to strengthen the squad in several positions. For now I think our preparation was good but our aim is to strengthen even further. I don’t want to go into any specific names, but this is the squad we have for the moment and in the event of any changes we will make the appropriate announcements.

On the personal process he underwent over the years ahead of the current summer:

We are all people who learn on the move. It is true that we experienced some difficulties in recent years but I also think that those difficulties were in previous years as well, so let us put the past behind us and focus on the future. This season we made our preparations at an earlier stage, we haven’t completed our job and I hope we will do so as early as possible.

On Vladimir Ivic’s return to the role of coach:

Vladan and I had a very good relationship during his previous tenure here. We had several candidates for the role but I am certain that we made the best possible choice for the coach who will lead Maccabi at this stage. I am not going to go into the entire selection and appointment process, but when we understood that the option of Vladan could be relevant once again, we reached a decision that this is what we want to do and ultimately made the best possible choice.

On the return and fitness of Eran Zahavi

Like you all know, Eran had surgery on his knee several weeks ago. As someone who experienced one or two operations in my career, I know that feeling. Eran is currently in a rehabilitation process and we don’t want to place him under too much pressure. Eran is a player who works very, very hard and he will do the best possible rehabilitation. We have a very long season ahead of us, so whenever he is ready we will be delighted to welcome him back on the pitch as soon as possible.

On the recent success of Israel’s U-19’s in the European Championships

Maccabi Tel Aviv sent 7 players to the U-19’s European Championship and all our players played their part in the tournament. This is our future generation and we would like them to develop in the best possible way so that the first team could benefit from that in the future. A number of them (Oscar Gloukh, Roy Revivo and Dor Turgeman) joined the first team in pre-season and for the moment they are part of the squad.

On the foreign player in the squad:

The rule in Israeli football is very clear, 6 players could be registered and only five players could be on the pitch at the same time – which is something we will do. We are at a stage of completing the jigsaw and will deal with the situation in the event that we will bring certain players.

On the summer preparations and the completion of the squad:

I always strive to the best and there is no doubt that this season’s preparations was a little different. But still we would like to improve and do even better. The training camp we had was good and our aim is still to improve the squad in several positions.

On reports about the potential signing of Dor Peretz and Eli Dasa

Jack and I sat at Kiryat Shalom ahead of the season and said that we would like to bring the best Israeli players we possibly can. I am not going to go into any specific names but this is our target. The fact we haven’t made any progress with regards to certain players doesn’t mean that we don’t have a plan B’ or a plan C’ but everyone makes his own choices.

On the meteoric rise of Oscar Gloukh:

We were all delighted with the success that Israel’s Under 19’s enjoyed at the European Championships a few weeks ago. Maccabi had quite a number of players out there, while we followed them from the training camp, celebrated the goals, kept our fingers crossed and were very excited by their achievement. With regards to Osacr, he is a maccabi Tel Aviv player and has a contract at the club. I understand all the noise surrounding him considering how he ended last season and especially after the successful tournament he had. He has a name that generates a lot of interest all over Europe. We however remain focused on the Oscar who is at Maccabi Tel Aviv but in the event of any developments, we will update you all accordingly.

The 2022/23 season officially gets underway tomorrow (Thursday, 20:00) as Maccabi Tel Aviv hosts Maccabi Netanya for a Toto Cup tie of the teams competing in European competitions. Shortly before the season kicks-off, Maccabi’s Head of Football Department, Barak Itzhaki, and Head Coach Vladimir Ivic who returned to Maccabi this summer, held a Press Conference at Bloomfield stadium.