Maccabi held 23 league matches so far at Sammy Ofer stadium that will stage the match. The record currently stands on 62.3%: 11 victories, 10 draws and 2 defeats.

Maccabi is the team with the best success rate at the Haifa stadium even better than the two clubs that host their home league matches at the venue (Maccabi Haifa 56%) and (Hapoel Haifa 41.7%).

In the last seven seasons, Hapoel Haifa scored the largest number of goals against Maccabi from the 90^th minute onwards.

Since the 2014/15 season Hapoel Haifa scored 5 injury time goals, 2 of which didn’t influence the outcome of the game. Two injury time goals led to draws, while one goal awarded Haifa a victory.

On the other hand, when both teams met earlier this season, a dramatic match saw Maccabi win 4-3 thanks to a 95th minute Yaonatan Cohen penalty – after coming back from a 2-0 early deficit and an 87^th minute 3-2 Haifa lead.

This was the seventh match in the history that Maccabi manages to come-back from a to-goal deficit and record a victory. The last time such a scenario happened was the 2012/13 season and the famous 4-3 victory over Ramat Hasharon.

Rafi Levy, who died last week at the age of 83, is the top scorer against Hapoel Haifa with 10 goals. Shiye Glazer and Avi Nimni have 9 goals each.

Maccabi has 13 victories over teams coached by Haim Silvas.

Hapoel Haifa’s coach has 1 victory and 2 draws against Maccabi, and holds a success rate of 10.5% – the lowest of the 48 coaches that met Maccabi for 15 matches or more.

Maccabi set a new Israeli record

The current maccabi team set an outstanding new Israeli record which was never seen in the top flight: Of the last 100 league matches, Maccabi won 72, drawn 24 and lost only 4 matches.

This is the smallest number of defeats a top flight Israeli side has had in a 100 successive league matches. The previous record of 7 defeats in a 100 matches was held by Maccabi (between August 2017 and June 2020) and Hapoel Be’ersheva (Between October 2015 and May 2018).

The reigning Champions extended their run to 18 unbeaten home matches against Ashdod (since January 2006).

This is Maccabi’s second longest run in the history of the club and 2 matches short of the record home run Maccabi has against Bnei Sachnin – 20 unbeaten home matches (since March 2005).

Van Leeuwen’s best start in the club’s history

Maccabi’s coach Patrick van Leeuwen continues his extra ordinary run. Since taking over the role of Head Coach, Van Leeuwen  recorded 10 wins and 1 draw in the league.

This is the best start to a tenure in the league’s history equalling the record of Gaol Mechlis who guided Maccabi to the same record in the 1953/54 season.

Van Leeuwen and Maccabi recorded their seventh successive league victory for the first time since April 2019.

In terms of the players, Matan Hozez, who was involved in two goals against Ashdod scored his 3^rd senior Maccabi goal and delivered his fourth assist. He also became the fourth Maccabi player this season to successfully score a penalty as he joins Yonatan Cohen (2), FDan Biton and Aleksandar Pesic.

Only in the 2017/18 and 1999/2000 seasons more players (5 in each season) scored from the penalty spot.

           

“In every game we do our job and I am glad I was able to help the team” Tenenbaum said, “We knew that Ashdod are a good side, they are currently ranked third on merit. We could have taken a three goal lead in the opening stages, but this is how the game panned out and I am glad I was able to help. Now we are back to a two-point-deficit from first place which is our target – to be top at the end of the season”

Maccabi Tel Aviv returned to league action with a 3-1 victory over Ashdod at Bloomfield stadium.

Goals from Eyal Golasa (15), Matan Hozez (74), and Avi Rikan (90+3) sealed the win to restore the two point deficit from the top of the table.

First Half

Maccabi began the game on the front foot with pressure on Ashdod that struggled to even cross the halfway line in the first 10 minutes. Crosses from Enric Saborit and Matan Hozez managed to cause Ashdod’s defense all sorts of problems. In the fifth minute, Andre Gerlades was given the time and space to break from the right and send a square ball which was cleared out of the danger zone before Etey Shechter could tap it home.

Dan Biton and Eyal Golasa exchanged passes in the 14th minute before Biton’s left foot shot was saved by Yoav Gerafi for a corner. A minute later the pressure paid off as Biton’s shot from inside the area struck the base of the post and as Ashdod tried to clear the ball struck Golasa and rebounded in to open the score. The first time Ashdod crossed the center circle in the 19th minute, Moussa Bagayoko, tried launching a long range effort that sailed high over Daniel Tenenbaum’s goal.

Tenenbaum pulled a stunning double save on 24 as Bagayoko skipped past a Luis Hernandez tackle and sent a cut back to Firas Abu Akel whose shot deflected off Yeini. Tenenbaum managed to push the ball initially but then spread himself to deny Dean David from pushing in the rebound from point blank range.

Second Half

With a 0-1 deficit at halftime, Ashdod’s coach, Ran Ben Shimon, made a double change at the restart as Stav Turiel and Oz Bilu replaced Mohamad Kna’an and Bagayoko for the restart. Tenenbaum however began the second half where he left off as he stretched himself to push a dangerous header out for a corner. Etey Shechter came close to double Maccabi’s lead on 51 as he picked up the inside the area, before his effort was blocked by Timoti Awani.

Ben Shimon sent in Omri Ben Harush for Awani on 58 while Van Leeuwen made a triple change of his own right on the hour mark as Dan Glazer, Tal Ben Chaim and Nick Blackman came in for Shahar Piven, Biton and Shechter.

Zohar Zasno flashed a shot which crept just over on 64 while a minute later Tenenbaum blocked a Dean David dangerous shot for a corner. Hozez forced Gerafi to stretch himself and push out a dangerous left foot shot on 69 while Avi Rikan replaced Golasa a minute later as Van Leeuwen made his fourth change.

In the 73rd minute Maccabi were awarded a penalty as Fahad Bayo pulled down Peretz who was trying to reach Ben Chaim’s corner. Hozez stepped up, sent Gerafi the wrong way and successfully converted the spot kick to double the score. 

Matan Baltxa replaced Enric Saborit allowing the Spanish left back a few precious minutes of a rest. Tenebaum pulled another stunning save deny Hayford Adjei in injury time, but from the resulting corner Maccabi took the game beyond Ashdod’s reach. Ben Chaim began a counter attack, Blackman flicked the ball to the path of Hozez whose cross was squeezed in by Rikan to make it 3-1.

“The result is very important especially in view of the tight schedule” Hozez said, “I think that up until their goal, we dominated the play, reached loads of chances and everyone could be delighted with our performance. There were 10 nervous minutes when they managed to score a goal that cut the deficit, but still, the teams deserves a lot of credit for holding on and protecting the lead”.

It seems as though Dor Peretz’s good form in the last month was something you didn’t miss.

The box-to-box midfielder who covered every patch on the pitch and contributed with two goals, one of them a dramatic winning goal against Bnei Sachnin, was voted by you as the B.S.R February Player of the Month.

Besides Peretz who captured first place, you were also impressed by the form of Matan Hozez, Tal Ben Chaim and Aleksandar Pesic gave him a good fight to fall short of the first place.