Category: News

Itzhaki sums-up the victory over Hadera

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On his role as coach, a position he held since the end of October, Itzhaki said: “It began as something new to me, but gradually I got into it. As far as I am concerned I gave everything and will continue giving everything, whether that be as coach or any other role which is what is important. This period is about to end and I will return to the role I began at the start of the season”.

When asked what did he gain from his spell as coach, Itzhaki replied: “With a lot more experience. An experience of seeing the perspective of a coach from the sidelines. I think it is very important to feel it so it was a good experience. Sometimes one has to take decisions and not simple ones. This was the decisions and I think it was relatively fine”.

On the victory over Hadera and the fact Maccabi kept a clean sheet: “They reached two chances, with the first accidentally striking Dan Galazer before reaching Shoval Gozlan. This is part of the game, one can’t totally prevent an opponent from creating chances. This is important and I told my players that in order to restore Maccabi’s deterrence effect we must protect our home. One can’t concede easy goals and we managed to that against a tough side that didn’t concede too many goals this season. I am delighted we scored 3 goals, we could have scored more but I am satisfied with the result”.

On the victory that took his side to 21 points level with Bnei Sachnin, eight adrift of Maccabi Haifa and 10 behind leaders Hapoel Be’ersheva: “We are after a good game, scored three goals and shouldn’t look too far ahead. From game to game we want to play good football, the type of football Maccabi needs to play. We are not looking too far ahead for now, we must look at things on a game by game basis”.

On the revival of Tal Ben Chaim who added a brace to his tally which now stands on four goals in a fortnight: “I watch the training sessions, Tal hasn’t started or even played in the first match I took charge at against Kiryat Shmona. He was disappointed and I clearly saw that on his face. He kept on training hard and working to ultimately earn his chance and prove that he deserves it. Every player who will prove himself will get a chance on the pitch and I am delighted for him. This is a perfect example for other players who are getting less playing time now, but it can easily change later. Football is very fluid both in positive or negative terms, but he must maintain it”.

On his role in the appointment of Mladen Krstajic as Head Coach, Itzhaki concluded: “I am not taking decisions on my own, and ultimately the decision was taken and Maccabi has a coach. It will be much smarter to wait until Wednesday and here more details about it”.

Maccabi beat Hadera 3-0

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Pre Game

Four days after playing their final group stage match in the Conference League, Maccabi’s interim coach Barak Itzhaki whose side was held to a 1-1 draw by Alashkert in Yerevan made several changes to his side starting line up for the visit of Hapoel Hadera to Bloomfield stadium.

Daniel Peretz, who was rested in Armenia giving Daniel Tenenbaum precious playing minutes, returned to protect Maccabi’s goal. Sheran Yeini wearing the captain’s armband partnered Luis Hernandez as the duo who were both rested in Armenia, returned to the heart of defence as the two central defenders. Andre Gerlades and Ofir Davidzada who both made second half substitute appearances in Yerevan completed the back four on the right and left respectively.

Dan Glazer also returned to the heart of midfield as he lined-up against his younger brother Tamir, currently on loan from Maccabi at Hadera. Eyal Golasa and Gabi Kanichowsky who were also rested against Alashkert also returned to the side and completed the midfield trio. In the absence of Brandley Kuwas who picked a knock on Thursday, Dan Biton was drafted in on the wing with Tal Ben Chaim assigned to the opposite flank in support of Croatian striker Stipe Perica.

First Half

Maccabi began the match with high pressure on Hadera who could hardly get out of their own half in the opening minutes as the hosts enjoyed the majority of the possession. Gabi Kanichowsky tried a shot from long distance in the third minute which was blocked by Tamir Glazer on the edge of his penalty area.

Tal Ben Chaim floated in two crosses from theft which didn’t find a Maccabi player inside the box. An attack in the 11th minute saw Maccabi move the ball around Hadera’s penalty area with Eyal Golasa forcing a save from Robi Levkovich only for Andre Geraldes to hook the rebound high over the crossbar.

Ofir Davidzada’s last gasp tackle denied Gustavo Marmantini who broke clear through on 13, while two minutes later at the opposite end Dan Glazer forced Levkovich to push his shot around the post.

A mistake by Maccabi’s defence in the 29th minute allowed Shoval Gozlan to ghost unmarked an latch on a lose ball, but with only Daniel Peretz to beat somehow sent his shot wide of the target. Four minutes later however the deadlock was broken and Maccabi were awarded for their efforts as Golasa found Stipe Perica who beat a Hadera and threaded a low accurate drive past Levkovich.

Hadera’s players protested there was a infringement in the build up for the Croat’s goal but referee Niv Staif who had ghe incident inspected by VAR allowed the goal to count. Three minutes later Kanichowsky drilled a powerful left foot drive that was making its way in from the edge of the area only for Levkovich to punch the balk out.

In the 41st minute Maccabi came close to double their lead at the end of a spectacular move that began with Glazer in the middle who released Kanichowsky before the diminutive midfielder rode a tackle by Hadera’s towering defender Jonathan Cisse. Kanichowsky sent Ben Chaim who managed to take the ball round the advancing Levkovich but with the goal open at his mercy somehow managed to miscue his shot and sent the ball high and wide.

Second Half

Dan Biton tried curling a free kick after Golasa was fouled 30 meters away from Hadera’s goal, but the midfielder’s left foot shot on 52 landed on the roof of the net. Right on the hour mark Maccabi doubled their lead as Biton exploited a mistake by a Hadera defender to charge down the right flank, cut the ball back for Golasa whose shot was initially saved by Levkovich. But as the ball reached Ben Chaim at the far post, the veteran forward kept his calm and shrugged off a Hadera defender before sliding the ball past Levkovich to make it 2-0.

In the 71st minute Golasa carved Hadera’s defence open with a perfect through ball to Ben Chaim who charged into the area, went round Levkovich and from the tightest of angles scored his second of the night and Maccabi’s third. This was the duo final contribution as Itzhaki made a double substitution replacing Ben Chaim and Golasa with Eduardo Guerrero and Avi Rikan.

Kanichowsky and Biton bowed out in the 80th minute as Itzhaki allowed Eylon Almog and Ido Shahar 10 minutes to try make an impression. Osama Khalaila replaced Perica on 84 as Itzhaki made his fifth and final substitution on the night.

Four minutes later Khalaila almost scored as a well timed Ofir Davidzada run beat Hadera’s defence before his cut back found the young striker whose shot was saved by Levkovich.

 

Conference League: Maccabi drawn against PSV Eindhoven

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After the curtain came down on the Conference League group stage, the draw for the next round took place at UEFA’s Headquarters in Nyon Switzerland this afternoon (Monday).

Maccabi now face Dutch giants PSV Eindhoven in the round of 32 with, Eran Zahavi, separating between his former club and a place in the round of 32.

Sixteen teams went into the draw as Maccabi were one of the 8 seeded clubs that finished the Conference League group stage in the runners up-spots, and were drawn with 8 third-placed teams from the UEFA Europa League group stage (unseeded teams).

Maccabi travel to Holland for the first leg at Eindhoven on February 17th before hosting Zahavi’s return to Bloomfield for the return leg on the 24th.
The winners of the 8 ties will join the eight Conference League group winners in the round of 16.

Full draw: 
Marseille (France) vs Qarabağ (Azerbijan)
PSV Eindhoven (Holland) vs Maccabi Tel-Aviv (Israel)
Fenerbahçe (Turkey) vs Slavia Prague (Czech Republic)
Midtjylland (Denmark) vs PAOK (Greece)
Leicester City (England) vs Randers (Denmark)
Celtic (Scotland) vs Bodo Glimt (Norway)
Sparta Prague (Czech Republic) vs Partizan Belgrade (Serbia)
Rapid Vienna (Austia) vs Tottenham Hotspur (England) / Vitesse (Holland)

When Maccabi met Hadera in 1979

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A numbers game: The stats ahead of Hadera

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Monday’s match will be the 30th encounter between Maccabi and Hapoel Hadera with 24 league matches and 5 State Cup ties played over the years. Maccabi won 19 matches, Hadera won 6 and 4 matches were drawn with a goal tally of 48-22 in Maccabi’s favor.

Since Hadera returned to the top flight in the 2018/19 season, the two sides met 8 times in the league as Maccabi won 7 and drawn 1 with a goal tally of (16-1).

Maccabi has a 91.7% success rate in the last 8 league matches against Hadera. This is the highest success rate of the 14 league opponents Maccabi met over 5 league matches or more over the past 3 seasons.

Maccabi kept a clean sheet in 13 matches of the 24 league encounters against Hadera (54%).

Of the 23 opponents Maccabi played for more than 20 league matches, this is the highest success rate of matches with a clean sheet (together with Rishon Lezion).

Twice in the history, Maccabi managed to beat an opponent four times in a season whilst keeping a clean sheet – Hadera (2018/19) and Hapoel Tel Aviv (2019/20).

The highest victory over Hapoel Hadera in all competitions was in the Quarter Final of the State Cup in the 1954/55 season. Yossale Mirimovic (2), Shmuel Yisraeli (2), Zvika Studinski and Yitzhak Sneior scored the goals.

Hadera’s coach Mencahem Koretzki met Maccabi 13 in the league with Maccabi winning 11 matches, drawing 1 and losing 1.

5 stunning goals ahead of Hadera

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Kuwas ahead of Hapoel Hadera

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Watch: Itzhaki speaks ahead of Hapoel Hadera

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Maccabi’s Head of Football Department who is set to guide the team as an interim coach said before the match: “We are looking forward for our match against Hadera. We are playing at home, and it is very important for us to create that deterrence effect, so if we want to do that we must do it at home” Itzhaki said. “Since my appointment we won 3 matches, all of them away, while at home we struggled which is something we must change. We haven’t lost, but we didn’t win either and against every opponent especially at home we must turn our home into a fortress. We must first and foremost play good football and return to winning ways. This should begin as of tomorrow”.

On Hadera that experienced a good start to the season and are currently level with Maccabi on 18 pointsת Itzhaki added: “Hadera are a side that always makes your life difficult. We need to be prepared to the best of our ability in order to win the 3 points. You win points for playing well, and we must play good football and win”.

Itzhaki, who rested a host of players in Thursday’s Conference League match against Alashkert, explained: “I needed to rest some players and share the load as we experienced a tight fixture list over the past few weeks and we have a very packed schedule ahead of us. I wanted to share the load, gave players who didn’t have too much playing time in the league get a chance because we will need all the players until the end. We built a wide squad, there is competition for places in the starting line-up as well as competitions for those who will sit on the bench. Our aim is for players to prove themselves so they can show they deserve a place in the squad or on the bench”.

On the desire to create a successive run of matches, Itzhaki, who knows that a victory will take Maccabi above Hapoel Haifa and level with Sachnin at third place, added: “In the league we are on the back of a very tough match at Teddy that we managed to win and I think the better team on the night won, but it was still tough. In order to progress, and stick with the leading pack we must create a run of successive victories and our aim is to do it already tomorrow”.

“The injury is behind me. I want to work hard and help the team”

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After six months in which he recovered from an injury, Maor Kandil registered his debut this season when he started in the 1-1 draw against Alashkert in Yerevan. At the end of the game, the right back spoke about the frustrating time he experienced watching his teammates from the stands. “Three years ago at this stadium I was named in the squad for the first time, and today I am returning here after a long injury” Kandil said. “We expected to win, we want to win every game but this is the situation we had to face. Now our focus should be on Monday’s league match”. 

On the return from injury the full-back added: “It wasn’t easy, a frustrating injury that took ages it recover from. I worked really hard and hope this is now behind me. I want to help the team. I spent so long on the sidelines and suffered watching the situation. I want to help the team in the league which is the most important thing for us right now. It is frustrating but this is part of football, there are injuries which is part of our lives so one had to focus on the positives and come out stronger. Like I said, I hope this is now behind me, so I can give a push until the end of the season, work hard and help the team”.

Ahead of Monday’s League match against Hapoel Hadera (20:15) and the Conference League draw (15:00) Kandil added: “I am looking forward to the game because is the league is the most important competition for us. This is the bread and butter as they say. All of us are focused on Hadera”.

Itzhaki: “The result is disappointing”

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Maccabi Tel Aviv ended the Conference League group stage in second spot and booked their place in the Round of 32 where they face a knockout playoff which will decide qualification for the round of 16. At the end of the 1-1 draw against Armenian side Alashkert in Yerevan which concluded the group phase Barak Itzhaki summed up the game.

Itzhaki, who saw Eylon Almog score a late equaliser, said: “We reached three or four good chances to score in the first half despite not playing well. It was a tough match away from home with difficult conditions as there wasn’t many fans at the stadium but we must still play a lot better and know how to put these chances away”.

On the fact he rested several players for this match, Itzhaki added: “We prepared seriously for this match but it was also a chance to give a chance to some players who didn’t play too much recently. We need to get them in shape because we will need everyone until the end of the season, but at the same time give other players a much needed rest as they played a lot of games. Overall the result is disappointing as we need to know how to win such games especially after the first half”.

To sum up the group phase, Itzhaki said: “We had a good chance to finish top of the group but we missed that chance in the home game against LASK. Ultimately we qualified to the next round, but we will now have to wait for the draw, learn the identity of our opponent and prepare accordingly”.

The team will return to Israel in the early hours of Friday morning and begin preparing for Monday’s league match against Hapoel Hadera at Bloomfield.