“It is a feeling of a missed opportunity”, the right back said after the game, “We want to win every game, we certainly didn’t plan to open the season this way. We have a very important match on Wedbesday, the league had 34 more rounds still to play and we will try and force a positive momentum on Wednesday which will reflect on the league. The season is long and the change can be made, we are professionals and there are less pleasant moments in football, we can’t celebrate all the time”.

Maccabi returned to Bloomfield stadium after the international break, for an away match against Bnei Yehuda aiming to bounce back and return to their winning ways.

Maccabi’s coach Georgios Donis made 2 changes to the starting line up which suffered a 2-1 defeat to Maccabi Petah Tikva on the opening day of the season. Ofir Davidzada replaced the injured Enric Saborit on the left side of defense completing a back four which includes Ben Bitton, Eitan Tibi and Sheran Yeini.

The midfield trio of Dan Glazer, Dor Peretz and Avi Rikan who celebrated his 32nd birthday during the week, all kept their place. Yonatan Cohen, who made a substitute apperance against Petah Tikva replaced Dan Biton, while Eylon Almog was named as the second winger leaving Nick Blackman to lead the attack upfront.

Bnei Yehuda arrived at the match confident on the back of their 3-0 victory over Bnei Sachnin on the opening day, as Elisha Levy named three central defenders in a five-man defensive line.

Maccabi looked dangerous right from the start as Elison Dos Santos was booked in the opening minutes for hacking down Almog just outside the area. But the chance was wasted as Rikan failed to connect onto Yonatan Cohen’s cross before the latter tried testing the keeper with a right foot drive. Ofir Davidzada could have opened the score with a free header following a corner, but the left back sent the header to the wrong side of the post. Bnei Yehuda took the lead in the 20th minute and against the run of play as Dan Mor found Dor Jan behind Maccabi’s defensive line before the former Maccabi academy graduate chested the ball and blasted it past Daniel Tenenbaum.

In the 27th minute Rikan came close as he received the ball from Cohen inside the area but his shot which beat Oner Nir’on struck the base of the post. Two minutes later, Almog unleashed a dangerous shot which deflected off a defender and threatened to dip in, only to see Nir’on tip the ball over for a corner.

The halftime whistle of referee David Fuxman sent both teams into the dressing rooms to catch for a 15 minute breather and escape the hot and humid weather conditions.

Donis made two changes at the restart as Eyal Golasa and Dan Biton came in for Avi Rikan and Dor Peretz.

Five minutes later Biton fed Almog who had only Nir’on to beat but his left foot shot didn’t trouble the keeper.

Maccabi came close to restore parity on 57 as Davidzada’s cross fell to Biton whise shot was blocked for a corner. Donis sent in a fresh pair of legs as Tal Ben Chaim replaced Almog on 59.

Maor Kandil came in for Ben Bitton for the final 20 minutes as Maccabi continued dominating the play.

Dos Santos had another Schechter effort blocked on 79 but within less than a minute, Maccabi were rewarded for their efforts. Schechter sent a back-heal flick to Biton who floated the ball across the face of goal into the path of Kandil who volleyed into the roof of the net.

The comeback was complete within 90 seconds as Golasa threaded the ball to Schechter who didn’t lose his calm and slid the ball past Nir’on for Maccabi’s second, and his 101st career league goal.

Maccabi’s celebrations were shortlived as Dos Santos rose high in the 89th minute to head in a corner past Tenenbaum and make it 2-2.

Maccabi remain winless after two league matches, four days before hosting Dinamo Brest for the Champions League 3rd qualifying round.

 

The international break is behind us and on Saturday (20:30) league action resumes as Maccabi will face Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv at Bloomfield for an away match as part of MD2. Coach Georgios Donis and midfielder Dan Glazer spoke at the press conference ahead of the match that will see Maccabi wear the new Black away kit which was launched today (Thursday)

Dan Glazer, who attended the special press conference at Bloomfield spoke first of the new away kit: “The kit is very nice. It certainly breaks our routine. Black is something we never had, but we need to start getting used to win in every color. I am delighted that we got used to, but also got our opponents as well as the rest of the country that we are not losing. We are not used to lose, but just like we won together, one needs to know how to lose together. We will carry our feelings from the defeat in the first Matchday like men, and bring this frustration to Saturday’s match. There are many tactical differences between Ivic and Donis.