Aerial Battle
It will be worth it for Maccabi to prepare for set pieces by the opponent as they are lethal from those types of chances. Barak Bachar’s squad have scored 1.8 goals per match (across all competitions), with 34% of them coming via dead ball situations (45% have been scored off of an organized attack). In contrast, the Yellow & Blue have scored only 22% of their goals from set pieces while 67% have come from an attack. Beer Sheva have scored the most goals from set pieces amongst all of the clubs in the league with a total of 18. Four goals came off of corner kicks, four indirectly after free kicks, 3 directly from free kicks and 7 via penalty. Beer Sheva sends on average 6 of the taller and bigger players into the box during a dead ball situations, second only to Beitar with 6.6. Of these situations, Beer Sheva winds up with 1.7 attempts on target, the most of any other club in the Ligat Ha’Al.

The middle of the pitch and the importance of Radi

Looking at the statistics, it’s clear that Mahran Radi is a very important and critical player for Beer Sheva. Radi is second in the league when involved in attacks that result in a goal with 21 and only Tony Nwakaeme has more with 22. He has been directly involved in 13 of his team’s goals with 7 assists (second in the league to Micha) and 6 goals. Over the past number of matches, Head Coach Lito Vidigal has used an attacking midfield that includes Dor Micha and Ruben Micael and it will be interesting to see what Maccabi will do against the fairly strong Beer Sheva midfield. Radi has made the second most passes in the league up until the beginning of the playoffs with 1,793 while central defender Tal Ben Haim leads the league with 1,863. The former Yellow & Blue man sends the most balls in the league into the box with 45% of them finding the intended address.

The Maccabi players and specifically the midfielders will look to make sure that number is much lower along with the key passes (a pass that leads to an attempt on target or a pass that successfully finds a player who is beyond the defensive line) when they kick off on Saturday night. In this specific aspect, Radi finds himself in 12th place with 53 key pass attempts (21 have been successful) while Maor Melikson sits in 6th place with 73 attempts (33 have been successful) together with Tony Nwakaeme (73 attempts, 47 successful) who is second in the league to Micha who has been successful 52 times. The last time the two sides kicked off (1:0 to Maccabi) the Yellow & Blue stopped Radi cold as he did not make one key pass over the course of the whole contest. Nwakaeme made three such attempts but only one found its intended target.

Bozaglo MIA
Nwakaeme, Radi and Melikson are crucial pieces to Barak Bachar’s puzzle but we can’t forget about Maor Bozaglo who won’t be available for the matchup. The midfielder is one of the key components to the Southern side’s offense and the stats prove that as well. First off, Bozaglo is a master at dead ball situations and despite his height, he has scored two goals directly from free kicks. In addition, he has been part of 19 attacks that have resulted in a goal (3rd in the league), has made 42 successful key passes in 83 attempts (3rd in the league), has sent 98 balls into the box (1st in the league) and has drawn 3 penalties.

In short
1. Beer Sheva has taken 16 penalties across all competitions this season and ten have resulted in a goal.

2. The last time the two sides played, Maccabi was able to stop Tony Nwakaeme as he turned over the ball 21 times, almost double than the next player in that match, Ben Sahar who lost the ball 11 times. Eli Dasa started that match at right back (the same side as (Nwakaeme) and was also helped by Eyal Golasa (right-center midfielder) and Dor Micha (right wing).

Captain Sheran Yeini is host Lior Timor’s guest on the latest edition of Maccabi-Cast prior to the Match of the Season at Hapoel Beer Sheva:

“It’s great to be back and life is good in Tel Aviv. The club is fantastic and I’m happy to be back.”

It’s an important match:

“At the end of the day, we have to win the match and we can’t lose any points. Of course, there is extra pressure and responsibility in this game and I even feel that on the streets when people come over to me and tell me, make sure and win. I tell them you don’t want to wish us luck? Then we usually have a bit of a conversation. Everyone is excited.”

Cutting the gap:

“It’s a tough match and we cut the gap from 11 to just 3 points and if we drop it to zero points that will give us an even bigger push. We want to fight for this title and win the championship, so this is just one more match towards that goal.”

The last few matches:

“I think we had 2-3 matches that we weren’t as good and then we had a very good match when we won 3:0. We had some very good minutes for long stretches of the game and we scored some quality goals so we are coming into the match in good shape.”

Satisfied with a draw?

“We aren’t coming into this match thinking about a draw. During the course of the match we will have to see how it is playing out. We are looking to win this game.”

How do you see Maccabi right now and not the one you came back to in January:

“I see Maccabi Tel Aviv with a lot of character and one that is very hard to play against. It’s tough to score against us and we are always dangerous on the attack. Any club that is going to play against us will be in for a tough time.”

Becoming Captain again:

“Gal Alberman didn’t even speak to me about it. We went to a training session in pretty bad weather and he had a jacket on with the captain’s armband on underneath so I wouldn’t see. I said to my teammates that I am back and that I’m here to help as much as possible. He then said that he had something of mine and he handed me over the armband. I felt so good, I wasn’t even thinking about it. We have been very close even when I was in Holland and I know that we can help the team together.”

The small details:

“Right now we are concentrating on all of the small details and when you do one small thing and another small thing it helps the outlook of the big picture.”

About the title battle:

“Hapoel Beer Sheva is a good club and that is not only good for the Israeli League but also for us as it makes us push ourselves even harder. The minute that we are behind them then we are pushing hard and vice versa if they were behind us. It’s really a head to head battle. It makes the league even more interesting and it helps us want to be even better and better.”

Every contest is critical:

“Every single match is important for us and can be decisive, whether it was the match against Ashkelon or against Sakhnin. I don’t remember a match that hasn’t been critical. When we get to next week’s match it will also be crucial and there’s no difference to us. We have to win and they have to win as well.”

Eitan Tibi’s injury and where he will play on Saturday:

“Eitan Tibi is a great player and he will be missed. But we also have some good players who can take his place. I’ll play wherever the professional staff wants me to play.”

Lito Vidigal, the Maccabi Tel Aviv Boss is getting his side ready for the Match of the Season against Hapoel Beer Sheva at Turner Stadium, Saturday night, 21:10. The Angolan discussed what would make him happy, Eitan Tibi’s injury and the importance of the upcoming match:

“All the games are important. If we lost some games in the past then we may not be talking about the game now. Everything is open and we are focusing only on this game. We have the possibility to win every game and this is yet one more. The last ten or twelve games we’ve played as it’s a final. We have to keep working. We have to fight and work hard, this is how we are thinking, how we can take the three points.”

Eyal Golasa’s status:

“I believe in all of the players. Golasa has been training now and if he plays he will play, if he has to stay on the bench he will be on the bench. I can’t tell you for 100% that he will play but you never know.”

Eitan Tibi’s injury:

“I’m sad for him too because he wants to play. But we have other players who can play and I have other choices. We have other players that I believe in and I know they can play well. I don’t know who will play in his position yet, but I know that Tal Ben Haim will play, now there is a a scoop.”

Targeting certain players on Beer Sheva:

“We always think of them as a team and we don’t look at individual players.”

Beer Sheva has never lost at their home stadium:

“It will be a good challenge for us.”

Happy with a draw?

“I will be happy if we win 5:0. I will be happy if my players will give everything that they have to try and take the three points.”

Working on various aspects of the game:

“We work everyday on all the different situations. Attack, defense, counter attack and everything, the small things make a big difference in football.”

Yeini playing at left back for this match:

“I try to put the best eleven on the pitch for every game and I will do the same for this one.”

2015: 6 Goal Outburst in the State Cup Final

1995: Brumer’s Championship Strike (Begins at 4:28 mark)

2014: Taking home the Championship at Wassermil

One of the voters will win a great prize: 300 NIS worth of HP Maccabi Personalized Products. So what are you waiting for? The polls close on Friday March 31st at 12:00. You better get going!