Maccabi Tel Aviv on Saturday backed up their midweek success in the 3-0 win over Bnei Yehuda with an emphatic 4-0 victory over Hapoel Kfar Sava at Bloomfield.

There is just over a week to go before the big clash with second-placed Maccabi Haifa at Sami Ofer stadium and the 7-0 goal difference tally will be a confidence booster for the boys in yellow and blue.

The victory over Kfar Sava was the first for almost two years since four different players scored in the same match. It was last achieved in January 2017 when Maccabi beat Hapoel Raanana 4-1.

The win was also the 11th year in a row that Maccabi have ended the calendar year with a league victory, a record that began in 2009 and is peerless among Israeli clubs.

Maccabi’s continued impressive defensive record continues and Daniel Tenenbaum has kept a clean sheet in 15 out of 16 matches this season. The club’s goal difference is also daunting, at 28-1.

Yonatan Cohen continues to rack up impressive stats too and he added an assist to the three he had against Bnei Yehuda and now leads the league with six to add to the six goals he has scored. 

Omer Atzili is another Maccabi forward with impressive stats and although he played for 72 minutes on Saturday, he made one assist and scored once, a third goal in two matches. 

The other strikers also cashed in and Itay Shechter and Chico Ofoedu also scored, respectively their third and fifth goals of the season.

Midfielder Dan Glazer had two telling passes that led to goals against Kfar Sava, while in defence Enric Saborit won 10 of 14 tackles with opponents, Eitan Tibi was nine from 13 and Jair Amador was five from six. Jair led with 13 dispossessions and Saborit had 10.

Maccabi Tel Aviv striker Itay Shechter, who scored the first goal in Saturday’s 4-0 win over Hapoel Kfar Sava was in good spirits after the victory at Bloomfield and he talked to reporters about the wake-up call in the State Cup defeat to Hapoel Umm El Fahm and what to expect for the next game against Maccabi Haifa on January 6.

“We played well against Bnei Yehuda (in the 3-0 win mid-week). We weren’t spectacular but we did well.”

“For me, as a striker, to score gives me confidence after a period in which I alternated between the bench and the pitch. We are very happy with this win. We can celebrate now for a day or two after beating Kfar Sava but then it will be back to the hard grind.”

“The loss to Umm El Fahm stunned us a little and I think that there are times in football when you need to be punished in order to be spurred into greater action. It’s has happened to bigger clubs than Maccabi Tel Aviv and we weren’t expecting it, but a club like Maccabi is big enough to get over such things and we look ahead now to more success.”

“Umm El Fahm may be from a lower league but they have good players and I don’t underestimate them. Sometimes you don’t expect surprises and it’s hard to explain when they occur but such things have happened in far bigger leagues like in England, Germany and Spain.”

Shechter said good preparation and humility would be needed for next Monday’s clash with second-placed Maccabi Haifa at Sami Ofer Stadium. Haifa are just three points behind Maccabi in the TASE Premier League standings and the result will be crucial in the title race.

“Before a ‘match of the season’ you have to come prepared but we will have to be humble too. We can review how we did talk after the game. We must do our bit and the media can criticise afterwards.”

The striker said that the IFA Disciplinary Court to punish the vast majority of Maccabi supporters for the actions of a few unruly culprits who were caught after their actions during the Tel Aviv Derby was unjust.

“I hope the decision to punish Maccabi fans for the few who misbehaved during the Derby can be changed and I hope it will be. Those who were to blame were caught and there is no sense in punishing other decent and law-abiding fans. Bloomfield is a fortress for us with the help of the support of our loyal fans.”

Yonatan Cohen’s impressive form for Maccabi Tel Aviv continued on Saturday as the forward scored the spectacular third goal after setting up Omer Atzili’s strike in the 4-0 victory.

“I’m happy that we won and we look forward to the next challenge. Every team has its ups and downs, we are now getting better after a leaner spell, so it’s great to have many opportunities to score and it’s even better when you win in this manner,” he told reporters after the match.

Cohen said he was pleased to be back in the lineup after being sidelined briefly by coach Vladimir Ivic.

“The coach is the one who decides on the lineup and I accept whatever the decision is. Everything is okay now and I’m happy to be playing, scoring and helping others to score. I just wish I had been able to have more chances but one goal and an assist isn’t bad.”

Maccabi’s next league clash is against Maccabi Haifa and Cohen added: “It’s another three points, it won’t determine the outcome of the championship but we will be totally ready and committed.”

Maccabi Tel Aviv showed their superior class and were too good for Hapoel Kfar Sava in all departments in Saturday’s afternoon kickoff at Bloomfield as they notched a 4-0 win and swept their opponents aside.

It was one-way traffic for almost the entire 90 minutes as Kfar Sava were outclassed, and who for the last half hour were left with 10 men after having a player sent off. 

Maccabi looked confident from the start and Kfar Sava were barely able to mount a challenge. Indeed, Daniel Tenenbaum in the Maccabi goal only was tested seriously only once during the entire match.

Signs that a goal was in the offing came in the 15th minute when there were two close shaves within seconds, as first Eitan Tibi saw his header rebound off the post and then another header by Yonatan Cohen went just wide.

Itay Shechter finally converted a chance and in the 18th minute when unmarked in the area on the right, he blasted a right-foot shot diagonally high into the Kfar Sava net.

Omer Atzili made it 2-0 in the 55th minute with a powerful volley from 10 metres out after the ball was passed across the area from the left by Yonatan Cohen. 

Kfar Sava’s woes were compounded in the 60th minute when Mahmoud Youssef was sent off following a VAR review and referee Idan Leiba changed his yellow card to a red in response to Youssef going in studs first for a tackle on a Maccabi player.

Cohen finally got his own name on the score sheet after helping others score, he struck a similar, but even better goal to Schechter’s in the first half with a scorching left-footed shot from a sharp angle on the left that landed in the top right corner of the Kfar Sava net. 

Substitute Chico Ofoedu, now recovered from injury, completed the rout with a deflected header from close range gave Kfar Sava keeper Yigal Becker no chance to even react and the 9,549 fans who braved the cold and wet afternoon weather went home with a smile on their face. Kfar Sava had Becker to thank for ensuring the rout didn’t turn into an embarrassment as he made four additional good saves.

Maccabi’s next league clash will be away to second-placed Maccabi Haifa at Sammy Ofer Stadium on January 6.

The upcoming meeting between Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Kfar Sava will mark the 100th time the two clubs have met and it comes at the very end of the second decade of the 21st century.

There have been 86 league meetings, seven State Cup ties and six Toto Cup meetings between the two clubs. In the league, Maccabi have won 42 times, 28 clashes have ended in draws, and Kfar Sava have won on 16 occasions. The goal difference ratio is exactly two-to-one in favour of Maccabi, 140-70. 

In 44 home fixtures, Maccabi have won on 24 occasions, 13 matches have been drawn and Kfar Sava have won seven times. The goal difference is 80-35.

Maccabi’s biggest margin of victory, 5-0, has been achieved three times, twice in 1998-99 and in 2015-16.

Avi Nimni, Eli Driks and Benny Tabak are the most prolific scorers against Maccabi, with eight goals each. Two players have scored hat-tricks against Kfar Sava, Benny Tabak in 1988-89 and Andrej Koubica in 1998-99.

Kfar Sava’s current coach, Ophir Haim, is a product of Maccabi’s youth department and played for the full team 91 times in two stints between 1998-99 and 2005-06, scoring 11 goals. 

Over the years, 20 players have turned out for both clubs, including one foreign player, Jose Duarte.

This clash will be the last of 2019 for Maccabi and records since 2008-09 show a perfect that every year-end clash has ended in a win.

Maccabi Tel Aviv FC has received with great dismay the decisions handed down by the Israel Football Association (IFA) Disciplinary Court in response to the incidents that took place during the Tel Aviv Derby.

Despite all the efforts made by the club in conjunction with the security firm it employs and with the police to apprehend and punish fans who were involved in the unruly incidents during the Derby, the Court nevertheless decided to punish the club in a harsh and unprecedented manner that completely undermines the tireless efforts that the club has undertaken in recent years to battle unruly fan behaviour.

Such court rulings not only show a lack of support for the club in its efforts to isolate fans whose only intention is to disrupt order, it also completely ignores, indeed, it dismisses the club owners’ unflinching efforts in this regard. The owners allocate large funds to battle unruliness and specifically to ensure fans’ safety and law and order through the deployment of security personnel and technological means.

We find it bizarre that the Court has completely ignored the fact that a club’s vicarious liability for its fans must only be ascribed when no efforts have been made to identify and apprehend offenders, and clearly, this is not the case.

A decision such as the that handed down prompts honest and dedicated fans who have purchased season tickets in good faith with hard-earned money, and who did not attend, or were unable to attend the away match to turn their backs on the game through utter frustration at the actions of the Disciplinary Courts, the League Management and the Israel Football Association.

Maccabi Tel Aviv FC presented clear evidence of the efforts it has made to apprehend offenders and the Court should have taken these efforts into consideration. Moreover, it should have shown support for the club and its pro-active approach to tackle unruly fan behavior. But rather than show support, the court chose to punish the club with several penalties that we will appeal vigorously in the coming days.

The club has committed itself honestly and enthusiastically to take all required actions to tackle violence and these have yielded results, indeed the club should not have been expected to act any differently. Even if incidents such as those that occurred in the derby are repeated in the future, the Court’s decision cannot be seen as anything other than populist lip service that is detached from all reality and it sets a very poor precedent that makes no sense at all.