Maccabi Tel Aviv fell to Hapoel Beer Sheva 1:0 in the battle for the top of the table. The Yellow & Blue now find themselves 6 points out of first place and it will now be an even bigger challenge to take home the Championship. However, Gal Alberman isn’t about to raise his hands and surrender:

“I don’t think that the story is over. There’s no question that it’s now a bit more complicated, but we never raised our hands in situations that were much more difficult to get out of. We have to put our energy into making sure we put together a winning streak to give us more of a chance.”

Last night’s match compared to the contest prior to that in Netanya:

“It’s hard to put a finger on why what worked against them last match didn’t work today. Let’s be honest, the contests between the clubs have been close and could have gone one way or another. Last time we were successful this time not.”

The match’s aggressiveness:

“I think that most games have been very similar in terms of emotion. Over the past two seasons anyone who has been a part of these contests understand that there is plenty of significance between them and that’s the reason for the style of play.”

On Wednesday, Maccabi will take on Beitar Jerusalem in the State Cup semifinal at Sammy Ofer Stadium:

“We are getting ready for a very important match and we have enough time to prepare. We know how important a game it is and we will give everything we have no matter what happened against Beer Sheva. We have to come into the contest at the top of our game and one of our goals is to win the Cup so we want to advance and play in the final.”

The month of April began with a top of the table clash in Beer Sheva and continues this week with a State Cup Semifinal matchup against Beitar Jerusalem plus a home contests against Maccabi Haifa and that’s before we’ve even got to the Passover Holiday. It’s time to open up your diaries and start marking them up:

April 5, 20:30, State Cup Semifinal: Beitar Jerusalem – Maccabi Tel Aviv, Sammy Ofer (LIVE from the Stadium)
Other than the league title, Maccabi has another challenge on it’s hands with the goal of playing in the final at Teddy Stadium in Jerusalem. In order to get there Head Coach Lito Vidigal and his squad will need to get past Beitar Jerusalem at Sammy Ofer Stadium in Haifa. The last time the two sides faced each other in the State Cup Semifinal was in 1996/97 in a match that ended in a Yellow & Blue victory. How will it end this time?

April 9, 21:00, Maccabi Tel Aviv – Maccabi Haifa, Matchday 29, Netanya Stadium (LIVE from the Stadium)
Just before you get ready for the Passover Seder we’ve got a great league matchup for you and we hope that this one ends up with a smile on your face. Maccabi has been unable to defeat the Greens this season, falling to them 2:0 in Netanya and drawing 2:2 in Haifa, but this time around the Yellow & Blue will need a win to continue battling for the championship.

April 15, 20:30, Maccabi Tel Aviv – Maccabi Petah Tikva, Matchday 30, Netanya Stadum (LIVE from the Stadium)
This will be the 5th time Maccabi will take on Kobi Refuah’s side this season as the Yellow & Blue have defeated Petah Tikva 3 times and have drawn once. Will Maccabi keep up with their fine showing this campaign?

April 22, 21:00, Beitar Jerusalem – Maccabi Tel Aviv, Matchday 31, Teddy Stadium
The match that will end the first round of matches in the Championship Playoffs is a tough away game in Jerusalem. The two sides will face each other at the beginning of the month in the State Cup Semifinals but this time they will play in league action. Beitar is in search of a ticket to Europe and Maccabi will need to be ready to go.

April 25, 19:45 Bnei Sakhnin – Maccabi Tel Aviv, Matchday 32, Doha Stadium
Nope, it’s not a mistake. A midweek fixture as the two sides will face each other for the 4th time. Maccabi has won all of the games against Yossi Abuksis and his squad but any match at Doha Stadium is never an easy task. Last season, the trip up north ended in a disappointing draw in a tight title fight. This season the Yellow & Blue will look to come home with 3-points.

April 29 (to be confirmed), Maccabi Tel Aviv – Hapoel Beer Sheva, Matchday 33, Netanya Stadium (LIVE from the Stadium)
The month of April will end with a top of the table battle against Hapoel Beer Sheva. Maccabi will hopefully cut into the 6 point lead and Lito Vidigal’s club will look to do everything in their power to make sure that they take home the victory and continue the fight for the league championship.

Wait, that’s not it!
On April 12th, Chol HaMoed Passover you’ll have a chance to register to attend the huge Community Day Happening at Kiryat Shalom that will finish off with meeting the players (Registration will begin this week) Whose room will become the Maccabi’s Room and win a total Yellow & Blue remodeling by two of the club’s players?

We will also have a “Find the Treasure” contest where you’ll be able to win a pair of tickets to the Maccabi Haifa and Hapoel Beer Sheva matches, so don’t miss out. Make sure you continue to follow the social networks to keep up to date on all of the latest news and views.

There was disappointment after the 1:0 defeat to Beer Sheva on Matchday 28 that left a bitter taste in the Yellow & Blue dressing room, but the squad is keeping their heads up with a State Cup Semifinal match against Beitar Jerusalem on Wednesday at Sammy Ofer Stadium.

The Maccabi captain, Sheran Yeini spoke about the gap atop the table: “The battle for the championship is not over yet. We aren’t a club that ever gives up. We will continue to chase after them and hope that they will slip up and make a mistake until we face them again. But of course the result is disappointing.”

Did the better club win at Turner Stadium:
“The club that took advantage of an opportunity was the side that won this evening. Beer Sheva pressed us well but we did the same to them. It was a physical match that they were able to win in most cases and we will need to deal with this and in my opinion decided the match. They scored on a penalty and that determined the winner. We didn’t take advantage of the opportunities that we had.”

On what the club needs to do to cut the gap:
“We will need to win all of our games. Football is a very dynamic game. We have another match against Beer Sheva at home, but before that we need to win all of the other matches that we have and hope that they will lose points until the next game between us.”

Lito Vidigal, the Maccabi Tel Aviv Head Coach looked back at his side’s 1:0 defeat at the hands of Hapoel Beer Sheva at Turner Stadium on Matchday 28 of the Ligat Ha’Al Championship Playoffs and said that the league is not over just yet:

“No, we never think like this. We have to continue to work hard and keep fighting. This is what I said to the players in the dressing room. We are fighting every game to win.

Closing the gap:

“It’s very difficult now and it had been 11 points but we cut down the gap. We will have to work hard to take victories and cut the gap down again. We will never give up.”

Starting Scarione instead of Itzhaki:

“We have a lot of players and they are all important and I believe in all of them. The most important thing is the team and to play like a team and we worked hard as a team. We may have not scored but we had chances and we will now turn our attention to the next match.”

Ben Sahar’s first half penalty was all Hapoel Beer Sheva needed to defeat Maccabi Tel Aviv 1:0 at Turner Stadium on Matchday 28 of the Ligat Ha’Al. The Yellow & Blue will now get ready for a State Cup semi-final contest against Beitar Jerusalem on Wednesday night at Sammy Ofer Stadium.

Prematch
Lito Vidigal’s Starting XI included Serbian keeper Predrag Rajikovic with a defensive quartet of Eli Dasa, Tal Ben Haim, Egor Filipenka and Sheran Yeini. Gal Alberman was in his usual defensive midfielder position as Ruben Micael, Oscar Scarione, Dor Micha, Tal Ben Chaim and Vidar Kjartansson rounded out the lineup.

Available on the bench were keeper Daniel Lifshitz, Roma Ramon, Barak Itzhaki, Avi Rikan, Aaron Schoenfeld, Marcelo dos Santos and Yossi Benayoun.

First Half
Vidar Kjartansson had the Yellow & Blue’s first chance of the contest but his 8th minute right footed shot from the top of the box was saved by Guy Haimov while Micael tried his luck a minute later as the match remained goalless early on.

However, in the 21st minute Dasa tripped up Maor Melikson in the box for a penalty that Ben Sahar converted to give Beer Sheva a 1:0 lead. As the match hit the 34th minute, Maharan Radi’s corner was headed by Miguel Vitor just wide of the goal. Six minutes later Maccabi strung together a beautiful passing play that went from Ben Haim to Micael then to Scarione and finally to Ben Chaim in the box but his effort missed the mark as the half ended with Beer Sheva holding a slim 1:0 advantage.

Second Half
Barak Itzhaki came on to begin the second half in place of Scarione as Maccabi looked to jump start the offense. Vitor and Ben Haim each picked up a yellow card in the 52nd and 57th minutes respectively as both sides looked to find the back of the goal.

Just one minute later, Rajikovic made an unbelievable save on Huban from in close to keep the score as is and in the 59th minute Itzhaki was issued a yellow card for a reckless tackle on John Ogu in the middle of the pitch. With Maccabi controlling the flow of the match, Avi Rikan came into the contest for Alberman in the 79th minute.

Seconds after the substitution, the Yellow & Blue had back to back chances in the box with both Yeini and Itzhaki taking shots from inside the box, but Haimov came up big yet again for the hosts. Maccabi Head Coach Lito Vidigal made his 3rd and final substitution that saw Aaron Schoenfeld come on for Micha as the Yellow & Blue looked for some offense.

But instead Eliyaniv Barda who had come on earlier for Ben Sahar went in all alone on Rajikovic however, the shot stopper made an amazing one on one save to give Maccabi hope with 5 minutes remaining. With the visitors pressing into the final seconds of the match they couldn’t find the back of the goal as Beer Sheva came away with the 1:0 win to widen the gap atop the table to 6 points.

You’ve headed down south, but are you ready for the Match of the Season? The Official Store at Cinema City Rishon Le’Zion is open at 10:00 on Saturday. Pick up a jersey and a scarf and begin to make your way down to the Negev.

Are you hungry?
Hummus Duee is the place for you and it’s located right on Road 4315. The restaurant opens at 8:00 and it’s known as one of the best in the country. Hummus Duee and the view is on us.

Looking to go shopping?
Welcome to the Shopping Center capital of the south. Beer Sheva has a number of mall big and small. Ofer Grand Canyon. Big Beer Sheva, Azreili Negev, Power Center, Mall 7 and a number of other great places to shop. Just get your wallets ready.

Do you like to pedal?
Why not go bicycling in the area of Kibbutz Be’eri. The trail in the hills by the Kibbutz is known to be one of the best and most beautiful in Israel as hundreds of cyclists hit this trail every weekend. You can choose from 4 different routes and each are at a different level. The Orange Trail – 8km in length and is perfect as a basic trail for beginners. The Green Trail – 11km is also great for those just beginning. The Blue Trail – 12km in length and is a level up being moderate in difficulty. The Red Trail – 24km is for more advanced cyclists and is also known as “Around the Be’eri Forest”. So what are you waiting for? Get going at Be’eri and maybe you’ll earn the “Yellow Jersey” at the Tour de France.

You can’t handle the pressure prior to the match?
Take a trip to the GameOn Escape Room and you can choose from two different adventures: Ancient Egypt and Space Mission. You can have between 2-6 people in the Escape Room and it’s open on Shabbat with soldiers receiving a 10% discount. The game lasts 60 minutes and if you’d like more information, just check out the GameOn website. Good Luck!

Is technology and science your thing?
The Carasso Science Park is waiting for you and has 13 various games. A whole new world of technology and science will open up before your eyes for both the young and young at heart. Through experiments and scientific inquiry you’ll make some amazing discoveries. The park is open on Saturday between 09:00-17:00.

Did you get to Beer Sheva earlier than expected?
At 11:00 you can visit the city’s Performing Arts Center as Knesset Members Yitzhak Herzog and Minister Eli Cohen will be there. Do I really want to deal with politics right now? Well, at least the entrance in free.

We would recommend you visit The Israeli Air Force Museum located at Hatzerim Airbase but it’s only open between Sunday-Thursday from 08:30-16:30. If you do decide to take a trip to the museum during operating hours you should know that it’s strictly prohibited to take pictures of the aircraft in the air or climb on the exhibits in the museum plaza.

“Brother, Saturday in Beer Sheva. The Match of the Season, but not just any Match of the Season”

You can assume that every conversation began this way over the past two weeks between two friends who have been Maccabi fans since their youth. It’s true that in every single season there are 2-3 matches that can be called the Match of the Season. In fact, every single Championship Playoff contest can be called the Match of the Season and there also plenty of points still left, plus another match against the same club in the second round of the playoffs. But still, it’s not just any Match of the Season. Every Yellow & Blue fan understands this along with the excitement and thoughts that surround it.

At first, you decide not to answer it with much thought, kind of trying to suppress your thoughts and feelings so you can properly analyze the game. Especially when it was two weeks before the actual match, when it was still fairly far off and things hadn’t begun twirling around your head and heart just yet. You can still give yourself a bit more breathing room. Plus it was also the international break so why start getting too involved when it was still so far off.

“Bam, I knew a player would get injured and be out for the match. Plus Tibi’s an important player”
Every Yellow & Blue fan got the same message at 22:20 on Friday night in one of their WhatsApp groups. It’s hard to find a Maccabi fan who isn’t in at least one or more groups with other Maccabi supporters. We live the club 24/7 and it’s part of our day to day life being a Maccabi fan so then we’re definitely in a WhatsApp group. The message already lets you know that there is no place to run or hide but it’s a must to internalize, process and analyze the issue at hand. The Match of the Season is upon us.

You start to go through the Match of the Season in your head, analyzing, rationalizing with your professional abilities what will happen until the final whistle and then what certain results will mean going forward. While you are analyzing the situation, many feelings fill your head, including pride, anxiety, disappointment and joy in this order which keeps repeating itself over and over again.

You can’t really avoid everything, so you try to make some sense of it in your head.

Tibi is hurt, so I’m a little anxious. Golasa, who was fantastic in the last match against Hapoel Beer Sheva has been hurt for some time and we don’t know what his status is. Add another 10 kilos of bad feelings and it’s not an easy task ahead. Beer Sheva has good momentum going for a bit due to wins over Beitar and Haifa, so it’s time to just open the window and stick my head out. But I stop, take a deep breath and begin concentrating on the memories. Oh, what memories. Thankfully I have a team that has been privileged to be in so many situations just like this and there are so many good memories.

You go back to when you were a soldier in Ganei Yehoshua with your friends with a 3 year old boy on your shoulders that you don’t really know, but you want to make sure he gets a good, good look at what is called Maccabi Tel Aviv – for the next generation. And all of this after the 2002/03 match at the end of the season, when you had the same amount of points as the club who had been enjoying a big gap and the best player gets hurt during Money Time. You remember how in the first half you just keep hearing that it’s 1 to Haifa, 2 to Haifa, 3 to Haifa, 4 to Haifa, 5 to Haifa and you go into the break at 0:0 with a cold sweat dripping from your forehead. And then in a minute that changes the whole season and the past seven seasons of waiting, you get the news of an Ashdod goal and you see Prohonenkovs beginning to celebrate.

The memories then move forward a few years. After a decade of suffering you move to February 2013 at Bloomfield Stadium and you can feel that something is in the air and everything is about to change. After so many defeats and humiliations as history puts the Derby results in favor of the Reds, you witness a 4:0 massive Derby win that sets off a streak of three championships in a row and also sets the standard in the city itself for years to come.

You slowly but surely come to your senses after thinking back to those sweet moments, your chest beams with pride. You really understand what it’s like to be Maccabi Tel Aviv. It’s not just a saying but we are the Yellow & Blue empire with amazing fans, an incredible owner and players who the last time they faced the same southern side gave us back our belief while playing with heart, soul and a lot of sacrifice. Even after a rough start to the season, you know that you can go out to war with these players. You realize that love and success to win titles is more than just that, it’s a way of life that no one else will ever understand.

Saturday, Beer Sheva, Match of the Season. You understand that this match is one where we will come home with the points. Only a win will suffice.