Other than picking up a very important victory on Thursday in Alkmaar, the Club also had another reason to celebrate and that was because central defender Tal Ben Haim, a player who grew up in the Maccabi Youth Department made his 50th appearance in European play. In order to properly accord the honor due, we decided to go back and look at his special moments in UEFA competitions.

Premiere: Ben Haim’s first European foray was in the Yellow & Blue of Maccabi back on September 20, 2001 at the Maksimir Stadium against Dinamo Zagreb. The match ended in a 2:2 draw, a result that helped Maccabi advance to the next round when they drew 1:1 at home in the return leg.

Post Yellow & Blue: In 2004/05 Ben Haim moved to Bolton and the following season made his European debut with the English outfit. The match was a second leg for the Wanderers against Bulgarian side Lokomotiv Plovdiv in the round which is now the playoffs right before the group stages of the tournament. The contest ended in a 2:1 win for Bolton, leading them into the group stages. Ben Haim had a terrific campaign which included playing in the Round of 16 which unfortunately ended quite tragically for the defender when his own goal led to his team being ousted by Marseille of France, a club that included the likes of Franck Ribery, Samir Nasir and Fabien Barthez.

The Blues: Ben Haim joined Chelsea in 2007/08 and played his first European game against Rosenborg when he entered the match as a substitute for Joe Cole. The Israeli also played in the match versus Valencia which ended in a goalless draw. That same year Chelsea made it all the way to the finals of the Champions League where they fell to Manchester United on penalties.

Right at home: The defender has had a great time when it comes to playing in the group stages of European competitions. Ben Haim appeared in the group stages of the UEFA Cup/Europa League with Bolton, Manchester City Standard Liege and in the current campaign with the Yellow & Blue. He’s also appeared twice in the Champions League group stages with Chelsea and last season with Maccabi.

How far can you go: The Round of 16 with Bolton was the furthest Ben Haim actually played in when he appeared in both legs against Marseille.

32: The amount of opponents Ben Haim has played against in European tournaments. Some of the names include Paris St. Germain, Sevilla, Besiktas, Chelsea, Porto, Valencia and Dynamo Kiev.

The Russian Connection: Ben Haim has played only one other club more than once, Zenit St. Petersburg. The central defender defeated them with Bolton in the UEFA Cup group stages when teams only played each other once. We’ll cross our fingers and hope that he can defeat them again in his third meeting with the Club in late November when the Yellow & Blue visit the Russian city.

Appearances in number:

Champions League

Maccabi Tel Aviv – 13
Chelsea – 2

Europa League

Maccabi Tel Aviv – 15
Bolton – 7
Manchester City – 5
Standard Liege – 8

Omri Ben Harush, the Yellow & Blue defender looked back at his club’s 2:1 critical victory in Holland. Ben Harush also looked ahead to Maccabi Haifa on Monday, the defensive side of the team’s game, his feelings when AZ drew even and winning the contest:

“We came into the match very prepared. We really wanted to bring points home after two not so pleasant matches. We were organized, prepared and really wanted to win and you could see that on the pitch.”

Feelings when AZ tied up the match:

“You go through these types of feelings every game and there is nothing you can do about it as we are all human beings. We learnt from the two losses and learnt our lesson as well as did what we had to on the pitch, now it’s time to move on.”

The defensive side of the game:

“We are doing excellent work and the coach is very content with us. We really learned our lessons from the prior games and we are happy with the result.”

About Monday’s match against Maccabi Haifa:

“We will be ready to go.”

Maccabi Tel Aviv midfielder Eyal Golasa scored the winner in last night’s crucial Matchday Three Europa League contest in Holland and helped the Yellow & Blue to 3 very valuable points in the competition. Number 23 spoke about the win, the upcoming contests and the importance of picking up the three points:

“The match was very important to us because the group is very close and I’m happy that we won. Now it’s time to look ahead to Monday’s very difficult game and we’re focussed on that.”

Feelings after Alkmaar drew even:

“We had been controlling the tempo and the ball. It’s true they may have had momentum after they had scored but we had chances and I’m happy we ended up winning the game.”

Thoughts when he got the ball from Dasa to score:

“I was alone so I said to myself that I’d kick it at the goal.”

More on the win and looking ahead:

“The group is really close and we did the job at a tough stadium against a very organized team. What’s most important is that we won and that we now can really concentrate on Monday’s match. Maccabi Haifa is a very tough team. We have a number of games in a row now and we have to get onto a good streak.”

Winger Tal Ben Chaim on Golasa’s goal:

“WOW!”

Position and formation

John van den Brom’s team currently sits in the fifth position in the Eredivisie, the Holland League table after nine Matchdays, with four victories, four draws and a loss. van den Brom began his third season at Alkmaar’s helm and has been able to implement the match methodology that he advocates which is detailed below.

Let’s begin with the defenders. van den Brom never changes his back line and has four defenders playing there on a regular basis which will now lead us to the wingers. Left back Ridgeciano Haps and Mattias Johansson the Swedish right back man the wings. While Johansson tends to stay in the Alkmaar half of the pitch, Haps attacks much more frequently down the wing and will cross the ball into the box.

In terms of the midfield play, you can see that by looking at the chart, van den Brom uses five midfielders and will make adjustments depending on the team he is facing. Against Zenit (0:5 loss) and also versus Dundalk (1:1) there were two defensive midfielders, however in league play there is usually just one defensive midfielder and four more offensive minded ones. There is no change in terms of the striker as there is one in the hole who is usually physical and tall.

Crosses and dribbles

We looked at Alkmaar’s last five Dutch league matches as well as the Europa League contests to try and learn where they are most dangerous. Before we discuss individual players, AZ has a striker in the hole very close to the goal who tries to take advantage of crosses from the midfielders.

Pay attention to the percentages of the crosses. Roughly 65% of the crosses come from the right side which is AZ’s most active wing. The same is true about the dribbles as 40% of them also are from the right while the club controls the ball 77% of the time.

The deep passes are the exact same story as you can surmise with 51% of them coming from the right wing.

The Amazing Moroccan

Alkmaar will introduce wonder boy Iliass Bel Hassani in the match against Maccabi Tel Aviv. The 24-year old who arrived at AZ from Heracles on the last day of the transfer window will try to fill the void left by Markus Henriksen who landed at Premier League outfit Hull City.

Hassani who began his professional career at Sparta Rotterdam in Holland’s second division has a wonderful dribble which he does on average 11 times per match. The midfielder is also one who is involved in his team’s goal scoring both by creating them and also finding the back of the goal himself as he’s picked up two of his own this season. Hassani prefers to shoot from the right edge of the box and is dangerous from there at any time.

One of the Moroccan’s advantages is that he can shoot, dribble and pass equally well from both his right and left foot and also knows how to make the perfect cross. The Yellow & Blue’s left side will have to keep a good eye on this young talent.

Pay attention to:

The Man in the Mask: Striker Wout Weghorst has scored four goals in seven games, however none have come in the Europa League. Along with Nigerian target man Fred Friday, Weghoorst will look to break through the Maccabi defense and score his first of the campaign.

Ron Vlaar: The absence of the Dutch international may be an issue for the AZ defense as reports indicate the central defender will not be part of the match squad.

Alireza Jahanbakhsh: One of the most important players in van den Brom’s side will most probably not play due to reasons that have nothing to do with football. The Iranian midfielder who has scored three goals this year will not be part of this evening’s festivities.

Sheran Yeini, the Yellow & Blue’s former captain surprised the team at their hotel and greeted them when they arrived in Holland. Yeini talked about his team Vitesse playing Alkmaar, his comeback from injury and of course about what Maccabi can expect from tear Dutch competition in the Europa League:

“It’s always fun to meet up with friends and there was no question that I was going to see the team as soon as they arrived at the hotel and surprise them. Of course I’ll also be at the match on Thursday night.”

About Alkmaar:

“Alkmaar is a good team that knows how to hold on to the ball but I think that Maccabi can stand up to them as they are a good team, very dangerous and that can score a bunch of goals. They may not be used to playing a team like Maccabi who also are winners. It will be a very tough match for Alkmaar and I hope that Maccabi will win.”

Keeping up with the Yellow & Blue:

“It’s fun to see Maccabi play and the last match I saw them was the Derby. Every game that’s played I feel that I’m still part of the Club. I appreciate everyone around the team and I’m so happy that everything is going well at Maccabi.”

Returning from injury:

“I hurt my back like in the past when I was injured including when I was with Maccabi. But I’m coming back now and I love playing and training. I have a ton of energy and I have a Derby as well next week after an exhibition match to tomorrow against Alkmaar’s second team.”

Alkmaar all day & all night:

“The First Team of Vitesse played Alkmaar this past week, tomorrow we have an exhibition game against their second team and then Maccabi is now playing them on Thursday. It’s crazy!”