Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Beer Sheva have faced each other three times this season and have won 2 of the encounters while losing one. The players and staff are working hard at Kiryat Shalom to pick up their third win over the table leaders when they play on Monday at the Netanya Stadium (21:00).

Also on the site:
Season in a Decade: Looking back at the 60’s
Maccabi “Shachar” defeats Beer Sheva 4:2
Get to the Stadium Quick & Easy

In the video: Highlights from the last win over Beer Sheva

Captain Sheran Yeini who had been out for an extended period of time has returned to full training with the rest of the club. You may recall that Yeini was injured in the final minutes of the win over Beer Sheva the last time the two clubs played. The Captain has worked very hard over the last few weeks to get back in time for this crucial clash and the Championship Playoffs.

Central defender Tal Ben Haim also returned to training after being out with an illness and will be available to Head Coach Jordi Cruyff. Earlier in the day, Maccabi “Shachar” defeated Hapoel Beer Sheva 4:2 as they remained in first place of the Israel Youth Premier League Ligat Ha’Al.

Tomorrow, Sunday, the prematch press conference will be broadcasted live on the Official Website and App at 10:15 and that will be followed by the final training session ahead of the contest.

Following the “Golden Years” of the 1950’s, Maccabi Tel Aviv found themselves as the new decade began challenged and ultimately eclipsed by the emergent Hapoel Petach Tikva, who during the late 1950’s and early 1960’s won five consecutive league titles. The second of those championships, in 1960, came at Maccabi’s expense, with Maccabi leading the table on the last day of the season only to disappointingly lose their final match to Hapoel Haifa thereby handing the championship to Hapoel Petah Tikva.
Watch: Miko Belo, a star of the 1960’s talk about his Maccabi career

After a number of unremarkable seasons, the 1960’s saw the return to Maccabi Tel Aviv of one their greatest coaches, Jerry Beit Halevi, who had served the club as a player in the 1930’s and, with the exception of one year, managed the club for the ten years between 1947 and 1957. The veteran coach began by looking at the youth department for players to promote to the first team and those included Giora Speigel, Miki Belo, Ori Kedmi as week as Tzvika Rosen. A new dawn rose at Maccabi, one that reached its peak in the late 60’s and early 70’s.

Under his guardianship Maccabi Tel Aviv slowly returned to form and in the 1963/64 season Beit HaLevi’s moves began to pay off. Hapoel Ramat Gan won a historic league title but the State Cup was Yellow & Blue. At least at the end of the day. What is the reference to? Maccabi may have won the Cup but it took no less than 3 Finals for the players to eventually hoist the trophy into the air.

Watch: Haim Levin looks back to some of his great moments from the 1960’s

Hapoel Haifa was the stubborn opponent which gave Beit HaLevi’s side all kinds problems. Both teams battled it out at Bloomfield Stadium and in the 82’ Shalom Shikva scored what looked like the winning goal for Maccabi. However, the Carmel Reds wouldn’t break and they scored an equalizer in the 86’ via Robi Young. The clash went into extratime and since no goals were scored and penalties weren’t in effect yet to decide the Cup contests, a replay was in order.

Less than two weeks later the club’s kicked off at the Jaffa Stadium and after 90 minutes of play the score was still 0:0. Shikva scored to break the ice in the 102’ of extratime but Victor Young drew Haifa even in the 120’ as the game ended 1:1 and a third match was needed to try and determine a State Cup winner!

This contest was held at the Kiryat Haim Stadium, Hapoel Haifa’s home but that’s where Maccabi in fact finally won the Cup; and that wasn’t simple. After a goalless first half Itzhak Englendar gave the Reds a 1:0 lead in the 55’. However, 18 minutes later Moshe Asis helped Maccabi even it up at 1:1 but their big moment would come in the 87’. Ori Kedmi scored the dramatic winner and helped the Yellow & Blue to a comeback win that handed Jerry Beit HaLevi’s side their 5th State Cup since the founding of the State. To this day this Cup win will always be one of Maccabi’s sweetest.

The Israel Premier League Ligat Ha’Al set the dates and times for Matchdays 31-32 of the Championship Playoffs as follows:

This coming Monday, April 9, at 21:00 the Yellow & Blue will host the table leaders Hapoel Beer Sheva at the Netanya Stadium as Maccabi will look to win their third match in a row against their southern rivals. The following week on Monday April 16 at 21:00, a date at Beitar Jerusalem and Teddy Stadium is on the menu.

On Saturday April 21 at 20:30, the club will welcome Bnei Yehuda to the Netanya Stadium on the last Matchday of the first round of the Championship Playoffs.

Then on Sunday April 29 at 21:00, Maccabi will travel north to Hapoel Haifa and Sammy Ofer Stadium for the opening match of the second round of the Playoffs.

Maccabi Tel Aviv came back from the break and fell to Maccabi Netanya 4:1 away at the Netanya Stadium. Following the match Jordi Cruyff summed up the game:

“I can’t say what I really think. I apologize to the fans that have supported us and expected much more from us. It’s very disappointing, the second goal and certainly the third goal killed us and when you miss opportunities you pay for it. It’s clear that this is not an easy moment for us.”

The balance of the season:
“We have the responsibility and obligation to battle as long as we have a chance. There is a match between Beer Sheva and Beitar tomorrow, but it’s not in our hands to talk about the championship. We are not a team that needs to speak but to act. We have begun the playoffs with 0 points. We are giving up too many goals and we are missing too many opportunities and in football that leads to 0 points.”

Disappointing loss:
“You can split the match up into two parts. We believed in ourselves at the start and we had enough chances, but we didn’t score and we were punished for that. We were soft on defense and it was hard to comeback against a team that is playing well. The key for us is to score when we have a chance but it didn’t happen. This is a very disappointing loss.”

Barak Itzhaki also summed up the contest: “After a match like this we can’t even talk about the championship. The players need to understand that we are playing with Maccabi Tel Aviv and if they don’t understand that, they need to think very hard because we can’t look like this.”

If the Cruyff announcement influenced the match:
“That should have woken us up. We are all under the magnifying glass. The loss is not connected at all to the announcement. Footballers need to go onto the pitch focused on the task at hand and not the things that are going on around us. There are no excuses.”

The Yellow & Blue were defeated 4:1 by Maccabi Netanya as Dia Saba scored a hat trick and Ramzi Sfori also scored for the host’s. Maccabi Tel Aviv’s Barak Itzhaki found the back of the goal via a penalty for Jordi Cruyff’s squad’s lone goal of the contest.

Head Coach Jordi Cruyff’s Starting XI included: Predrag Rajikovic, Eli Dasa, Yuval Shpungin, Eitan Tibi, Jean-Sylvain Babin, Avi Rikan, Eyal Golasa, Dor Peretz, Dor Micha (C), Nick Blackman, Vidar Kjartansson.

Available on the bench were keeper Daniel Tenenbaum, Eliran Atar, Cristian Battocchio, Jose Rodriguez, Omer Atzily, Barak Itzhaki, Ofir Davidzada.

First Half
Kjartansson began the match off with a quality chance in the 3’ of play as the Icelander leaped over a crowded box, headed the ball but missed the post by a meter while two minutes later Peretz was issued a yellow card. Maccabi looked to break through the Netanya defense over the first quarter hour primarily from the wings while the host’s looked to counter thanks to Eran Levy’s long balls.

In the 17’ Dia Saba gave Netanya a 1:0 lead after an attack down the right side led to a through ball that found him in the box. Six minutes went by and Blackman tried to bring down the ball with his head to Babin in the box but the latter couldn’t make it in time to the intended target.

Shpungin was substituted out in the 28’ minute due to an injury and was replaced by Ofir Davidzada and a minute later Kjartansson missed a terrific opportunity again when he had a one on one attempt through some traffic in the box but couldn’t convert. However, Netanya found the back of the goal right before the break via Ramzi Sfori as he scored in the box to give the Diamond City squad a 2:0 lead after 45 minutes.

Second Half
Cruyff made his second substitute at the start of the second half as Barak Itzhaki entered the contest in place of Barak Itzhaki. In the 56’ Saba scored his second goal of the evening when he went in on Rajikovic and put the ball behind the Serbian keeper for a 3:0 lead. The Yellow & Blue made their third sub in the 69’ as Jose Rodriguez was introduced in favor of Kjartansson.

Saba almost completed a hat trick in the 77’ via a header from 5 meters, but the ball just missed the post. A minute later, Maccabi was issued a penalty after the ball went off of Dudi Torem’s hand thanks to an Itzhaki header and the veteran striker slotted home the spot kick to cut the Netanya lead to 3:1. In the final minute of injury time Saba scored his 3rd of the match beating Rajikovic to hand Maccabi a 4:1 defeat.