Category: News

So what’s special about the date on which we play Kiryat Shmona?

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Maccabi Tel Aviv’s will host Hapoel Kiryat Shmona at Bloomfield on Sunday (kickoff 20:15) and it will be the 33rd meeting between the two sides in the league. To date, Maccabi have won 18 times, there have been seven draws and the visitors from the north have won eight times. The goal difference is 58-37 in favour of Maccabi.

The past eight meetings have yielded wins for Maccabi and that is three short of the record for wins over the same opponents which was set against Hapoel Acre in 2017-18 and Zafririm Holon in 2000-01.

There have been 16 home games against Kiryat Shmona with 12 wins for Maccabi, three draws and two losses. The  goal difference is 39-14. In the last 11 home games against Kiryat Shmona there have been ten wins and one draw.

In the previous meeting against Kiryat Shmona in the north, Maccabi set the new all-time league record of going 1,002 minutes without conceding a goal. Now, Maccabi need three more games without letting in a goal to break their own 21 matches without conceding in a season. That mark was set in 2011-12.

Eighteen players have turned out for both sides over the years but Eitan Tibi is the only current player who has also played for Kiryat Shmona.

Eran Zahavi has scored most goals against our visitors, with 12, while Eliran Atar is second with seven.

There have been nine penalties in matches between the two clubs (five for Maccabi and four for Kiryat Shmona, and all have been converted. That has been bettered only in clashes against Ashdod SC where all 13 penalties have been converted.

The match will be held on February 16 and it corresponds to the date last year when Maccabi also hosted Kiryat Shmona, although a year ago it was in Netanya, where Maccabi won 3-0. It is the 14th time that year after year, Maccabi meet the same opponents on the same date.

Maccabi Academy morning sessions at northern branch

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Maccabi Tel Aviv’s Youth Academy is continuing to expand its curriculum under the oversight of Robin Verheul at the northern base at Tel Aviv University and is offering the future generation of players more support as they aim to develop their skills.

Verheul has this season introduced special one-hour training sessions for under-13s and under-14s on Mondays and Wednesdays starting at 7 a.m. before they head to school. He is also working individually with the youngsters.

The sessions are an addition for the players who continue their usual training at the Academy, which is managed by Patrick Van Leeuwen.

Training focuses on specific footballing skills with the aim of raising the tempo of the players as they get older.

Verheul said: “We open our training with a warm-up that involves coordination with and without the ball, each player then practices in his own position on the pitch and this is how we manage to hone their correct movement skills.

“During training we also work on technical elements, coordination, passing, ball control, tactics and completing moves in front of goal. We aim for a high work rate and players receive specific tuition to improve their own abilities in their expected positions. They also receive great guidance in their ball skills.”

Italy Rosencrantz from Boys a North and Roy Geresh from Boys B North said the additional training was helping them improve greatly.

“I arrive with huge motivation in the morning and try not to miss any sessions. These sessions feel like personal training because I get so much more time on the ball and that helps me improve my control and my confidence,” Rosencrantz said.

Geresh, from the younger team, who has been with the club for seven years said he enjoys getting up early in the morning to come to training.

“These sessions improve me as a player and it will be beneficial in the long term. We also manage to fit these session in with school so our studies are not affected.”

Watch the clip to see some of the training.

Under-19s inflict 6-1 drubbing on Sakhnin

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Maccabi “Shahar” Tel Aviv displayed their full dominance over visitors Bnei Sakhnin at Ness Ziona in their under-19 league clash on Saturday and delivered a thrashing that consolidated their second place in the division.

Ronen Hanchis got Maccabi off to their flyer in the eighth minute as he chipped the ball over Sakhnin’s advancing goalkeeper and the ball landed in the back of the net.

Maccabi had to wait until the 37th minute for their second goal, when Parfait Guiagon, who was instrumental in scoring the first goal, passed the ball to Rave Assayag and he tapped the ball home.

At this point, Sakhnin were still in the running and pulled back with a goal of their own four minutes later when Nassim Abu Younes headed in, but things slipped away badly from them in the second half.

Yahli Lazar restored the two-goal advantage in the 59th minute, rolling the ball into an empty net as the goalkeeper was off his line and then Asayag made it 4-1 in the 74th minute. He added a fifth goal in the 77th minute to complete his hat trick and Hanchis completed the rout with a powerful shot in the 81st minute.

Youth fixtures this weekend

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Maccabi Tel Aviv “Shahar” host their under-19 counterparts from Bnei Sakhnin at Ness Ziona on Saturday, kickoff at 11:00 in the 20th round of action. Maccabi are in second place and. Sakhnin are 13th in the standings. Both sides will want to better the result of their previous meeting which ended 1-1.

U16 host Hapoel Hadera at Kiryat Shalom at 09:00 and will be looking to ride the momentum of of their big win last weekend and from second place in the standings, they will feel confident of another good result against their visitors, who are in 13th place. In the previous meeting, Hadera won 3-2.

U15 will play against Beitar Jerusalem at Bayit Vagan at 09:00.

U17 are on an international break.

Maccabi “Shahar” lose 1-0 to Kiryat Shmona

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Maccabi Tel Aviv’s under-19 side on Wednesday lost their replayed fixture against Kiryat Shmona in the north to a single goal scored in the fifth minute of injury time.

The game had to be replayed because the original fixture on Saturday was abandoned at halftime with Maccabi leading 2-1 when the pitch was deemed unplayable because of heavy rain.

Maccabi dominated throughout but had nothing to show for their efforts and were unable to convert several good chances. They finally conceded a late goal against the run of play just before the referee blew the final whistle in the fifth minute of injury time.

Rikan: We will do our best regardless of previous results

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Maccabi Tel Aviv midfielder Avi Rikan spoke to reporters ahead of next Sunday’s TASE Premier League clash with Hapoel Kiryat Shmona at Bloomfield (kickoff 20:15) and said the team was looking forward and trying to put the disappointment of the late equaliser last week by Hapoel Haifa behind them.

“We have got over the last game. I don’t think there is going to be any relation to what happened in Haifa when we take the field on Sunday. Once a game is over, we look forward to the next challenge,” Rikan said.

Asked whether Maccabi’s less emphatic results of late were a seasonal thing, Rikan responded: “I don’t think there is a connection to the time of year, and us dropping more points. Each game has to be viewed in context.”

He said that it was not easy to explain why despite dominating so many games and situations, there were relatively few goals, which cost points in some cases.

“It’s hard to explain why this is the case. We always say that we were in control and we would never lose if we were able to score. We are obviously doing things correctly but when we are in control we do need to score more. We are in control in the games, although it may not only be in attacking situations, but our opponents have few chances to score, which is good, although let’s not forget that there are some good teams in the league.”

He said Eran Zahavi’s addition to training with the club was a welcome addition.

“It’s good to see Eran Zahavi training with us, he gives us a push and it’s to our advantage.”

Ivic says Dor Peretz is fit to play

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Maccabi Tel Aviv will be back in action at Bloomfield on Sunday, kickoff at 20:15, against Hapoel Kiryat Shmona in the 24th round the TASE Premier League and coach Vladimir Ivic said at the pre-match news conference that he expected another difficult game against a team fighting to avoid relegation.

“We know that we will have a tough game against Kiryat Shmona who are fighting for survival in the league, we are preparing for this and we want to get back to winning ways. I consider every game we play will be hard game and every one is important, whether in the first round or the last,” the coach said.

Ivic informed that he had been told by the team doctor that Dor Peretz, who has been sidelined with injury, has been given the all clear to play and that he is in good shape, and that the team were happy to have him back.

Eran Zahavi joins Maccabi training

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Maccabi Tel Aviv is pleased to welcome Eran Zahavi to Kiryat Shalom.

Maccabi Tel Aviv FC agreed to the request of Eran Zahavi to train with the first team.

In view of this difficult time in China, Maccabi Tel Aviv has agreed to allow Eran to train with the first team and maintain his fitness ahead of the Israel National team’s match against Scotland on 26 March.