Maccabi Tel Aviv visits Ashdod on Saturday March 2nd at 18:20 on Matchday 25 of the Israel Premier League Ligat Japanika. The Yellow & Blue will head to the Yud Alef Stadium with ten goal of keeping their undefeated streak intact while the host’s are battling relegation.

Captain Sheran Yeini looked ahead to the match and spoke about the challenges ahead:

“In my opinion, Ashdod has one of the toughest pitches in the league and we know it will be a difficult match because they are battling for their lives. They have very loyal fans and we have to make sure that we are prepared for the contest.”

The beauty of football:
“Although the table doesn’t lie, the last place team can beat the first place team. That’s the beauty of football.”

The undefeated streak:
“We’re going into the match looking to play an attacking style of game and we’re not thinking about potentially losing. We want to continue our undefeated streak for as a long as possible and when we do lose we will have to get back up quickly, but we aren’t even thinking about that.”

March 2: Ashdod – Maccabi Tel Aviv, 18:20 Yud Alef Stadium
The Yellow & Blue’s first test this month will be an away match against a team who is battling relegation. This Matchday 25 Israel Premier League Ligat Japanika contest will see if Vladimir Ivic’s squad can maintain their current lead atop the table as the ready for the playoffs.

March 3: State Cup Semifinal Draw (15:30)
Bnei Yehuda, Maccabi Netanya or maybe Hadera? The start of the new week will determine who Maccabi will face in the Cup semifinals at Teddy Stadium in Jerusalem. Make sure to tune in and see who the Yellow & Blue will play on the Official Club Website and App.

March 11 (Date TBD): Maccabi Tel Aviv – Bnei Yehuda, Netanya Stadium
The regular season comes to an end on Matchday 26 with the Little Derby against Yossi Abuksis and his side. Last time the two met Maccabi recorded a 3:1 win at the Moshava Stadium.

March 16 (Date TBD): The Championship Playoffs begin
The last part of the season begins midmonth and although we know that Maccabi will end the regular season and host the 6th place club on this Matchday we still don’t know who their opponents will be. Right now there are a number of clubs battling it out for a Championship Playoff spot and here is the current table situation: 5. Beer Sheva (35p), 6. Hadera (32p), 7. Hapoel Haifa (31p), 8. Beitar Jerusalem (29p).

March 19-29 International Break
The Israel National Team will begin Euro 2020 qualification with a pair of home matches against Slovenia (March 21) and Austria (March 24). The league will take a two week break and some Maccabi players will be called up for duty under Head Coach Andi Herzog. Serbia and keeper Predrag Rajkovic will have a couple of top level contests when they face Germany in a friendly and Portugal in a qualifier.

March 30 (Date TBD): Championship Playoffs Matchday 2
March will end with another home match at the Netanya Stadium against the league’s 2nd place club who is yet to be determined. Currently the battle is as follows: 2. Maccabi Netanya (39p), 3. Maccabi Haifa (38p), 4. Bnei Yehuda (37p).

And that’s not all!
The rain has returned and it’s time to warm up. We have a great deal for you this weekend that you can’t afford to miss: Maccabi hooded sweatshirts 59 NIS instead of 119 NIS! Click Here to Purchase Now.

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.