Vidar Kjartansson’s brace brought his league scoring total to 10 goals, which means the Icelander is now Maccabi’s goal scoring leader this season.

In addition, he now sits in second place amongst the league’s leading goal scorers tied with Ben Sahar while Tony Nwaekame is in first place with 11 strikes.

Kjartansson has scored 7 goals throughout all competitions in the month of January out of a total of 13 he’s scored for the Club to date.

Dor Micha assisted on Kjartansson’s second goal of the match for his 8th helper this season in all competitions.

Egor Filipenka started all of Maccabi Tel Aviv’s matches during the month of January.

Eyal Golasa ran the most for the Yellow & Blue against Haifa going 11km during the contest. Yossi Benayoun, who played 120 minutes just last Wednesday against Hapoel Raanana in the State Cup checked in with 10.5km while Kjartansson was third with 10.4km.

Omri Ben Harush was the fastest on the pitch at any one point in the game pacing himself at 33.6kph. Winger Tal Ben Chaim came in right behind him with 33.5kph.

Maccabi Tel Aviv FC granted Haris Medunjanin permission to leave the club and join an MLS club where he is set to sign a three-year-deal.

The 31-year-old Bosnian international midfielder, made 56 appearances in all competitions scoring 6 goals since joining Maccabi in January last year. 

Medunjanin, who spent two more years at Maccabi between 2010-2012 told the club’s official website: “I am very happy I came back to Maccabi and obviously would have been happier to have won titles. I would like to thank both Mitch Goldhar and Jordi Cruyff for allowing me leave the club now despite the fact I have five months left on my current contract, and accept a three-year-deal at an MLS club. I wish Maccabi all the best in the future and would like to thank everyone at the club and the supporters for the support I received during my time here in Tel Aviv”.

Sports Director Jordi Cruyff, added: “At the beginning of the transfer period, Haris asked us for permission to leave and accept a three-year-deal at the MLS. We granted him permission as we understood that receiving such an offer at this stage of his career is a great opportunity and therefore didn’t want to stand in his way. We would like to thank Haris for his professionalism as he remained with us till the end of the transfer period, and  thank him for his contribution to Maccabi both on and off the pitch. We wish him all the best in the future”.

Following the 2:2 draw at Sammy Ofer Stadium against Maccabi Haifa, Maccabi Tel Aviv is already thinking about Hapoel Beer Sheva this coming Saturday night. The Yellow & Blue midfielder, Yossi Benayoun met his former team and summed up the match: “We’re disappointed to drop points but we’re also happy to have found the tying goal in the 91st minute.”

About the match that was:

“Maccabi Haifa opened up the match well against us. We didn’t control the ball and they almost doubled their lead. At the end of the half I had a major miss. In the second half we took control from the get go and we were much better. Of course we were disappointed when we went down 2:1, but I was sure we would score. The fact that we came back shows a lot of character on Vidar’s part that he scored a brace and was fantastic in the second half.”

Hapoel Beer Sheva:

“We have a big game in Saturday. The gap is now 8 points but if we can win, we’ll get back into the race.”

Jordi Cruyff the Yellow & Blue Sports Director looked back at the match that was against Maccabi Haifa on Matchday 20 of the Ligat Ha’Al. Cruyff spoke about the upcoming match against Beer Sheva, aggressive play, character of the team and coming back to draw:

“When you are normally losing in the last minutes a draw would be like a win, though before the game that wasn’t the result I was looking for. We gave a stupid goal away off a free kick. We then had an injury and at the half we had to make another substitution for another injury. The second half was all Maccabi. But we gave another stupid goal away off a cross which we have been working on but we got the tying goal and took a point.”

More on the goals given up:

“It’s a street thing and not something that you train for. The player in question is usually a street wise guy. Both of their goals were mistakes by us.”

Character:

“In terms of fighting spirit I can’t complain and I can only say thanks to the players and the fans that we came back from 2:1 down. But it was a goal of character and a good base to build on for this season and the coming years. The best thing to build on is character.”

Aggressive play:

“When you’re 1:0 down you can go after some players but when you have two midfielders with yellow cards so we had to be a but more careful. Haifa’s midfielder should’ve gotten a yellow as well in the first half.”

About Hapoel Beer Sheva on Saturday night:

“I think that all of the games for us is a final. Because we are down on points we are in the situation we are in and we didn’t do the homework we needed to against some teams and we lost points. No matter who the opponent is we have to play as if it’s a final. All the teams will lose points going forward.”

Tal Ben Chaim:

“He played 90 minutes because he trained good and he wanted to play and the rest we aren’t talking about.”

The Yellow & Blue received a late equalizer via Vidar Kjartansson to send each club home with a point a piece. Omer Damari opened the scoring for the Greens while Sheran Yeini made his Maccabi return after Avi Rikan had to leave the match due to injury. The Icelander would draw Maccabi even in the second half, but late substitute Roie Kehat gave the hosts a late lead as the match looked to be slipping away from the visitors. However, injury time heroics by number 24 gave the teams a split of the points.

Prematch
Sports Director Jordi Cruyff’s Starting XI included Serbian keeper Predrag Rajikovic with a defense featuring Avi Rikan, Egor Filipenka, Eitan Tibi and Eli Dasa. Gal Alberman was wearing the captain’s armband with Eyal Golasa and Yossi Benayoun beside him. Barak Itzhaki, Tal Ben Chaim and Vidar Kjartansson provided the attack up front.

Available on the bench were keeper Daniel Lifshitz, Omri Ben Harush, Sheran Yeini, Sagiv Yehezkel, Eliel Peretz, Haris Medunjanin and Dor Micha.

First Half
Itzhaki tried to get Maccabi on the board first, but his sharp angle effort in the 2nd minute was just tipped over the bar while Rikan’s corner was headed by number 10 at the Haifa goal forcing Ohad Levita to make a terrific save.

As the contest hit the 9th minute, Haifa began to threaten the Maccabi goal and found the back of it two minutes later. Amit Zaneti led a counter attack for the Greens and crossed the ball across the box to an oncoming Omer Damari who easily tapped it in beating Rajikovic to give the hosts a 1:0 lead.

Rikan was forced to leave the game due to injury in the 14th minute as Sheran Yeini made his return to the Yellow & Blue coming on for the left back. Golasa was then issued a yellow card for a reckless tackle in the midfield as Maccabi looked to regain control of the match. However, it would be Haifa with a brilliant chance to double the score as Gili Vermouth and Damari teamed up to almost beat Raijkovic, but Yeini cleared the ball off of the line to safety.

As the fast paced game hit the 22nd minute Alberman handed off the captain’s armband to Yeini as number 13 put it around his left arm. Dasa found Kjartansson three minutes later but the Icelander’s chance missed the mark. Ben Chaim began to break downfield in the 29th minute but Gary Kagelmaher’s professional foul earned the Greens captain a yellow card for his efforts.

Haifa’s Anis Alushi also picked up a yellow card in the 34th minute as the Greens had another quality chance to score, but Rajikovic scooped up the ball to end the threat. Alberman received a yellow card for his foul in the Haifa zone as the match entered the 43rd minute while Benayoun had a wonderful chance to silence the crowd, but his header just went wide of the goal off of an Itzhaki left side corner as the referee blew the halftime whistle.

Second Half
Cruyff inserted Omri Ben Harush into the fray for Egor Filipenka to begin the second half as Maccabi looked to find the equalizer. In the 52nd minute, Alberman had a weak shot on goal which was easily taken by Levita while seven minutes later Benayoun laid the ball off for Ben Chaim but his screamer went way over the goal.

In the 64th minute, Itzhaki’s surprise effort almost fooled Levita, but the Greens keeper just pushed the ball over the bar as Maccabi got closer and closer to finding the back of the Haifa goal.

And what would you know, that’s exactly what they did the next time down the field two minutes later. Benayoun gave Dasa a fabulous pass and number 2 sent Kjaratannson a wonderful ball that he slotted right between Levita and the right post to tie the game up at 1:1.

Itzhaki picked up a 70th minute yellow card while Kjartansson was issued one of his own three minutes later as Haifa began to come back into the game following the Maccabi goal. With both sides going end to end the Yellow & Blue made their third substitution of the evening as Cruyff introduced Dor Micha for Itzhaki in the 81st minute.

However, it would be Haifa who would find the marker to break the deadlock as Roie Kehat who had come on in the 82nd minute headed home a San Menchem ball to give the Greens a 2:1 advantage. Maccabi looked to draw even and pressured the Greens defense while time ticked down and the Yellow & Blue looked for a savior.

And a savior they would find in Kjartansson who bagged a late brace thanks to a brilliant pass by Micha as the Icelandic striker would slam the ball home high into the Haifa goal, helping the sides split the points. Maccabi will now prepare for a 1 versus 2 showdown on Saturday night, 21:00 against Hapoel Beer Sheva at the Netanya Stadium.