The calendar year is about to come to a close and now’s the time to vote for the Goal of the Year presented by PenguinPickup. All you have to do is watch and vote. Better hurry up though as you’ll have until Sunday December 30th at 22:00 to make your choice and have a chance to win the Grand Prize of a Season Ticket for the 2019/20 campaign.

When does it happen? On Tuesday January 1, 2019 we’ll send an SMS to all those who voted for the winning goal with a trivia question. The first person to answer correctly wins!

Maccabi Tel Aviv begins 2019 with a home match against Maccabi Netanya on Monday January 7 at 21:00 on Matchday 17 and once the State Cup Round of 16 participants were established the Football League Administration published the dates and times for Matchdays 18-20.

In addition, information about the Yellow & Blue’s State Cup clash against Hapoel Acre was announced.

Matchday 18 – January 14, Monday 21:00 Moshava Stadium: Hapoel Tel Aviv

State Cup Round of 16 – January 17, Thursday 19:00 Netanya Stadium: Home Hapoel Acre

Matchday 19 – January 21, Monday 21:00 Netanya Stadium: Home Beitar Jerusalem

Matchday 20 – January 28, Monday 21:00 Netanya Stadium: Away Hapoel Hadera

Maccabi Tel Aviv had a successful evening against Hapoel Beer Sheva recording a 3:0 victory. The win for Vladimir Ivic’s players was the third over a “big” club in the past week that ended with three victories. It began with a 3:1 win over Maccabi Haifa at Sammy Ofer Stadium and continued with a dramatic 2:1 State Cup victory at Beitar Jerusalem and the icing on the cake came less than 24 hours ago at home against Beer Sheva.

It’s important to note that the season has plenty to go along with many goals ahead but with the final whistle yesterday it’s a good time to sum up Maccabi’s week that was over the past 270+ minutes.

Everyone plays his part
The goal differential for the 3 matches was 8:2 and just as it has been for most of the season the goal scoring was split up between a number of players: Eliran Atar (3), Yonatan Cohen, Dor Peretz, Chico Ofoedu, Enric Saborit and Avi Rikan.

The match against Beer Sheva was the first one in 14 contests that Maccabi was able to score more than one goal. The last time the Yellow & Blue were able to accomplish that was the 6:2 State Cup victory.

Click here to turn the page for more stats and facts:

Maccabi Tel Aviv defeated Hapoel Beer Sheva 3:0 and after the match the fans celebrated spontaneously but what has become somewhat of a tradition over the past few contests is Maor Kandil’s dance to Hava Nagila. The defender hesitated at first but Itay Shechter and his teammates convinced him to do it once more at the Netanya Stadium:

Sheran Yeini, the Maccabi Tel Aviv Captain summed up his side’s 3: win over Hapoel Beer Sheva on Matchday 15 of the Israel Premier League Ligat Japanika:

“We can say that we collected another 3 points and we are playing well. We started the season well and we prefer to be modest. I’ve been here for a while and have seen us win three championships in a row and then Beer Sheva did the same as well.”

Looking ahead:
“They are a good rival who have won three championships in a row. It’s a good feeling to defeat them but we are already looking ahead to the game on Saturday at 16:00 where families can bring their children. It’s a great opportunity for the whole family to come out and enjoy afternoon football.”

Ivic’s secret to success:
“There are a lot of things and there are the tips that he gives us, his substitutes that work. We follow him and believe in him. We all have give 100% in order to play and even that may not be enough. You can score a couple of goals and still find yourself on the bench. We support one another and there’s a good feeling all around. We are just focussing on the next match.”

Vladimir Ivic, the Maccabi Tel Aviv Head Coach looked back at his side’s 3:0 victory over Hapoel Beer Sheva at the Netanya Stadium on Matchday 15:

“We won a tough game and deserved the victory. We worked hard to achieve the three points and it was our third tough game in a row.”

Working hard since June:
“We have worked everyday since June and we spoke about a lot of things that we wanted to do this season and this is the reason why we have a lot of players who can play and give the best of themselves to take the victory.”

Deserving the victory:
“The previous victory was a big victory and ten days ago the same. We played the team who took the championship the last three years and who are a strong and tough team. But we showed today that we are the better team and deserved the victory.”

On the right track:
“We are on the right track but we have a lot of games in front of us. If we continue this way we will have something nice at the end of the season.”

Maccabi Tel Aviv defeated Hapoel Beer Sheva 3:0 at the Netanya Stadium on Matchday 15 of the Israel Premier League Ligat Japanika thanks to a first half goal by Chico Ofoedu and goals by Enric Saborit and Avi Rikan in the second half to secure the win and three points. The Yellow & Blue will now prepare for their next match at Ramat Gan Stadium against Hapoel Raanana at 16:00 on Saturday afternoon.

Head Coach Vladimir Ivic’s Starting XI included keeper Predrag Rajkovic, Jair Amador, Sheran Yeini, Enric Saborit, Shahar Piven, Dor Micha, Dan Glazer, Dor Peretz, Chico Ofoedu, Omer Atzili, Yonatan Cohen.

Available on the bench: Daniel Tenenbaum, Eitan Tibi, Ruslan Barsky, Avi Rikan, Itay Shechter, Aron Schoenfeld, Eliran Atar.

Fist Half
Beer Sheva had the first chance of the match when Maor Melikson sent a beauty of a ball to Ben Bitton, but his attempt flew over the goal in the 4’ while Atzlli’s free kick from the right side missed the target 3 minutes later. Atzili’s 8’ opportunity was caught by Harush and ten minutes later Atzili found Chico but his header missed the target.

But Chico’s next touch found the back of the goal as the striker picked off a back pass by Marwan Kabha intended for keeper Ariel Harush and tapped it home for a 1:0 Yellow & Blue lead in the 21’. Maccabi continued to press for a second goal but Cohen missed the goal in the 27’ and two minutes later Chico’s terrific dribble was taken care of by the Beer Sheva defense.

Beer Sheva made and early substitute inserting Nigel Hassebaink in favor of Kabha in the 32’ which helped Sahar have a chance a minute later, but his attempt missed the target. At the other end of the pitch Atzili’s opportunity hit the outside of the goal. In the 37’ Melikson found Hasselbaink but his shot in the box went over the goal while Amador picked up a yellow card with a reckless tackle on the aforementioned Melikson.

Cohen has issued a yellow card of his own in the 44’ and a minute later his chance was saved by Harush as Maccabi took the 1:0 lead into the break.

Second Half
Sabo’s 52’ chance went over the goal and four minutes later Chico’s header missed the target. However, Saborit’s left footed low liner found the back of the goal in the 57’ for a 2:0 Maccabi lead. Chico took the ball right before it went out, passed it back to Saborit who laced home the marker.

Glazer was issued a yellow card on a foul on Melikson in the 61’ and Avi Rikan came on for Aztili two minutes later. Itay Shecter was introduced in favor of Chico Ofoedu in the 69’ for Maccabi’s second substitute. And it didn’t take long for the substitutes to pay dividends as Rikan banged home the goal thanks to a tap assist from Shechter good for a 3:0 advantage.

Eliran Atar came on for Cohen in get 73’ and Hatem Elhamed was handed his second yellow card good for a red in the 80’ reducing Beer Sheva to 10-men as Maccabi defeated their southern rivals 3:0.