Saturday’s 2-1 victory over Maccabi Haifa was our 70^th league win over the Haifaites as only against Maccabi Netanya we have more victories -71. Haifa on the other hand won 48 matches in the Israeli Classico.

This was not the only statistic recorded during the match. The victory over Haifa stretched Maccabi’s league run against the Haifaites to a solitary defeat in the last 33 encounters. The record in these matches currently stands on 21 Maccabi victories and 11 draws.

Throughout history similar runs in the league occurred only twice as Bnei Sachnin’s 3-1 victory on the opening day of the season was their only win against Maccabi in 34 league matches between 2008-2021. Maccabi Haifa lost only one match to Hapoel Petah Tikva between 1991 and 2003.

Bloomfield stadium also holds an irregular record of results in league matches between the two sides. Since the era of the foreign coaches began at Maccabi in the 2012/13 season, Maccabi hosted  Haifa at Bloomfield for 13 league encounters of which 11 ended in victories and 2 were drawn.

Idan Nachmias and Stipe Perica scored the goals on Saturday to take the number of players to score for Maccabi against Haifa in the league to a 100.

The 26-year-old Croatian striker scored a goal in each one of the last three matches played last week (Maccabi Petah Tikva, Alashkert and Maccabi Haifa).

Perica is the 21^st Maccabi player in history and the first since Eran Zahavi to do so in 2015. Zahavi scored in the 2-2 Champions League Playoff match against Basel (2-2), against Bnei Sachnin in the league completed a memorable week with a goal against Basel in the return leg at Bloomfield which secured Maccabi’s passage to the Group stages.

Sheran Yeini registered an amazing assist to Perica’s winning goal against Haifa. But this wasn’t the only achievement of the veteran skipper on the night as Yeini made his 493^rd appearance for Maccabi in all competitions to equal the record of Avi Nimni who is 4^th in the all-time appearance record. As Yeini is approaching the 500 club, he is now 13 appearances short of Benny Tabbak (505) and 25 behind Eli Drix (517) with Miko Belo as holds Maccabi’s all time appearance record with 599.

The 35-year-old skipper also made his 40^th league appearance against Maccabi Haifa – a record for any Maccabi player against a specific opponent throughout history. Yeini is 4 matches away from equaling Yaniv Katan’s record of 44 league matches for Maccabi Haifa against Hapoel Tel Aviv.

The victory takes Maccabi tally to 8^th place in the table with 4 points, level with Maccabi Haifa, Bnei Sachnin and Beitar Jerusalem. Saturday’s opponents Hapoel Be’ersheva are ranked fourth with five points, while leaders Hapoel Nof Hagalil,  Hapoel Tel Aviv and Hapoel Haifa all have seven points.  

Pre Match

Maccabi Tel Aviv arrived at Bloomfield stadium for the match against Maccabi Haifa needing a result to put an end to the indifferent start of the domestic season which saw them collect one point from a possible six. Despite a convincing European campaign that saw Maccabi begin the Conference League group stage with a 4-1 victory over Alashkert on Tuesday, in the league a defeat to Bnei Sachnin on an opening day was followed by a 1-1 draw against Maccabi Petah Tikva. For the visit of Haifa, Maccabi’s coach Patrick van Leeuwen made a single change from the side that played on Tuesday. The defense remained unchanged as Idan Nachmias, Luis Hernandez, Andre Geraldes and Ofir Davidzada were the back-four assigned to protect Daniel Peretz in goal.

Sheran Yeini, making his 493rd appearance in all competitions for Maccabi to go level with Avi Nimni in fourth place of the all-time appearance record, led the team out with the captain’s armband. Yeini was joined by Dan Glazer at the heart of midfield with Dan Biton completing the midfield trio. Brandley Kuwas whose second half substitute appearance against Alashkert was his debut for Maccabi, was handed his first start and league debut. Gabi Knichowsky who scored his debut goal against the Armenians was named on the opposite wing with Stipe Perica leading Maccabi’s attack.

First Half

The electric atmosphere created by both sets of fans led to the kickoff being delayed as the visiting fans threw flares onto the pitch, one of which burnt a hole in the net. Once the game began, Maccabi started on the front foot with Brandley Kuwas breaking down the right flank before being brought down by Sun Menachem.

Haifa’s defence struggled to clear Dan Biton’s free kick which was curled into the danger zone allowing Idan Nachmias to tuck the ball home from the goalmouth. VAR had a look into the goal, but could find nothing wrong as Maccabi were infront after only three minutes. Maccabi continued to press and threaten to cause damage with crosses from the left, but none of the attempts to find Stipe Perica reached the tall Croat. In the 12th minute Haifa were awarded a free kick after Omer Atzili was fouled on the edge of the area which Tjaronn Cherry curled towards the top corner. But Daniel Peretz was at full stretch to pull a stunning save and deny Haifa an equaliser.

In the 25th minute Dan Glazer was the first player to be booked for a foul on Atzili who blasted his free kick against the wall from the edge of the area. Maccabi came close to double the score as Perica rose high to meet Gabi Kanichowsky’s cross into the area, but despite sending a powerful header which threatened to rocket in, Josh Cohen pulled a reflex save and push the ball out for a corner. Muhammad Abu Fani limped off and replaced at Haifa by Ali Mohamed on the half hour mark and less than a minute later the visitors were back on level terms through Sun Menachem.

The fourth official indicated 5 minutes of added time to the first half and less than sixty seconds later Sheran Yeini released Brandley Kuwas who blasted a left foot drive that Cohen could only punch put for a corner. From the resulting corner, Yeini was allowed a free header but sent the ball to the wrong side of the post. Maccabi continued to push forward and came close to restore the lead but Biton sent a weak shot that Cohen collected with ease.

Second Half

With no changes at halftime, Kuwas began the second half where he left off as in the 50th minute he blasted a powerful left foot drive that Cohen tipped over the bar. Dolev Haziza curled a shot that narrowly missed Peretz’s goal on 52.  A minute later, Biton was given a chance to show his skills with a direct free kick which he curled wide.

In the 59th minute, Bloomfield stadium erupted as Yeini beat a Haifa defender with a close dribble inside the area before teeing-up Perica who sent his shot under Cohen to make it 3-1.  Peretz pulled another stunning save to deny Haziza who sent a dangerous right foot shot from the corner of the area in the 73rd minute.

Yeini came close to score a goal himself as Luis Hernandez headed a ball across the area which the skipper chested down but had his shot deflected for a corner. Patrick van Leeuwen made his first change in the 80th minute as Avi Rikan replaced the tired Biton for the final 10 minutes. Yeini then received treatment for a head injury following a collision with Haifa’s Ori Dahan than left the skipper with a blue band on his head.

An exchange of passes between Kuwas and Perica in the 84th minute left Rikan with time and space to blast a shot which he sent narrowly wide of the target. Van Leeuwen made his second substitution as Eden Shamir replaced Yeini in the 88th mnute.

An exchange of passes between Kuwas and Perica in the 84th minute left Rikan with time and space to blast a shot which he sent narrowly wide of the target. Van Leeuwen made his second substitution as Eden Shamir replaced Yeini in the 88th mnute.

Inside injury time Kuwas bowed out to a standing ovation as he was replaced by Eylon Almog while Osama Khalaila came in for Perica.

Almog managed to get the ball in the back of the net which would have made it 3-1 hadn’t the referee canceled the goal and blown the full time whistle. But that didn’t dampen the celebrations at the end of the game as Maccabi recorded yet another league win over the bitter rival.

 

“It is nice to score and give assists but it is never just about those who score and give assists, it was a great team effort by the entire team. We must improve and I hope we will do so in the forthcoming weeks”.

Biton, also related to Saturday’s league match against Maccabi Haifa when he added: “I know this is an important match to the fans as well as the team, I expect them to show up and cheer us on”.