Preview:
Maccabi Tel Aviv returned to Bloomfield on the back of two matches in which they didn’t record a victory or register a goal aiming to return to winning ways against Hapoel Haifa. Kenny Miller’s side that scored 18 and won all of their opening five league matches, were held to goalless draws by Bnei Sakhnin at Bloomfield and away to Beitar Jerusalem. Collecting the three points and putting an end to that two-match barren run, will take Maccabi back to the top of the table ahead of Thursday’s Tel Aviv derby in the Toto Cup Final.

Miller didn’t make too many changes from the side which was held to a goalless draw at Teddy stadium. Ofek Melika who didn’t have too much to do against Beitar kept his place in goal. Ali Camara and Raz Shlomo lined up as the two central defenders in front of the 21-year-old keeper. James Tavernier on the right and Noam Ben Harush on the left completed Maccabi’s back-four that has only conceded six league goals so far. Issouf Sisokho in the anchorman role made his 60th league appearance and 99th for Maccabi in all competitions. On his 200th appearance for the club, Gabi Kanichwsky joined Sissokho in the engine room as the 29-year-old midfielder will seek his 20th league goal. Maccabi’s captain Dor Peretz, is one goal short from 70 league goals and three short of a 100 goals in all competitions.

Helio Varela on one wing and Sagiv Jehezkel on the opposite flank supplied the width to Maccabi’s formation. While upfront, Miller named Elad Madmon in place of Ester Sokler giving the 22-year-old a chance to lead the attack.
On the bench alongside Sokler and goalkeeper Roi Mishpati, Miller named
Dan Glazer, Itamar Noy, Hisham Layous, Ido Shahar, Itai Ben Hamo, Noam Levi and
Osher Davida.

Prior to kickoff the fans paid tribute to Eran Zahavi who played for seven seasons at Maccabi during which he won 10 trophies and scored 205 goals in all competitions. A minute of applaud was also held in memory of former plater Rafi Baranes who featured for Maccabi between 1964-1970 winning 8 trophies and passed away in the summer at the age of 83. The memory of former chairman in the early 90’s Roni Kleiman who passed away at the age of 80 last month.

first half:

Maccabi began the match on the front foot and came close to score three minutes from the start as Dor Peretz and Elad Madmon exchanged passes before the striker fired a shot on target which was palmed away for a corner by Yoav Gerafi.
Peretz sent a half volley in the fifth minute over the crossbar before a Madmon right foot shot from inside the box in the tenth minute also cleared the crossbar.

Maccabi continued to dominate as the deadlock was finally broken in the 15th minute after Gabi Kanichowsky intercepted the ball deep inside Hapoel Haifa’s half and slipped it to Noam Ben Harush. The left back fed Madmon who controlled it with one touch before blasting a left foot dropkick into the roof of the net.

The visitors had the ball in the back of the after 23 minutes as Arial Mendy sent a left foot shot which rattled the crossbar before Alon Turgeman swept in the rebound. But Haifa’s celebrations were shortlived as VAR intervened and spotted an offside before the goal was scratched off to the delight of the majority of fans at Bloomfield stadium.

Eight minutes after the half hour mark Haifa were back on level terms as Turgeman fired a shot which was initially saved by Melika before the ball reached
Mendy who beat Melika with a low drive from a tight angle to level the score.

Inside first-half injury time, James Tavernier played a short corner to Issouf Sissokho, who unleashed a powerful shot that narrowly cleared the crossbar.

Seconds later, Helio Varela burst forward down the left before cutting the ball back for Peretz, who sliced his shot wide of the target. That proved to be the final action of the first half as referee David Fuxman blew his whistle for the interval.

Second half:
The second half began with Sagiv Jehezkel firing a long-range effort that was comfortably collected by Gerafi. At the opposite end, Mendy pounced on a loose ball that Ali Camara didn’t control well and charged forward before being brought down just outside the box by the Guinean central defender, who was consequently booked. Two minutes later, Liran Rotman fired a shot that Melika pushed away to deny the Hapoel Haifa forward. The end to end action continued as Jehezkel broke into the box but saw his powerful low drive strike the base of the post.

Varela fired a dangerous shot which Gerafi pushed for a corner before another goalmouth scramble led to another corner. This time Camara rose high to head in Tavernier’s cross and restore Maccabi’a lead on 55.

Three minutes later Maccabi’s blitz continued as Peretz scored the third. Jehezkel received the ball near the byline and cut it back to Madmon who let it run for the Maccabi captain who swept it home with a clinical finish for his 70th league goal.

Maccabi continued to press while the visitors crumbled on 62 as Issouf Sissokho won possession just inside Haifa’s half and released Madmon who turned provider as he slipped Jehezkel through. The 31 year old who only had Gerafi to beat, couldn’t miss as he fired in the fourth. Miller made a triple substitution as Sissokho, Kanichowsky and Jehezkel all bowed out and were replaced by Dan Glazer, Ido Shahar and Osher Davida.

In the 72nd the Haifaites cut the deficit as a diagonal ball carved Maccabi’s defense open and reached Turgeman who chipped Melika. Miller made another double substitution as Peretz and Madmon bowed out and were replaced by Itamar Noy and Ester Sokler.

Davida was inches away from getting his name on the scoresheet as his 76th minute effort struck the side netting.

In the 81st minute Maccabi scored the fifth as Varela forced a spectacular save from Gerafi before Haifa’s defense failed to clear the danger. Shahar’s attempt to shoot on target reached Camara who deflected the ball home to celebrate an uncharacteristic brace.

Maccabi scored the sixth in the 88th minute as Davida broke down the right and cut the ball for Noy who swept a right foot shot past Gerafi but didn’t celebrate against his former club.

 

 

Maccabi Tel Aviv host Hapoel Haifa at Bloomfield aiming to bounce back to winning ways following the two 0-0 draws against Bnei Sakhnin and Beitar Jerusalem.

 

Raz Shlomo spoke at the pre-match Press Conference, addressing the mood within the calp following two consecutive draws, his excellent individual form since the start of the season, and the keys to returning to winning ways.

On the points dropped in recent matches and the team’s performances in attack and defence, Shlomo replied: “We all work together, both on scoring goals and preventing them. We don’t divide ourselves into two separate units. We did some good things in the last two matches, even if we perhaps lacked a little sharpness. We created chances, and if we hadn’t been creating chances, we might have been a little more concerned. But I’m confident the goals and victories will come in the upcoming matches.”

On Maccabi’s results and the start to the season, the defender added: “On paper, we’ve played all the big teams and achieved good results, but as we saw against Sakhnin, for example, there are no easy matches in this league. It doesn’t matter who you’re playing, whether the opposition comes to defend or to play open football. We need to find ways to win the ‘less glamorous’ and ‘less attractive’ matches, so to speak. I hope we can start doing that tomorrow and get back to winning ways.”

Shlomo also addressed his individual performances and the excellent form he has shown since the beginning of the season: “I feel really good and I’m in excellent form. The real challenge is maintaining that level over a long period. As I’ve said in previous interviews, consistency is key. I haven’t done anything special. I’m simply taking things one match at a time rather than looking too far ahead. I’m happy with how things are going at the moment and I’m determined to keep it up.”

Finally, the defender was asked about the challenge posed by Hapoel Haifa’s attack and their leading striker, Alon Turgeman:

“He’s a very good player with plenty of experience and an impressive CV. We’ll watch the video footage, analyse their strengths and what they do well, but we’ll focus primarily on our own strengths as a team. We’ll know exactly how to stop them on the pitch.”

Kenny Miller’s side started the domestic league season with 17 points from a possible 21 which places Maccabi second in the table. After winning the first five matches, two 0-0 draws against Bnei Sakhnin and Beitar Jerusalem stretched Maccabi’s unbeaten run to seven matches. Despite the two clean sheets, Maccabi hasn’t found the back of the net, but Miller in ecouraged by the performance in both matches and remains confident in his squad’s ability to return to winning ways.

 

Maccabi Tel Aviv ended their WINNER League MD7 against Beitar Jerusalem at Teddy Stadium last night (Monday) in a frustrating 0-0 draw. After an action packed 90 minutes and a fiercely contested encounter in which Maccabi created plenty of chances to score but couldn’t find the net for the second match in succession, had to settle for a point.

After making his 199th appearance for the club in all competitions, Kanichowsky, didn’t hide his frustration with the fact the team ended another match without scoring. But at the same time the 29-year-old midfielder remained adamant that converting those is something which hasn’t changed the positive mood in the camp. “We had to score. We felt this was our game” he said. “It’s a tough feeling, and very frustrating. It was an incredibly high-tempo game at Teddy, with the amazing atmosphere everyone expects here. We did a lot of things right and created huge chances, in the first half, the second half and right in the closing seconds of the game, but the ball simply refused to go into the net. When you come to a stadium like this to face a strong team and create that many opportunities, you have to leave with all three points.”

On the back of a second match which ended in a goalless draw, Kanichowsky highlighted the differences and remained positive: “Unlike the game against Bnei Sakhnin, where we faced a very compact defense, the game at Teddy was much more open, and we created clear-cut, one-on-one-with-the-goalkeeper-type chances. We’re a very attacking team that scored a lot of goals at the start of the season, so when we fail to score in two consecutive games, the disappointment is considerable. We have no one to blame but ourselves. We needed to be more clinical in front of goal.”

“We’re maintaining consistency and looking ahead”
Kanichowsky also spoke about the atmosphere at the stadium and the support from the travelling Maccabi fans: “The atmosphere at Teddy is always special, and our fans once again pushed us on in an exceptional way throughout all 90 minutes. We felt their energy from the moment we came out for the warm-up, and we really wanted to repay them with a win and three points.”

Finally, the midfielder looked ahead to the rest of the season: “On the one hand, we’re maintaining our unbeaten record and kept a clean sheet in a very difficult away game. On the other hand, Maccabi Tel Aviv goes into every stadium looking to win. There’s still a long way to go this season. We have a quality, united squad, and we believe in our approach and our ability. We’ll keep our heads up and work hard in training on the small details to make sure the ball finds the net again in the next match.”

Preview:

Maccabi arrived at Teddy stadium for the MD7 WINNER League encounter against Beitar Jerusalem aiming to bounce back to winning ways following last week’s draw against Bnei Sakhnin. Maccabi are currently second with 16 points, two adrift of Maccabi Haifa, level with Hapoel Tel Aviv and Hapoel Be’ersheva and three points ahead fifth place Beitar.

Kenny Miller will try and guide his charges to victory at Teddy stadium where he won the State Cup Final on the final match of last season. Miller will have to do so against a side Maccabi failed to beat in four attempts last season, losing three and drawing once. In fact, over the past two seasons, Maccabi beat Beitar only once in eight matches, beating the Jerusalem side 5-0 on the final league match of the 2024/25 campaign.

The training ground injury Tyrese Asante picked which will sideline him for several months, meant that Miller will have to manage without the Dutch defender who joins a list of long-term absentees which includes Ion Nicolaescu, Denny Gropper and Kristijan Belic.

A player who fully recovered from the injury he picked before the international window is Helio Varela. The Cape Verde winger who made a second half substitute appearance against Sakhnin, returned to the side replacing Osher Davida.

Other than that, Miller didn’t make any changes as Ofek Melika started in goal behind an unchanged defense of Ali Camara and Raz Shlomo at the heart of defense, while James Tavernier and Noam Ben Harush as the full backs on the right and left respectively. Issouf Sissokho made his 98th appearance for Maccabi in the anchorman role, while he was joined in the engine room by Gabi Kanichowsky on his 199th appearance in Yellow and Blue. Dor Peretz, led the team out with the captain’s armband seeking his ninth league goal of the campaign and 13th in all competitions. With Varela named on one wing, Sagiv Jehezkel started on the opposite flank in support of Ester Sokler who led the line.

With only Itay Ben Hamo as a defensive cover, Miller named U19’s central defender Noam Levy for the first time in the squad. Levy joined goalkeeper Roi Mishpati, Dan Glazer, Elad Madmon, Itamar Noy, Hisham Layous, Ido Shahar, Itay Ben Hamo and Osher Davida.

First half:

A capacity crowd, with Yellow and Black filling three-quarters of the stadium and Yellow and Blue dominating the southwest corner, welcomed both teams onto the pitch.

Maccabi started the match on the front foot as Helio Varela dispossessed Nana Antwi and surged forward into the box in the opening minute. His initial effort was blocked, but the ball fell to Dor Peretz, who flashed his shot wide of the post.

Maccabi continued to push forward as another accurate diagonal ball from Helio Varela picked out Sagiv Jehezkel, who found himself in a promising position before sending a square ball across the face of goal, only for Beitar’s defence to block the danger. Maccabi continued to press forward as a perfect Yehezkel through ball released 3ster Sokler, who managed to send Varela. The Cape Verdean winger, spotted Beitar’s keeper Silva charge off out of his goal but curled his shot wide of the target and missed a glorious opportunity to put Maccabi in front. Beitar gradually managed to claw their way back into the game, and in the 16th minute, a counter-attack saw Ofek Melika punch away a dangerous cross before Maccabi’s defence managed to clear.

Beitar gradually managed to claw their way back into the game, and in the 16th minute, a counter-attack saw Ofek Melika punch away a dangerous cross before Maccabi’s defence managed to clear. Four minutes later, Beitar came even closer as Yarden Shuah slipped the ball through to Kalu, who chipped it over the advancing Melika, only to see his effort strike the post and roll out for a goal kick. A clever backheel flick from Shuah on the half-hour mark released Kalu once again, but his shot from the edge of the area failed to trouble Melika who collected with ease. On the stroke of half-time, Issouf Sissokho joined Ali Camara and Jehezkel as the third player to be booked by the referee with Beitar awarded a free kick. Shuah floated the ball towards Boris Enow whose header was initially punched away by Melika but fell to Omer Atzili who chested it down and with an open goal volleyed wide.

Second Half:

Neither side made changes at the interval, as the end-to-end action of the first half continued after the restart. Beitar looked dangerous as Shuah fired over the crossbar from a tight angle in the 57th minute. Right on the hour mark, Kenny Miller made a double substitution, introducing Elad Madmon and Osher Davida for Sokler and Jehezkel.

Davida’s bursting pace in the 64th minute sent the winger down the right before his square ball reached Gabi Kanichowsky, who was shoved to the ground. Dor Peretz tried a shot which was blocked and eventually reached James Tavernier, whose half-volley sailed wide. A swift Maccabi counter-attack in the 69th minute saw Peretz release Davida, who raced clear through, but with only the keeper to beat, curled his left-footed shot high and wide from a promising position. Atzili almost capitalised on a mix-up between Melika and Camara in the 73rd minute, but the Beitar winger blasted his shot over the crossbar.Kanichowsky came close in the 76th minute as he received perfectly

weighted through ball from Raz Shlomo. Kanichowsky skipped past a challenge but blasted his shot agonisingly wide of the target. A minute later Davida tore down the right and fed Peretz whose powerful drive was blocked by Bryan Carabali. A last gasp Shlomo tackle denied Ori Azo what would have been a dangerous chance. Shlomo limped off on 85 and was replaced by Itay Ben Hemo as Maccabi continued to press forward in search of a breakthrough. In the 87th minute, Peretz cut inside onto his right foot and unleashed a shot which Silva palmed away for a corner. A minute later, Maccabi carved out their best chance of the match as Madmon latched onto a through ball and beat Silva, who had charged out of his area in an attempt to head clear. The ball fell to Peretz, who had only Carabaly to beat on the goal-line, but somehow Maccabi’s captain saw his effort blocked by the Colombian defender. Despite not scoring for the second week in succession, Maccabi did everything but manage to get the ball in the back of the net which wouid have secured a victory.

Maccabi travel to Teddy Stadium tomorrow aiming to bounce back to winning ways following last week’s 0-0 draw against Bnei Sakhnin. Maccabi that failed to beat Beitar Jerusalem in four attempts last season, losing three and drawing once, have an extremely difficult task on their hands against a side that won four of its’ last matches.

Noam Ben Harush, who made 43 appearances in all competitions since joining Maccabi in the summer of 2025, spoke ahead of the match. “The day after the game, we were already focused on Beitar Jerusalem. We have a big game tomorrow, and we’re coming to win” Ben Harush said.

Beitar, which were forced to host its home matches this season outside Teddy will return to the capital for the first time this season. On the challenge of facing Beitar at Teddy Stadium and the results between the sides in recent years, the Ben Harush added: “We come into every game looking to win, regardless of the opposition. Things haven’t gone our way in previous meetings, but we’ve prepared better for this game. We already know what we’re going to do. We’re focused on ourselves and coming to win.”

“We haven’t looked at last season; this is a new season. We have a good team, a good coach and a good staff. We work hard, and in every game we’ve played this season, we’ve shown ourselves what we can do and where we can improve. We’re focused and coming to win.”

The right footed full-back, who has recently been playing at left-back, a role he has also filled for Israel’s Under-21 national side, said on playing in the two wide positions across the back: “I will play wherever I’m asked to. I’ve played in that position before, right-back or left-back, it makes no difference to me. The main thing is to get out there and play. That’s what matters most.”

The training ground injury Tyrese Asante suffered on Friday, which is set to sideline the Dutch defender for several months, rattled the team as Ben Harush admitted:
“It’s not easy, not easy at all. It hurts us all. Tyrese is genuinely a friend to everyone in the team and an asset to the Club, but I’m sure he’ll come back stronger, and he’ll still help us a great deal.”