February is about over and it’s time to vote for the HISENSE Player of the Month for a chance to win a brand new TV.

Maccabi FIRST members can choose the player that they thought were the best of the best beginning today Wednesday February 27, 2019 until Saturday March 2nd at 22:00. At 17:00 on Sunday March 3, 2019 all those who chose the winning player will receive an SMS with a trivia question. The first to answer correctly will win a 32” TV from HISENSE.

For the rules and regulations, click here.

Sheran Yeini, the Maccabi Tel Aviv Captain looked back at his side’s 0:0 draw against Bnei Sakhnin and advancing to the State Cup semifinals:

“At Maccabi every match is a chance to prove oneself. We want to play well and win and that’s the great thing about the coach and the staff who always demand that we work hard and give our all. So we have to always give our utmost.”

About Schoenfeld, Tibi and Tenenbaum having a chance to play:
“Every player wants to prove that they can play and all three are wonderful players. We have complete trust in them and it’s great to play with them. Eitan Tibi and I have played together for many years and I enjoy playing with him.”

Continuing to play well:
“It’s true we had few matches in which we could have played better but we always want to push ourselves and we have goals that we want to reach. We are playing well and we want to continue that way in all of the competitions.

Being professionals:
“We know that every training session is important and we put in time doing other things including the workout room or with our nutrition. We want to be professionals all the way until the end of the season and win it all.”

Vladimir Ivic, the Maccabi Tel Aviv Head Coach spoke about his squad’s goalless draw against Bnei Sakhnin that saw the Yellow & Blue advance to the State Cup semifinals:

“It was an interesting game because we had a lot of players who hadn’t played in while. They showed that they wanted to win the game and created some chances. In the second half we had ten players and we tried to keep the line to create from the transition game. We had 2-3 possibilities to score. I expected a more difficult second half but our opponent didn’t create many chances. We are now in the semifinals and that is most important.”

Looking to improve:
“We had a very good first game and this second game we wanted to win but we ended 0:0. We are now in the next round and we have to concentrate on the next game which is a league match. We are a professional team and we want to win every game and we have some things we need to improve.”

Deserving to play:
“We have 22 players and all of them deserve to play. Every week we have a problem as to who will play but I try to take 100% of all of them and put the best 11 in every game. We are on the way to something special for this year.”

The treble?
“This was out target at the beginning of the year we will fight for these titles.”

Maccabi Tel Aviv advanced to the Israel State Cup semifinals after a 0:0 draw (4:1 aggregate) against Bnei Sakhnin in the second leg of the quarterfinal contest at the Netanya Stadium. The Yellow & Blue will now prepare for Saturday’s League clash at Ashdod.

Head Coach Vladimir Ivic’s Starting XI included Daniel Tenenbaum, Maor Kandil, Eitan Tibi, Jair Amador, Ophir Davidzada, Sheran Yeini, Ruslan Barsky, Avi Rikan, Yonatan Cohen, Itay Shechter, Aron Schoenfeld.

Available on the bench: Daniel Peretz, Eli Dasa, Enric Saborit, Chico Ofoedu, Dor Micha, Eliran Atar, Shahar Piven.

First Half
Following a quiet opening quarter hour, Cohen picked up a yellow card and in the 22’ the same Cohen tried to cross the ball into the box but the Sakhnin keeper Matan Ambar cut it off. Two minutes later Schoenfeld left the ball for Rikan but his blast was saved by an alert Ambar.

An active Cohen sent a scorcher from 30 meters towards the Sakhnin goal but Ambar again made the stop in the 26’ while Schoenfeld’s long distance attempt went over the goal as Maccabi continued to threaten. In the 35’ Yeini sent the ball to Cohen who handed it off to Schoenfeld but the striker’s chance just cleared the bar and two minutes later Cohen’s free kick just went over the goal.

However, Cohen was booked for his second yellow card and sent off in the 40’ as Maccabi was forced to play the balance of the match with ten men. Tenenbaum took care of a dangerous cross right before the break as the sides went into halftime goalless.

Second Half
Davidzada and Schoenfeld exchanged passes in the 48’ but the Sakhnin defense cut off the threat and 3 minutes later Rikan’s long distance chance was saved by Ambar. Dor Micha entered the match in favor of Shechter in the 70’ to freshen up the attack.

Micha made his way into the box in the 73’ but his cross just missed Kandil and 4 minutes later Davidzada found Rikan in the area but the latter skied the ball over the goal. Eli Dasa came on fro Rikan in the 81’ and three minutes later Schoenfeld unleashed a screamer of an opportunity but Ambar was in place to make the save.

The sides traded chances over the last ten minutes but neither found the back of the goal as the contest ended in a goalless draw.

After a 4:1 win over Bnei Sakhnin away in the first leg of the Israel State Cup quarterfinals, Maccabi Tel Aviv will host the 2nd leg at the Netanya Stadium this evening at 20:45.

Maccabi enters the contest after defeating Maccabi Petah Tikva 2:0 in league play and will visit Ashdod this coming Saturday on Matchday 25. Dor Peretz, Dan Glezer and Omer Atzili will all be unavailable due to yellow card accumulation.

Sakhnin comes into this evening’s match in good form after beating Bnei Yehuda 2:1 this past weekend in league action. However, they are still battling relegation and are in last place five points away from the safety zone.

The last league match between the two sides took place at Doha Stadium and ended in a 0:0 draw after Maccabi had won the last 8 contests against Bnei Sakhnin.

No stopping
Are you looking for more Maccabi records from this season? Saturday’s 2:0 win over Maccabi Petah Tikva marks a streak of 30 straight undefeated matches which matches the record set in 1958/59. Maccabi Haifa holds the league record of 46 straight matches without a defeat.

This was the 3rd match in a row that Maccabi defeated Maccabi Petah Tikva by the score of 2:0 at home.

The match before the streak of three 2:0 home wins in a row ended in a 2:1 victory in Cup action against Petah Tikva.

This was the 5th match that the Yellow & Blue hosted Maccabi Petah Tikva at the Netanya Stadium (4 wins, 1 draw). Goal differential: 9:0 – which means that Petah Tikva has yet to score against Maccabi in Netanya.

Defensive records
The Maccabi defense can put another check mark on their 13th clean sheet out of 24 league matches this season.

In fact, Maccabi has only given up 3 goals in 12 home contests this season – which matches the record set in 1957/58 by keeper Avraham Bendori.

Only Hapoel Haifa in 1999 and Beitar Jerusalem in 1978 conceded less goals (2 each) in the first 12 home matches of the season.

This was the third league match that keeper Predrag Rajkovic and Maccabi kept a clean sheet while central defender Jair Amador was part of the last two.

Micha’s numbers
Dor Micha scored his 3rd goal over his last 4 matches and his 6th of his last 10.

#15 also has 4 assists in his last 10 matches.

In league play, Micha has 4 goals this campaign while in 2012/13 and 2014/15 he had 5 league goals throughout the entire season.

Enric Saborit assisted on Maccabi’s second goal for his first league helper this season and brought his total to 3 across all competitions.

Where does Atar rank in goals scored all time?
Maccabi scored their first penalty since Matchday 10 (Omer Atzili against Kiryat Shemona) and it was Eliran Atar’s first spot kick since Matchday 19 against Hapoel Ashkelon last season.

Atar’s goal moved him to the top of the Israel Premier League Ligat Japanika goal scorers list with 11 markers and moved past Mavis Tchibota and Fatos Beciraj which each have 10.

Across all competitions, Atar now has 19 goals this season.

He is also sitting in 7th place on the Maccabi all-time goal scoring list (moved past Itzik Zohar) with 71 league goals. In addition, that was Atar’s 120th league goal (71 Maccabi, 26 Bnei Yehuda, 23 Maccabi Haifa) and is 25th overall in league history.

Running Stats
Dan Glezer ran the most – 11km while Dor Micha came in second with 10.4km.

Eliran Atar had the most sprints with 66 on the Netanya Stadium pitch.

Atar (31.8kph) and Chico Ofoedu (31.7kph) ran the fastest among the Maccabi players according to league statistics.

Maccabi Tel Aviv hosts Bnei Sakhnin in the 2nd leg of the State Cup quarterfinals clash on Tuesday February 26th (20:45) at the Netanya Stadium. Tickets are on sale now to the general public
Tickets are on sale via the Leaan Ticket Agency located at 42 Frishman Street, by phone *8780 and via the Leaan Website.

Ticket Prices
Home printing is available

Ticket Prices Leaan Ticket Office – 35NIS Upper & Lower East Side Sections (unreserved)
Ticket Prices Phone/Website – 40NIS 35NIS Upper & Lower East Side Sections (unreserved)

Ticket Collection
Tickets may be collected at the Leaan Ticket Office located at 42 Frishman Street between Sunday-Thursday 09:00-19:00, Friday 09:00-13:30.
Tickets may be collected on Matchday at the Stadium ticket windows beginning 3 hours prior to the match until 45 minutes after the start of the match.

Itay Shechter, the Maccabi Tel Aviv striker summed up his side’s 2:0 win over Maccabi Petah Tikva:

“I feel good and I’m happy with the win, we knew it would be a tough match and they would pack in the defense. But we found a way to beat them and took the 3 points.”

Honoring Avi Cohen:
“We began the day with an emotional ceremony honoring the late Avi Cohen and we had to find a way to win on a day like today in front of a sold out crowd.”

Every match is important:
“I don’t think we’re on a rollercoaster. Most matches we are playing well and some game we score later, but you can ease who well we play together. We opened up a big gap in front of the second place team but we have to be focused on our goals ahead. There are teams that are battling for their lives. At Maccabi Tel Aviv every match is important and we have to maintain our intensity as we have the State Cup ahead of us and fans that want to see us play. Those who won’t show their qualities won’t have the opportunity to play.

The role of the striker:
“I’m a striker so there are times when you play more, when the ball goes in and when it doesn’t. I came here to help Maccabi Tel Aviv and when I do play we look good. Sometimes I score and sometimes my teammates score but the most important thing is Maccabi Tel Aviv and that we win.”

Atar’s penalty:
“I didn’t notice that the player had touched the ball, but Eliran took it and scored.”

Working hard:
“It’s great that I have the faith of Ben and the coach. We also have Chico and Aron who can play striker and Chico has played really well of late. Sometimes I play and sometimes Chico but it’s great that we have the trust of the coach. We are having a historical season and it’s not easy to maintain the same intensity match after match but we have a great group of guys that work hard every training session. We also have a great professional and medical staff that make sure we are all doing well.”