Maccabi faced Hapoel Nof Hagalil (or in their previous name Hapoel Nazareth Ilit) only 6 times in the league.

Of the 45 league opponents to face Maccabi throughout history, only 7 clubs played Maccabi less times than Nof Hagalil. Ahi Nazaretn (5), Maccabi Rishon Lezion (4), Hapoel Balfuriya (4), Maccabi Kiryat Gat (3), Beitar Netanya (2), Hapoel Taybeh (2) and Hapoel Marmorek (2).

Maccabi met Hapoel Nof Hagalil, under their previous name – Hapoel Nazareth Ilit, when the newly promoted side played in the top flight during the 2004/05 and 2005/06 seasons. Maccabi won only 1 of those six encounters while the remaining 5 (83%) ended in a draw.

Nof Hagalil’s current coach Yaron Hochenboim met Maccabi 5 times in the league whilst in charge of Hapoel Acco and Hapoel Ramat Gan with Maccabi winning 4 and drawing once.

Maccabi played 308 times against newly promoted sides, including this season’s 1-0 victory over Hapoel Jerusalem. The record of these matches is clearly in Maccabi’s favour winning 182, drawing 79 and losing 46.

Maccabi’s record in the first meeting against newly promoted sides (136 matches) is: 75 victories, 41 draws and 20 defeats.

The highest ever victory over a newly promoted side was a 7-0 victory over Beitar Tel Aviv in the 1969/70 season. Shalom Shikva (4), Giyora Spiegel, Nissim Bachar and Dror Bar Nur scored the goals.

 

        

 

Yeini spoke about the desire to string a run of successful results: “We are always trying to create a run of victories, to look at the top of the table following the poor start to the season we experienced is not something we are doing right now. I can’t remember such a start to a season in a long while, but over the past three matches the points we have taken is beginning to look like the run we are looking for. Hopefully we could continue with this run of results”.

On the fact the defence has been leaking goals, Yeini replied: “We committed too many mistakes both as a team and personal errors. We are working on these things and putting our emphasis on the entire team’s defensive play as well as our personal actions. We analyse every match and working hard to be more consistent”.

The veteran captain who will celebrate his 35th birthday next week, spoke on whether Maccabi could rejoin the race for the title: “It is too early in the season so I am not even thinking about that. For the moment I am only focusing on how we could return to the form that I believe we should be in. Our potential is far greater as we have yet to reach our peak and I hope we could reach this a lot quicker. In this form, we don’t have room to make any further mistakes this season”.

Ben Chaim who scored his first goal of the season that helped Maccabi bounce back from the Thursday’s disappointing home defeat to LASK said at the end of the game: “It was extremely disappointing for us. We looked good throughout the group stages and deserved to finish top of the group, but sadly we will not finish top of our group. We were very very disappointed on Thursday night, especially after our poor start to the season, but as professional players we didn’t have too long to sulk as we woke up on Friday morning and knew we must now prepare to win tonight’s match without excuses”.

On the importance of his first goal of the season that ended a barren run, added: “A forward who doesn’t play too much and hasn’t scored for a long time, I think that only someone who is like that can understand me at this moment. At the end of the day, I am happy I helped the team win which for me is the bottom line”.

“Every point is important, especially at this period of time” Itzhaki said after the match. “One must win matches like even by scraping with your teeth. We played very well against a team that is well trained and they surprised us a bit. I think this is the first time they played with three central defenders a fact which surprised us a little. It took us a while to get into the game, but I am delighted we took 3 very important points”.

On the front-line which looked dangerous and worked well on the night, Itzhaki said: “I said in the past and will keep saying that we have good players in this team and the place we are in doesn’t reflect on our ability, especially in terms of the quality this squad has. We are in a complex period of time, but I think there was an improvement in recent weeks. The defeat in Europe deflated us which is a shame, and we came here on the back of a match in Europe – and I am not making an excuse. It is easy to talk after a victory, but there are players here who played on Thursday as fatigue takes its’ toll”.

On the fact the team failed to keep a clean sheet and conceded a goal once again, Itzhai replied: “It is no secret as the numbers don’t lie, we conceded too many goals and must improve that, but I am focusing on the positives while the less positive things we will have to fix in training”.

The Head of Football Department who is currently acting as an interim coach, updated: “There is nothing knew. I respect your question but as I updated the media last time, it is not simple and we are working hard to find a coach. I don’t want to repeat myself but to be honest we are searching and I hope that a new coach will join us as soon as possible so I don’t grow more grey hairs as either way most of looks white’.

Pre Game

Three days after Thursday’s disappointing Conference League defeat to LASK at Bloomfield, Maccabi arrived at the Sammy Ofer stadium for the league match against Hapoel Haifa aiming to resurrect their league campaign. After being held to a 1-1 draw by Hapoel in the Tel Aviv derby just before the international break, Maccabi were ranked before the game in 11th place with 11 points from 9 matches. Interim coach Barak Itzhaki, who knew that a victory over the high-flying Haifaites would take Maccabi up to 7th in the table, made two changes from the Thursday’s line-up. Idan Nachmias returned to the heart of defense as the partner of Luis Hernandez while Enric Saborit returned to his original position at left back and Andre Geraldes completed the back-four on the right.

Sheran Yeini at the anchorman role led the line with the captain’s armband with Eyal Golasa and Gabi Kanichowsky joining the veteran skipper in midfield. Tal Ben Chaim stepped in to replace Matan Hozez on the wing with Brandley Kuwas on the other wing aiming to supply the ammunition for Croatian striker Stipe Perica.

First Half

Maccabi began the match on the front foot with pressure on Haooel Haifa’s three central defenders and five-man-defence. This pressure led to three corners in the space of the opening 10 minutes. A Brandley Kuwas corner in the 11th minute into the path of Luis Hernandez saw the Spanish central defender head the ball before it deflected off Izuchuckwu Anthony into his own net and break the deadlock.

Tal Ben Chaim came close to double the score in the 25th minute as the veteran forward received the ball from Enric Saborit deep inside Haifa’s half before skipping past two defenders to break into the box. Ohad Levita charged off his goal-line but with only the keeper to beat, Ben Chaim sent his shot wide of the target.

Right on the half hour mark, a back pass towards Daniel Peretz saw the keeper let down by his touch, only for Haifa’s Hanan Maman and Alen Ozbolt waste the chance. Kuwas tried his luck after a well drilled throw in on 37, but the Curaçao international sent a powerful left-foot volley which narrowly cleared the crossbar.

Second Half

The second half began in the same manner in which the first began with both Kuwas and Ben Chaim looking dangerous. Two minutes after the restart, Kuwas picked Ben Chaim down the left flank with an accurate pass. The 32-year old cut inside and curled a right foot shot that beat Levita and double the score with his first goal of the season.

In a rare situation that Hernandez and Idan Nachmias didn’t clear any threats made by Haifa’s forwards, Andre Geraldes’ last gasp header prevented a cross from reaching two players who ghosted unmarked into the area. Sa’ar Fadida hit the side netting with an effort from close range in the 58th minute. Stipe Perica seemed to have run out of steam as he sent a weak shot from. the edge of the area that was easily collected by Levita before Itzhaki made his first change in the 64th minute introducing Eduardo Guerrero for the Croatian striker.

In the 70th minute the hosts were back in the game as Dudi Twito found Liran Sardal unmarked inside the area before Hapoel Haifa’s captain fired past Peretz to cut the deficit.

Peretz denied Haifa an equalizer as he caught the ball on his goalline after a corner on 77. Two minutes later however, Maccabi extended their lead to 3-1 in bizarre fashion as a Kanichowsky corner Anthony and rolled past Levita for his second own goal on the night. Itzhaki reacted with a double substitution as Avi Rikan and Shahar Piven replaced Ben Chaim and Shahar Piven in the 81st minute. Peretz made another save before another two changes on 86 saw Kuwas and Kanichowsky bow out to be replaced by Eden Shamir and Eylon Almog.

Guerrero had a chance to increase the lead in the closing stages but the Panamanian forward blasted his shot over the bar as the referee’s final whistle sealed the score at 3-1.

In form Hapoel Haifa who are currently ranked third in the table host Maccabi Te Aviv on MD10 at the Sammy Ofer stadium tomorrow (Sunday, 20:15).

On the eve of the match and two days after the disappointing home defeat in the Conference League, Barak Itzhaki spoke ahead of the match. “Just like I said after the match against LASK, we do not have too much time to sulk. The result was disappointing but we already put it aside as we are preparing for tomorrow’s match against Hapoel Haifa. They are a good side, especially this season as they had a good start to the campaign which is evident through their position in the table. We are expecting a match which will be far from easy. We must prepare accordingly and arrive ready”.

On the high-flying Haifaiets which are the league’s top scorers with 15 goals, Itzhaki added: “Yes, they have a good frontline, especially with three very significant forwards. With regards to one of them, Alon Turgeman, I don’t know whether he is fit or not, but let us wait for tomorrow and we will see”.

Itzhaki, will have an almost full squad for tomorrow’s match as there are no changes from Thursday with regards to the absentees. “There are no changes” he summed up.