Prematch
After drawing 1:1 against Arka Gdynia in their first friendly, Maccabi Tel Aviv met APOEL Nicosia from Cyprus for their second match of the preseason. Head Coach Vladan Ivic continued to become familiar with the players and split up the minutes between them against the Cypriot champions near the city of Gdańsk, Poland.

Maccabi Tel Aviv Starting XI: Daniel Tenenbaum, Eli Dasa, Eitan Tibi, Shachar Fiban, Sean Goldberg, Dor Peretz, Eyal Golasa, Avi Rikan, Matan Hozez, Eliran Atar, Aaron Schoenfeld.

First Half
The match began evenly but in the 10’ APOEL took a 1:0 lead from a set piece. The Cypriots sent the corner into the box where central defender Nikolas Ioannou put the ball behind Tenenbaum from 10 meters out. The Yellow & Blue then began to create a number of opportunities including a 22’ Dasa long range attempt from 17 meters that got caught up in the APOEL defense.

After 30 minutes of action, Dasa sent a cross to Schoenfeld but his chance went out as Maccabi controlled the tempo but couldn’t find the back of the goal as APOEL went into the break with a 1:0 advantage.

Second Half
Ivic made a number of changes to begin the second half and inserted Dor Micha, Vidar Kjartansson, Omer Atzily, and Roslan Bersky replacing Rikan, Atar, Schoenfeld and Golasa. In the 52’ Maccabi came close to drawing even when Hozez found Bersky but the latter’s attempt was caught by the keeper, however, five minutes later the Yellow & Blue found the equalizer. Micha took the ball from 40 meters and raced through the middle of the pitch, made his way by an APOEL player and scored from 16 meters out as he found the far corner of the goal, 1:1.

In the 60’ Ivic made three more substitutions as Mavis Tchibota, Dan Glazer and Eliel Peretz were introduced in favor of Dor Peretz, Hozez and Goldberg. Tenenbaum made a pair of saves in the 69’ to keep the score as is and then Maccabi made a few more personnel changes with Or Dasa, Itay Shechter and Yonatan Cohen coming on for Eli Dasa, Tibi and Fiban.

As the match began to wind down APOEL took a 2:1 lead off of a corner that Lucas Vieira De Souza was able to put into the Maccabi goal in the 88’ as the Cypriot side took home the slim victory

After drawing 1:1 in their first friendly of training camp against Arka Gdynia, Maccabi Tel Aviv will meet APOEL Nicosia today at 19:00 Israel time on the 5th day of the Club’s Poland training camp. You’ll be able to find all of the updates, photos, highlights and comments from the match right here on the Club’s Official Website and App.

Also on the Website:
Watch: Saborit’s First Session at Training Camp
Watch: Jair’s Debut & Goals from a Different Angle

This morning the Club held a training session that was also used as preparation for the upcoming match against the Cypriots.

The side from Cyprus have been domestic league champions over the past 6 seasons and are well known by the Yellow & Blue faithful. Maccabi faced APOEL in the group stages of the 2013/14 Europa League Group Stages as both legs ended in goalless draws.

In continental play, APOEL advanced all the way to the quarterfinal stage in 2011/12 and made it to the Round of 16 of the Europa League in 2016/17. Jesus Rueda formerly of Beitar Jerusalem is part of the Cypriot squad along with veteran Nuno Morais who was once with Chelsea.

After signing with the Club on Tuesday, Maccabi Tel Aviv’s new left back Enric Saborit arrived in Poland during the afternoon hours and joined his new teammates at their training camp near the city of Gdansk.

Also on the Website:
Mitch Goldhar Joins the Club’s Training Camp

After getting to know his new teammates, Saborit took part in the evening training session and also had a private session with central defender Jair Amador. Tomorrow the Club will face APOEL Nicosia in a friendly.

The Camera’s Lens: This evening’s training session

Also on the Website:
Mitch Goldhar Joins the Club’s Training Camp

Maccabi Tel Aviv continued preparations for the new campaign at their preseason training camp near the city of Gdańsk. Today, Wednesday, owner Mitch Goldhar arrived in Poland and joined the club and professional staff at the camp.

Also on the website:
Jair’s Debut & Goals From a Different Angle: Day 3 Summary

The players held a morning training session and will also have an additional practice later in the day while tomorrow (Thursday 19:00) they’ll face APOEL Nicosia in a friendly match.

Vladan Ivic’s side will welcome Enric Saborit later on as well after the Spanish left back signed a contract with the club and is expected to land in Poland where he will meet his new teammates at training camp.

Here’s what the evening training session looked like from The Camera’s Lens:

Enric Saborit, 26, joined Maccabi Tel Aviv FC on free transfer after successfully undergoing a medical and signing a three-year-deal at the club.

Maccabi’s CEO Ben Mansford told the club’s official website: “We are delighted to welcome Enric to Maccabi as he has a strong football pedigree and possesses all the attributes we are looking for in a left back. We identified Saborit at the end of last season as an important target. We are delighted to have completed the deal we wanted and I am particularly pleased that we are continuing to add the right type of players at this stage of the transfer window”.

The Spanish left-back, 187cm, joined Maccabi from Athletic Bilbao, where he made 23 appearances last season in all competitions for the La Liga club he joined in 2010. Saborit, was loaned out by the Basque club in 2014/15 and spent a season with Mallorca for which he made 18 appearances in all competitions.

The Barcelona born left-back emerged from RCD Espanyol’s youth academy and represented his country at U19, U18 and U17 levels.

Two weeks after signing with the Club, Jair Amador is expected to take part in this evening’s training session with the rest of his new teammates. The central defender arrived in Gdansk last night and was in time to take in the Yellow & Blue’s first friendly that ended in a 1:1 draw.

Also on the Website:
Maccabi draws 1:1 with Arka Gdynia in the Yellow & Blue’s first friendly
Tibi: “We are having very tough training sessions”

Amador had a personal training session this morning and here is what it looked like from The Camera’s Lens:

Maccabi Tel Aviv held their first friendly of the season at their Poland Training Camp as the Yellow & Blue faced Arka Gdynia of Poland’s First Division in a contest that ended in a 1:1 draw. Eliran Atar’s second half goal cancelled out Arka’s first half free kick strike. Following the match, the Head Coach Vladan Ivic summed up his players performance:

“For the first time I was able to see all of the players for 45 minutes. Our target for the start of preseason is to be ready for the first official game on July 12th. We are going step by step and working hard as there are a lot of things that we need to improve and we will see that in the upcoming friendly games.”

The Coach continued: “I expect that the players will fix the things that we want them to fix. We have a lot of time, but we know what we want from ourselves and if we go step by step we will improve the things we need to improve in order to be ready for the first game against Ferencváros.”

More about the match: “We played one level up in the second half, but there were some good things and things we needed to improve on in the first half as well. We will have to analyze what needs to be improved.”

Eitan Tibi also spoke about the match from his perspective: “We are still in training camp mode with very tough sessions and we are learning what the coach is expecting of us. I’m certain as time goes by, we will look even better.”

About being a veteran player at Maccabi: “I’m one of the veterans and this is my seventh training camp with Maccabi. I’m very happy that I have the privilege to be with the Club for so many years and I hope that it will continue for many more.”

Goals of the training camp: “We have to get into good shape, learn the system that we will be playing this season and also get to know the coach better while he has to get to know us. We need to jell as a unit and those are the goals of the training camp.”

Prematch
After arriving at their training camp in Poland early Sunday morning, Maccabi Tel Aviv played their first friendly match against Poland First Division outfit Arka Gdynia on Monday. Head Coach Vladan Ivic split the squad up and started different players in each half while Itay Shechter made his debut for the Yellow & Blue in the first half of play.

Starting XI – Daniel Tenenbaum, Sean Goldberg, Shachar Fiban, Dor Peretz, Or Dasa, Dan Glazer, Mavis Tchibota, Dor Micha, Omer Atzili, Vidar Kjartransson, Itay Shechter.
First Half
Over the course of the first twenty minutes of the match, play was quite even as Maccabi had a pair of chances thanks to a couple of stolen balls while Arka also had two opportunities on attempts from long distance that missed the target. In the 24’ Ivic’s side had a quality chance when Atzili’s free kick made its way to Glazer, but his header was parried away by the Arka keeper.

In the 27’ the Yellow & Blue opponent found the back of the goal thanks to a free kick from 18 meters by Michał Janota as his ball made its way over the Maccabi wall and behind Tenenbaum for a 1:0 Arka lead. Seven minutes later, Vidar’s 16 meter attempt missed the target while Atzili had a pair of chances but the Arka keeper made the save in the 38’ and again off of a free kick in the 45’.

Second Half
Starting XI – Haviv Ohayon, Eli Dasa, Eitan Tibi, Eyal Golasa, Avi Rikan, Roslan Bersky, Eliel Peretz, Yonatan Cohen, Matan Hozez, Aaron Schoenfeld, Eliran Atar.

Ivic’s side opened up the second half well as Cohen, Schoenfeld and Atar all had chances that missed the target early on. In the 55’ Eliel Peretz had an opportunity in the box but his ball just missed the post while two minutes later Hozez found Schoenfeld’s head but his attempt went out.

Maccabi found the tying goal in the 72’ when Atar took a through ball and slotted it home from the left side to even up the score at 1:1. The Yellow & Blue continued to pressure the Polish squad as Hozez tried his luck in the 84’ with an attempt from outside of the box but missed the target. Atar had a last gasp effort to win the match but his header just went out as the contest ended in a 1:1 draw.