Dan Glazer who wore the captain’s armband on the night added: “We started the match very well as we scored the opening goal and created a few more half chances” Glazer said, “Be’ersheva then changed a formation and we didn’t respond accordingly as it took us several minutes and they equalised. Football is all about momentum and when you don’t score the second goal everything can happen. We congratulate them for reaching the final while we must move on”.

When asked if the season is over, Glazer remained adamant: “No, the season is far from over. Maccabi is the biggest club in Israel which needs to turn up at every game and give it’s best to represent a big set of fans. We will continue to give everything in order to represent the club in the best possible way. When you play for a club as big as Maccabi you can’t afford not to give a 100 percent. Yes it is disappointing, it is a tough moment for me and the rest of my teammates but we will have to pick ourselves up ahead of Monday and win the derby”.

The 25-year-old midfielder summed up the miserable night yet remained positive: “We will cheer ourselves up, we are strong, we are all good friends and are united. We will hope to make our fans happy starting from Monday’s derby”.

Pre Game

Three days after suffering a painful 1-0 defeat to Hapoel Be’ersheva at Turner stadium in the league, Maccabi return to Bloomfield stadium for the State Cup Semi Final against the same opponents.

Maccabi’s coach Mladen Krstajic made no less than six changes from the side that was beaten in Be’ersheva as Daniel Tenenbaum, who played in most of the State Cup ties of this campaign, replaced Daniel Peretz in goal. Idan Nachmias also returned to the side as he replaced Josue Sa to partner Enric Saborit at the heart of defence. Matan Baltaxa was named at left-back in place of Ofir Davidzada with Shahar Piven keeping his place on the right to complete the back-four.

Dan Glazer, who served his one match suspension against Be’ersheva and Gabi Kanichowsky who recovered from a shoulder injury that limited them both to spectators role at Turner, the returned to Maccabi’s midfield. 18-year-old Oscar Gloukh kept his place while veteran midfielder Avi Rikan who scored a vital spectacular equaliser in the Cup against Kiryat Shmona was also drafted in to add more experience. Upfront Krstajic stuck with Djordje Jovanovic and Stipe Perica hoping to get more from his Balkan striking duo.

With Tal Ben Chaim withdrawing in the last minute due to a back injury, Krstajic welcomed back into the squad Dan Biton who recovered from his ankle injury.

On the bench behind him, Krstajic named Daniel Peretz, Matan Hozez, Dan Biton, Brandley Kuwas, Eden Shamir, Sheran Yeini, Eyal Golasa, Ofir Davidzada and Josue Sa all waiting for a chance to make an impact.

First Half

The match began with frantic pace as Maccabi were desperate to stamp their authority putting Be’ersheva’s midfield under pressure right from the off. Seven minutes from the start Maccabi took the lead after an Oscar Gloukh had his initial shit blocked by Miguel Vitor before Djordje Jovanovic sent the rebound into the bottom far corner.

Gloukh could have doubled Maccabi’s lead two minutes later as Shahar Piven carved Be’ersheva’s defence open with a pass to Avi Rikan whose square ball reached Gloukh. But with only the keeper to beat in a comfortable position to score, the youngster miscued his shot which rolled wide of the target. A last gasp Matan Baltaxa tackle on Eugene Ansah in the 11th minute prevented there forward from pausing a threat on Daniel Tenenbaum’s goal.

Gloukh’s trickery on the edge of Be’ersheva’s penalty area saw the diminutive youngster create the time and space as he danced past two defenders but his shot wasn’t powerful enough to bea Omri Glazer who collected with ease. Five minutes later however, Be’ersheva were back on level terms as an Andre Martins cross was knocked down for Mariano Barriero who slotted home from close range.

In the 41st minute Be’ersheva completed their comeback as what began as a Maccabi corner resulted with a counter attack at the opposite end which saw Eugene Ansah shrugg off Gabi Kanichowsky and charge half the length of the pitch to beat Tenenbaum.

Hatem Elhamid was booked for a rough challenge on Gloukh on the stroke of halftime. Kanichowsky, floated the resulting free kick into the area before Enric Saborit headed towards goal only for Glazer to collect once again.

Second Half

With no changes at the interval, the second half began with a Tenenbaum save following a Roei Gordana shot a minute after the restart. Gloukh continued to look dangerous as he blasted a shot from outside the area that cleared the crossbar in the 52nd minute.

Matan Baltaxa was booked by Reinshrieber for a mistimed tackle on Andre Martins in the 55th minute before Eyad Abu Abid headed the resulting free kick onto the roof of the net.

Be’ersheva’s coach introduced Rotem Hatuel and Or Dadia for Ansah and Elhamid right on the hour mark. Three minutes later Krstajic reacted with three changes of his own as Ofir Davidzada replaced Baltaxa, Brandley Kuwas came-in for Kanichowsky while Dan Biton replaced Rikan. Be’ersheva’s changes paid off in the 66th minute as Hatuel sent a header which bounced on the ground to go in off the post to make it 3-1.

Biton flashed a left foot shot that was deflected wide of the post and out for a corner on 68, three minutes before Krastajic made his fourth change as Eyal Golasa replaced Gloukh. Jovanovic headed a Dan Glazer cross over in the 72nd as Be’ersheva defended deep leaving most of the pitch for Maccabi’s players. Matan Hozez replaced Piven in the 81st minute as Krstajic made his fifth and final change for the closing stages.

Tenembaum made a reflex save to deny Ramzi Safuri’s powerful right foot shot while at the opposite end Jovanovic was booked for a tackle on Omri Glazer. As Reinshreiber stopped twice following missiles that were thrown from Maccabi’s stands, the fourth official indicated 10 minutes of added time.

 

Wednesday’s State Cup Semi Final will be the 50^th time Maccabi play in this stage out of 85 years in the competitions’ history. Maccabi, advanced from that stage on 37 attempts and holds the record appearances in both the State Cup Semi Final and Final.

Maccabi failed to advance from the Semi Finals in two of the previous 16 attempts (Hapoel Ramat Gan 2003 and Bnei Yehuda 2019).

Hapoel Be’ersheva, met Maccabi once in the Semi Final (1962) and recorded a 3-0 victory at the Katamon stadium in Jerusalem. This was the first ever meeting with Be’ersheva in the history.

Overall Maccabi met Be’ersheva in the Cup on 8 occasions with Maccabi winning 7 of the ties. The only time Be’ersheva beat Maccabi in the Cup was in the final of 1997 (1-0).

The second time Maccabi faced Be’ersheva in the Cup Final was in 2015 which resulted in a memorable 6-2 victory.

Maccabi played Be’ersheva twice in the past in less than a week. In 1986, the league on Saturday ended with a 0-0 draw while three days later Maccabi lost 2-1 in a Toto Cup Semi Final.

In August 2020 both sides met twice in the space of five days in the Super Cup as Maccabi won both legs 2-0 to clinch the title.

The record number of goals by a player in the Semi Finals was scored by Rafi Levy during the 6-0 victory over Shimshon Tel Aviv in 1958.

Miko Belo played 12 times in the Semi Finals and is the player who made the most appearances at this stage.

Maccabi reached a penalty shoot-out six times in the Semi Finals advancing through on 4 occasions.

The security situation last year forced the relocation of the Semi Finals from Bloomfield stadium to Sammy Ofer.

Last time Bloomfield stadium staged a State Cup Semi Final in 1996. Nir Klinger and Itzik Zohar scored the goals on the way to a 2-1 Semi Final victory over Maccabi Haifa on the way to a memorable double in 1995/96.