Maccabi Tel Aviv FC is pleased to announce that 16-year-old forward Ilay Ben Simon has signed a new three-year-deal.

Ilay Ben Simon (16) who made his senior debut during the Europa League match against Midtjylland becoming Maccabi’s youngest-ever player to represent the club in European competitions, said after signing his new contract: “Signing my first professional contract at Maccabi Tel Aviv is an amazing feeling. This is a big moment, but for me, it’s only the beginning. Now the real work starts. Yalla Maccabi!”

This season playing for Maccabi’s U-19’s, Ben Simon has scored 4 league goals in 10 matches. Last season representing Maccabi’s U-17’s he scored 15 goals in 20 matches in all competitions.

On the International stage Ben Simon is a member of the Israel U19 squad, scoring 2 goals in 5 appearances. He has also represented Israel at U-17 and U-16 levels where he scored 4 goals in a total of 16 matches.

Previews

Three days after the dramatic 2-2 draw away to Ashdod Maccabi returned to Bloomfield stadium for the MD12 WINNER League home match against Hapoel Haifa.

Four days before Sunday’s top of the table clash against Hapoel Be’ersheva at Turner, and Maccabi’s Head Coach Zarko Lazetic returned to guide the side. Lazetic will seek to record a victory over Hapoel Haifa that are ranked 11th in the table, end Maccabi’s winless run since the 2-0 victory over Bnei Reineh on November 1st and cut the gap at the top to two points.

Lazetic made several changes to the starting line-up from the team that drew at Ashdod. Ofek Melika kept his place in goal Ali Camara returning to the side for the first time since suffering a rib injury during the EUROPA League match at Aston Villa. Camara partnered Heitor dos Santos as the two central defenders in front of Melika. Noam Ben Harush who played the full 90 minutes against Ashdod kept his place at left back while Tyrese Asante completed Maccabi’s defensive line on the right. Issouf Sissokho returned to the side in the anchorman role as he was partnered in the engine room by Ido Shahar who scored his sixth league goal at Ashdod. Kervin Andrade who impressed coming off the bench on Sunday was named at the top of the midfield trio. The Venezuelan scored his debut goal for Maccabi during its’ last outing here at Bloomfield, but will aim for a better outcome as that was a consolation on a miserable 6-2 defeat to Beitar Jerusalem. With Dor Peretz resting on the bench, Sagiv Jehezkel was handed the captain’s armband as the 30-year-old was assigned to one wing. Saied Abu Farchi, the scorer of Maccabi’s dramatic late equalizer against Ashdod was on the opposite flak with Ion Nicolaescu leading the line. On the bench alongside Roy Mishpati who returned from suspension were Roy Revivo, Raz Shlomo, Kristijan Belic, Elad Madmon, Itamar Noy, Itay Ben Hemo, Dor Peretz and Osher Davida.

First Half

Maccabi began the match on the front foot and came close to draw first blood inside the first five minutes. Saied Abu Farchi took the initiative as he tested Niv Antman with a long range powerful drive that was equalled by the Haifa keeper. Abu Farchi again looked lively in the 10th minute as he picked a long diagonal ball from Tyrese Asante and cut into the box skipping past one defender before being stopped by another. Sagiv Jehezkel came close on 13 as Abu Farchi’s cross found him unmarked at the far post but his volley was blocked by Sana Gomes. 

The visitors almost took the lead against the run of play as a counter attack down the left caught Maccabi’s defense flat on 21. Regis N’do charged down the right and squared to Rotem Hatuel whose snap shot forced Ofek Melika to a stunning save. Three minutes after the half hour mark Kervin Andrade also tried a long distance effort which bobbled off a defender to almost catch Antman off his line but land on the roof of the net. In the 38th minute Abu Farchi slipped the ball to Ion Nicolaescu who shrugged off his marker and unleashed a fierce low drive which was blocked by Bruno Ramires.

Second half

Lazetic made a triple substitution at the restart as Heitor dos Santos, Issouf Sissokho and Kervin Andrade were replaced by Roy Revivo, Kristijan Belic and Dor Peretz. Noam Ben Harush switched from left to right-back while Asante moved to the heart of defense alongside Camara. Less than a minute after his introduction Revivo cut inside from his left back position and fired a shot with his right that hardly troubled Antman. In the 53rd minute Ido Shahar was cautioned for a mistimed tackle on Yonatan Farber but VAR called referee Gal Levy to the screen and the yellow card was replaced by red leaving Maccabi with 10 men.

Three minutes later and despite the numerical disadvantage the deadlock was finally broken. A Revivo corner was met by an Abu Farchi half volley which beat Antman to put Maccabi infront. Maccabi doubled the score within a couple of minutes as right on the hour mark Peretz began and finished the move. The Maccabi captain won a tackle in the middle of the park and released Nicolaescu who charged forward to break into the box. Just before the Moldovan could pull the trigger, Peretz swept the ball home to score his seventh league goal. This was Nicolaescu’s final contribution as he was replaced a minute later by Osher Davida. Maccabi suffered another blow in the 66th minute as Belic limped off clutching his thigh and was replaced by Itamar Noy. 

Maccabi defended bravely as inside injury time Maccabi came close to seal the victory at the end of a counter attack. Peretz burst forward and with only the keeper to beat unselfishly teed up Davida whose effort was cleared off the line.

In addition to being a man down and with both Jehezkel and Abu Farchi still playing despite being injured as no substitutes were left, the visitors took control. In the 84th minute Haifa cut the deficit in controvercial circumstances as the referee didn’t award Maccabi a foul on Davida before Javon East scored at the opposite end to make it 2-1.

Angelides said: “You have to trust the system that there’s a process for making the right decisions and I think on balance that over the last 15-16 years under Mitch Goldhar’s ownership of the club there is reason to trust the club. It is not my words but this is something that is proven by facts. You have an owner who has made over the years difficult decisions. He’s not shied away from making difficult decisions. He is not a person who has avoided difficult decisions. In fact, he’s made decisions that fans and others perhaps didn’t agree with. But they were the right decisions in his mind because of the long-term interest and long-term future of the Club. We have a situation where the club is now going through a difficult period like all football clubs, some bad results that none of us find acceptable, none of us are happy with, none of us are sitting quietly and accepting. But we have a system that is dealing with these things.

The club decided that the right thing to do, is to take action against the people who are responsible and no one else. I don’t see how you can defend these people, how anyone can defend these people. It is unacceptable. No matter what your view is, whether you like, anyone at the club or not. The least that you could do is stand up and say this is wrong and say it in a loud voice, in a firm voice, because what we don’t need is to encourage this kind of behavior.”

With regards to Maccabi’s Head Coach Zarko Lazetic, who returned to training, Angelides explained: “We have had discussions with him and it was a question of explaining him to look at things in a different perspective and also give some assurances. He will take training, and he will be the coach. We will continue target the achievements that we wanted from the beginning of the season. We will try and correct the mistakes that have been made but we will do it in a way maybe a right one maybe a wrong one but we will do it in a way that is according to the system that has been built with the people who have the right knowledge and with an owner who has been here right from the beginning.”

Maccabi’s Director of Football Ben Mansford added: “The most important thing is Maccabi wins every three or four days and competes for titles. Zarko is an incredibly good coach with a great staff, with a brilliant support structure around him. Of course, only 11 players can play at one time, and no one is perfect. We all make mistakes. We come together now, and we move forward as I believe that we can all help each other. As for the supporters, when we won last year, it was because we are all together and we need to work as fast as we can to get back to that. I need to help Zarko, Dominic Price, all of us. But we win and lose as a team. We win and lose as a staff and as a group of players. We all have to come together, and we all have to realize that this group, this club is good enough to win another championship. It is good enough to pick up points and succeed in Europe. It is good enough to win another State Cup. And now we come together, we really look each other in the mirror. These are tough times. It is just real hard work, real character, taking one step forward, doing the right things, doing the simple things, and making sure we get back on track. For me, it’s just real commitment and hard work and togetherness. and pushing each other and having difficult conversations. And I think we’ve got an environment and a place of work where we can have those.”

The 19-year-old striker made a second half substitute appearance to score his debut league goal for Maccabi deep inside injury time to secure a point in the dramatic 2-2 away to Ashdod. Abu Farchi shared his feelings after the game: “The first half wasn’t really good from us. I think in the second half we were really good, we played well and created chances.”.

Fellow substitute Ido Shahar canceled Ashdod’s first half lead in the 76th minute, before the hosts regained the lead in the 90th minute. Abu Farchi reflected: “At 1-1 we had chances to finish off the game, but unfortunately it didn’t happen, we conceded again. I’m happy with the character we showed, we came back from behind twice.”

Despite the turbulent circumstances which saw youth team coach Dan Roman take charge of the first team in the morning of the match, Abu Farchi said: “As you can see, Dan was with us and I don’t think our preparation was any different. We prepared like we do for every match, whether it’s a league game or a European match. I don’t think it affected us, in the end we are football players, we come to win every match. Sadly, it didn’t happen today, and we look forward now.”

The point gained cut the deficit from leaders Hapoel Be’ersheva to four points a week before both sides face each other at Turner after another midweek fixture, as Abu Farchi said: “We’re not stressed about it. There are plenty of games left until the end of the season, a whole round and then the playoffs. Even last season, I think around this matchday we were in the same situation, Be’ersheva were in first place, and in the end it finished differently, and we’ll do that this year as well.”

On the current affairs, Abu Farchi added: “In the end, the club has management and they deal with those things. We are professionals, it doesn’t matter what happens around us, that’s it.”

Ido Shahar came off the bench to score his sixth league goal and eighth in all competitions to lead Maccabi to a dramatic late comeback in Ashdod.

On the dramatic 24 hours which led to the game where Dan Roman took charge of the first team hours ahead of the match, Shahar said: “This isn’t a simple situation for us as players. But I can tell you that the preparation for the match was the same as for any other match. We came with maximum readiness and maximum focus. We were fully concentrated and did everything we could to win the game. It slipped away from us a bit, at the end we were in good momentum, but I really think we gave everything on the pitch today.”

On what he and his teammates take away from today’s match, Shahar said: “Of course we want to win, we are Maccabi Tel Aviv, we want to win every match. Even today we did everything to win. Even at 2–2, with only a few minutes left, we believed until the very last second that we would do it. Unfortunately, it didn’t happen. But again, as players, we promise to do everything and leave everything on the pitch for the club and for the fans. We’ll do everything we can and keep moving forward.”

With Wesldnesday’s home match against Hapoel Haifa just around the corner, Shahar said: “I can tell you that as players, we really don’t want to deal with that, it’s not our concern. Our job is to play football and win matches. We already have a game on Wednesday, and we’re coming to win it at home with our fans. I’m sure they’ll support us and push us like they know how. We’re already really looking forward to that match.”

“We are a bit disappointed, that is obvious,” Roman said after the match. “We deserved more. In the second half we created quite a few chances and had good momentum. In the end we conceded from two set pieces, but that’s football. I am happy the players showed character, came back from behind twice, and that’s what we will take from this match.”

Roman, who was called in to guide the first team in the morning and was assisted by Avi Rikan and Shura Ubarov, said: “In the first half the game was very static, Ashdod were in a low block. In the second half the substitutions and the dynamics led to a more fluid game on our side,” he added. “In football sometimes one or two set pieces are enough for a draw. Like I said, I am happy that the players, kept going in a difficult situation, believed, and pushed until the end.”

On the preparations for the match, Roman added: “I have only been with the team for a few hours, it wouldn’t be fair to analyse the situation. Obviously it’s not the most pleasant, but it is part of football. I am happy the players showed enough character, experience, and competitiveness to overcome it, and overall they played a good match.”

Finally, when asked how it felt to stand on the sidelines tonight, he said: “For me it feels natural. There’s a very strong and well-organized structure here, excellent professionals, and the best players in the country. In the end this is an organisation whose strength comes from its structure, and that’s the story.”