The Yellow & Blue notched a 3:0 victory over Bnei Yehuda in the quarterfinals of the Toto Cup to advance to the semifinals of the competition on goals by Eliran Atar, Nick Blackman via penalty and a brilliant chip shot by Avi Rikan from 20 meters.

Head Coach Jordi Cruyff’s Starting XI included keeper Predrag Rajikovic in goal with Yuval Shpungin, Egor Filipenka, Eitan Tibi and Matan Baltaxa on defense. Tino Susic, Dor Peretz and Omer Atzily were in the midfield while Nick Blackman, Eliran Atar and Or Dasa were up front.

Available on the bench were: Daniel Tenenbaum, Avi Rikan, Tal Ben Haim, Christian Battocchio, Sheran Yeini, Eylon Almog, Vidar Kjartansson

First Half
Maccabi looked to get on the board early as Blackman and Dasa tried a give and go but the latter’s attempt went over the bar in the 2’. Bnei Yehuda tried to send a through ball in the 8’ but Rajiko was able to grab it while 10 minutes later Yuval Ashkenazi’s attempt went over the bar and Blackman was issued a yellow card. In the 24’ Matan Hozez’s opportunity was sent out by Rajikovic and Ayed Habsbi was handed a yellow.

Hozez, who is on loan from Maccabi sent a deep ball to Valksis in the 32’ but his chance was saved by Rajikovic while 9 minutes later Dan Mori was handed a yellow card by the referee. Eliran Atar then stepped up to take the 23 meter free kick and found the back of the goal for a 1:0 Maccabi lead. However, Susic was given a red card for pulling down Eliel Peretz on his way to the goal a minute later but luckily for the Yellow & Blue, Dovev Gabbay missed the penalty as Maccabi took a 1:0 lead into the break.

Second Half
Avi Rikan entered the match for Atzily to begin the half. In the 49’ Dasa left the ball for Blackman but his attempt was saved by the Bnei Yehuda keeper Zubas. Dasa and Peretz each had chances while Atar almost scored his 2nd of the game when his attempt missed the goal by centimeters. Ofir Davidzada entered the match for Baltaxa in the 62’ minute and then Dasa was pulled down in the box by Eli Blility good for a red card and a penalty, but Blackman’s spot kick was saved by a diving Zoubas to his left in the 66’.

In the 71’ Dasa left a wonderful back heel for Atar but Zoubas made a brilliant save while Shpungin collected a yellow card. Five minutes later Dasa was again tripped up in the box and Blackman coolly converted the penalty for a 2:0 Maccabi lead. With Maccabi looking for a 3rd goal, they found it in fine fashion as Rikan chipped the ball over Zoubas from 20 meters in 78’ for a 3:0 advantage. Cristian Battocchio and Eylon Almog both came on in the 82’ for Blackman and Atar while Vidar Kjartansson entered the match in the 89’ for a Dasa who was magnificent as Maccabi wrapped a 3:0 win a trip to the Toto Cup semifinals.

Eitan Tibi, the veteran Yellow & Blue central defender looked ahead to the Toto Cup match while also commenting on how the club can get back to winning:

“There’s no question that the last few days have not been easy. But there’s only one thing to do, work hard and get back onto the winning track.”

Title on the line:
“We want to win and there is a title at stake. We’d be very happy to take home that Cup.”

Coming together:
“We know that only hard work and working together will take us out of this situation and that’s what we will do.”

Maccabi Tel Aviv CEO Ben Mansford and players Sheran Yeini, Tal Ben Haim, Barak Itzhaki, Eliran Atar, Predrag Rajikovic and Eitan Tibi visited club sponsor Eurodrive’s grand opening of their brand new car lot. During the event, Mansford commented about the club’s status over the past few months:

Concerning Jordi Cruyff’s status with the club: “Maccabi has been built over the last few years since Mitch Goldhar bought the club and with Jordi being here for 5 years. We aren’t going to make the knee jerk reaction or rush. Jordi is here and he answered the questions very honestly last night. Everyone knows that the last two performances are not acceptable. Unacceptable came out from Jordi and Sheran Yeini and I think that’s the word and that can not continue. To the supporters that traveled to Astana and Beer Sheva I apologize and that’s not what Maccabi is about and we are all together to make sure that this does not happen again.”

“I don’t want to lose football matches, I am here to win. Our objective at the start of the year as we are in 4 competitions is to win trophies. So for us losing football matches doesn’t help achieve our aims of winning trophies. We all work together so when we have bad games we learn from our mistakes and we try not to make these mistakes again. Mitch Goldhar is 110% committed to Maccabi since he arrived. He continues to remain 110% committed to Maccabi and that will never change.”

Jordi’s experience as a coach:
“I was appointed at the same time Jordi was as head coach and it’s a very unique situation. Jordi had spent 5 years at Maccabi as Sporting Director. Part of Jordi’s recruitment was to take Maccabi forward and as Sporting Director he has done that with 3 championships, the last 2 years finishing second and the last 3 years being in the Cup final. Four of the last five years we have been in Europe, one of which being the Champions League. So let’s credit Jordi for taking the football side of the club forward with Mitch’s support. It was made through conversations between Mitch and Jordi and they felt that Jordi becoming head coach was right for Maccabi.”

On the squad:
“We want to win. I believe that we have everyone at the football club wanting to achieve these targets. There is a lot of quality in this squad and sometimes I sit with the team sheet and think if there is anyone on the opposition that I would want to swap with someone on our squad and on our day when we are playing 100% there’s not many players I would want to swap in the Israel Premier League. Let’s keep believing, but we are only going to be able to do it if we stay together and that’s the message to the supporters. We’re sorry and that’s not acceptable. If we stick together we will achieve those aims.”

Going forward:
“I can say is that Mitch built this club by making sensible decisions from the bottom up which has resulted in a lot of success. I watched the replay of the match and the second Beer Sheva goal was offside so we should have finished 1:1. Let’s be careful that we don’t make any knee jerk reactions.”

Maccabi Tel Aviv CEO Ben Mansford and players Sheran Yeini, Barak Itzhaki, Tal Ben Haim, Eliran Atar, Predrag Rajikovic and Eitan Tibi arrived at 12 Saharov Street in Rishon Le’Zion for the grand opening of Eurodrive, one of the club’s sponsors, brand new car lot. Owner Eli Shimrich announced that all Maccabi fans will receive a special discount when purchasing a car over the next 10 days.

Owner Eli Shimrich commented: ‘Thank you to all those who are with us today including the players and management. I’m happy to open this brand new car lot and two more will open in the future. We have a relationship with Maccabi Tel Aviv for the past 8 years and there’s nothing like it. Maccabi Tel Aviv is a wonderful organization and our partnership is fantastic. It gives us the drive to do more with Maccabi whether it’s with the community or the club.”

Maccabi CEO Ben Mansford: “Maccabi’s been around since 1906 and we will succeed from being together from top to bottom and that includes our family of sponsors. Eurodrive is an incredibly important partner for us and they’ve been with us for a long time. We look forward to continuing to work with them. Days like today are important as the staff and players are here and it’s business as usual at Maccabi and that means working with our partners at Eurodrive.”

The Yellow & Blue Captain, Sheran Yeini summed up the 2:1 loss to Hapoel Beer Sheva on Matchday 8 of the Israel Premier League, Ligat Ha’Al at Turner Stadium:

“I think we should all be ashamed that we lost to a team with 10-men. It doesn’t matter to which club, especially one that we are battling for titles with. We feel horrible. We have to show that we are good enough, but today we were unable to do that.”

Working well together with the professional staff:
“It’s not an issue with the coach or professional staff. We work well together and we are continuously improving on learning how to understand the game. We weren’t able to show that over the course of the last two matches.”

Moving away from the Maccabi style of play:
“They began the contest well and then we put them under a lot of pressure but we weren’t able to take advantage of that. We wanted to control the game so that they wouldn’t be able to take over the play and then have a chance. We are training well and the training session prior to this match was amazing. We did things ok during the match, but as soon as they scored the pressure was immense for us to get back into the game and when we move away from the usual style that we play that’s where the problems begin. We can’t move away from the way we play and we had the exact same issue in Ashkelon.”

Balls getting to the players from the ball boys:
“The ball boy must give the ball over to a player in a proper manner. I gave him a hug and then I told him that he has to do his job in a respectable way and I’m sure he will do it correctly the next time.”

Ofir Davidzada discussed his return to Turner Stadium which turned out different than he would have liked as Maccabi fell to Beer Sheva 2:1 as he summed up the disappointing evening:

“This wasn’t a good match of ours. We are very disappointed, but I believe in the club and the professional staff. It’s only Matchday 8 and I’m certain that we will improve and reach our goals.”

“I don’t believe that the defeat in Astana affected us,” he added. “We came ready but we weren’t concentrated enough. I’m sure that the staff will see where the issues are. I don’t believe that it’s a case of where we were confident enough. We played well for a period of time and we began to come together and now we went backwards a bit over the last while, but we will do everything in our power to change that.”

Returning to Turner:
“It was a bit different for me. I didn’t really focus on what was going on in the stands as I was sure that this was going to be the reaction. Right now I’m concentrating on Maccabi and nothing else.”

Only Matchday 8:
“It’s too early to say what will be the rest of the season. This is only Matchday 8 and I believe that by the playoffs we will be much more intelligent.”

Jordi Cruyff, the Yellow & Blue Head Coach looked back at the disappointing 2:1 loss to Hapoel Beer Sheva on Matchday 8 of the Israel Premier League Ligat Ha’Al:

“It’s painful and it’s unacceptable that against ten players we lose a lot of balls and can’t create chances. This is the reality of today and of the last game. We are in an uncomfortable situation right now and we have a number of games coming up. We have to change our mentality and attack to win.”

Disappointment:
“For 5-6 years we have played the same way and this is the same pattern and way to win games. Today was a very difficult game if you like Maccabi, are a player or worker in the club. When you go down you get right back up. I apologize to the people that came here when we were up a man and you think that you will win and you don’t. It’s very disappointing. They played organized and strong and Beer Sheva knew what to do.”

Show character:
“We have to improve. We have to be honest and work hard. We have to put the mirror to ourselves and show a lot more character.”

Giving Beer Sheva hope:
“After the red card we were playing inoffensive and unaggressive. We were losing a lot of balls in the midfield and we gave them hope that they could do something.”

No hiding:
“Normally pride comes when you are the lowest you can be. Ever though we are unhappy with the past few games we are in a situation that if we have a good run for the next few games we can do something in the league. It comes from the inside and you have to have pride and respect for your club, the fans and for yourself. We have a tough week coming up and we deserve it. There’s no hiding anymore.”

Heart and soul with Maccabi:
“From the conversations we’ve had over the past few weeks, the word that comes up is character and today with 10 men against 11 we should have had more. I feel that I have the backing and I have a clean relationship with Jack and Mitch. My heart and soul are in this team and if I ever feel that it’s me I will be a gentlemen about these things. We have a lot of players missing and it’s clear that we haven’t reached the full potential of the squad.”