The young striker, Raz Itzhak signed a four year contract with Maccabi Tel Aviv. Itzhak will return to the Yellow & Blue after having played one season with Hapoel Tel Aviv. The 18-year old, who scored 9 goals in the Youth League last year and who played with Maccabi “Shachar” Tel Aviv two campaigns ago winning the league title will be loaned immediately to Beitar Tel Aviv/Ramle.
Category: News
First Look: Get to Know Vidar Kjartansson
הכירו את וידאר קיראטאנסון
You Voted! Ben Chaim August Player of the Month
The season has begun and so has the the voting for the HISENSE Player of the Month. After a month of excitement, goals and advancing to the Europa League, you voted over the last 24 hours for the player who you thought was the best of the best.
The Yellow & Blue winger, Tal Ben Chaim was August’s winner with over 49% of the popular vote (out of over 2000 who took part) and he also leads the league in goals after two Matchdays with three. Oscar Scarione finished in second place earning 30% of your votes as the Argentinean has scored 4 goals in all competitions since arriving at Kiryat Shalom while Gal Alberman rounded out the top three.
Did you vote for Ben Chaim! Then make sure to read the next paragraph!
Please note! If you voted for Tal Ben Chaim you’re even closer now to winning a 32″ TV from HISENSE and a chance to meet the player himself! At 17:00 on Tuesday al those who voted for the winger will receive a trivia question via SMS. The first to answer the question correctly wins the prize, so get your phones and fingers ready!
VIDAR KJARTANSSON JOINS MACCABI
Maccabi Tel Aviv FC reached an agreement with Swedish side Malmo FF for the sale of 26-year-old Icelandic striker Vidar Orn Kjartansson who successfully completed his medical and signed a 4 year deal at the club.
Kjartansson, who scored 14 goals in 20 league appearances for Malmo ever since his January transfer from Chinese outfit Jiangsu Suning FC, scored 1 goal in 9 appearances for Iceland and is part of the squad to face Ukraine in Kiev on September 5th. 
Sports Director Jordi Cruyff told the club’s official website: “Vidar is a prolific goal scorer with an outstanding record who we tried signing for a long time and are delighted to have finally achieved our objective and we hope he will now help us achieve more. We are pleased to have completed the signing in the tight timeframe which was a result of a team effort. It was good to work with Jack Angelides once again in his new role working with the owner in Canada. I am grateful to Mitch Goldhar for showing once again his commitment to strengthening the Club and for his assistance throughout this process in making this key signing a reality
Kjartansson told the club’s official website: “It’s been a very long day which started in Copenhagen this morning. In a really short period of time, I managed to have a quick tour of the city and was pleasantly surprised. I met with Jordi Cruyff and coach Shota Arveladze, completed a medical and visited the club’s offices to see from close range that this is a big club. 
I obviously know the team qualified to the Europa League group stage and has played last season in the Champions League. I watched some of the matches as it was a really tough group. I am very excited to sign for Maccabi Tel Aviv as I know this is the biggest club in Israel with an amazing set fans and great history. Now I will rejoin the Iceland national team squad ahead of our qualifier against Ukraine and return shortly after. I would like to thank everyone at Malmo FF, the players, staff and fans. It was an a amazing time I had there, but now I am beginning a new part of my career”.
A product of Icelandic club UMF Selfos, Kjartansson, 187cm, made his senior debut at the age of 16 before joining IBV Vestmannaeyjar in 2009 and returning to his boyhood club a year later. In three seasons, the striker scored 35 times in 70 appearances before switching in March 2013 to Fylkir Rekjavik for which he scored 23 goals in 30 appearances. In January 2014 Kjartansson moved to Norway to join Valerenga Oslo and kept his outstanding goal scoring record with 31 goals in 33 appearances before being sold to Jiangsu. Under coach Dan Petrescu, Kjartansson scored 13 goals in 35 appearances before returning to Scandinavia and joining Malmo. Overall, Kjartansson scored 144 career goals in 284 appearances.
Maccabi Players & their National Teams
The International break has arrived just a short time after the opening of the new season and there will be plenty of Yellow & Blue who will switch over to wearing the Blue & White of Israel along with a number of other players for their respective countries. Who are they and when will they be in action?
Israel National Team
Israel – Italy (05/09/16 Sammy Ofer Stadium)
The Israel National Team will begin the World Cup 2018 campaign with new Head Coach Elisha Levy at the helm as they host Italy on Matchday One of Group 7. Four Maccabi players will be represented including winger Tal Ben Chaim, Eitan Tibi, Eli Dasa and Eyal Golasa.
Israel Under-21
Portugal – Israel (02/09/16 Estádio da Mata Real)
Israel – Liechtenstein (06/09/16 Moshava Stadium)
Marko Balbul’s first test as Head Coach will be a pair of matches, away against Portugal and at home against Liechtenstein in the Under-21 European Championship in Poland 2017. Dor Peretz and Eliel Peretz will be part of the squad along with loaned player Sean Goldberg and Shachar Feibein.
Serbia National Team – Predrag Rajikovic
The young keeper will meet up with his National Team for a match against the Republic of Ireland in Group D of World Cup qualifying at the Red Star Belgrade Stadium, “Rajko Mitić” or also known by its former name the Marakana. There’s no need for Rajiko to do any scouting for Yellow & Blue Head Coach Shota Arveladze as there are no Dundalk players on the Irish squad. Another thing that Maccabi’s keeper can’t do is play against one of Ireland’s most famous strikers Robbie Keane who recently announced his retirement from International play and will participate in his final match coming up against Oman.
Belarus National Team – Egor Filipenka
Maccabi Tel Aviv’s central defender will return back to his birthplace where he’ll play two games, a friendly against Norway on August 31st in Oslo and six days later when his side placed Group A will host the Euro 2016 runner-ups, France.
Bosnia National Team – Haris Medunjanin
Following a successful summer where Medunjanin captained his National Team side and won the Kirin Cup in Japan, Haris will begin his World Cup qualifying campaign by hosting Estonia in Zenica.
Nigeria National Team – Nosa Igiebor
The Super Eagles called up Nosa for their upcoming contest against Tanzania which will be played in Nigeria, however, both sides have no chance of qualifying for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations as Egypt has already qualified from first place while second place Chad withdrew due to financial issues.
Maccabi’s Nigerian midfielder will look to impress Head Coach Gernot Rohr as the team will begin preparations for World Cup qualifying.
Alberman: “We’ll continue to improve in every aspect of our game”
Gal Alberman, Maccabi Tel Aviv’s Captain discussed his side’s 2:1 Matchday Two win over SC Ashdod at the Yud Alef Stadium. Number 6 also talked about getting back to the Europa League, the club’s defensive issues and of course the victory itself:
“It’s one of the toughest fields to play on and I don’t remember how many victories we had here other than two years ago when we won 1:0 after a rough contest. But the bottom line is we needed the 3 points but we still have to play a bit better. Ashdod is a quality side that can give problems to many teams.”
Playing in Split:
“Even though I didn’t play in Croatia, it wasn’t easy to play just a few days after 120 minutes and there were at least four or five players that played both there and here. But it’s just an excuse and we didn’t come in here complacent. Like I said before, it’s a tough pitch to play on but we did our job and we did what we had to do. We scored a pair of goals and we’ll go into the international break with 6 points.”
Defensive issues:
“It’s hard to pick out a specific problem, but there is what to improve on. We have played a number of quality teams that we were able to stop, however today Ashdod had a number of chances more than usual. Again I’m not sure what the exact issue is but we will continue to work on the things that we can improve before the next league match, but all in all we’ll continue to improve in every aspect of our game.”
Maccabi back in the Europa League:
“We worked very hard to get to this point. We played 8 matches and had a number of long flights and journeys but we made it back to the Europa League and it was something that we really wanted, as players, for the Club and for the fans. We have to make sure we play well in the league and whatever we accomplish in Europe from this point on is a bonus.”
Scarione: “We knew it would be a difficult game”
ארבלדזה וסקאריונה לאחר הניצחון על אשדוד
Arveladze: “I’m always looking to improve the club”
ארבלדזה וסקאריונה לאחר הניצחון על אשדוד
Maccabi wins 2-1 away at Ashdod
The Yellow & Blue earned three points on Matchday Two on two first half goals by Oscar Scarione and winger Tal Ben Chaim via penalty as Gadi Kinda was only able to cut the lead in the 40th minute. The players will now be on the international break as Matchday Three will take place in two weeks when Maccabi hosts Beitar Jerusalem at the Netanya Stadium.
Head Coach Shota Arveladze had Serbian keeper Predrag Rajikovic in goal with Avi Rikan, Eitan Tibi, Egor Filipenka and Eli Dasa in front of him. Captain Gal Alberman was back in the Starting XI while Haris Medunjanin and Oscar Scarione played beside number 6. Providing the attack was a trio of Dor Micha, Tal Ben Chaim and Barak Itzhaki.
On the bench was Haviv Ohayon, Eyal Golasa, Tal Ben Haim, Nosa Igiebor, Dor Peretz, Eliel Peretz and Yossi Benayoun.
First Half
Even before everyone settled into their seats at the Yud Alef Stadium, Maccabi sporting their new blue away kit was on the board. Scarione took a tremendous long pass from Itzhaki to come in from the left side and slot the ball behind the Ashdod keeper for the 1:0 lead in the first minute.
In the 7th minute Itzhaki himself had a terrific chance but skied his ball over the bar while a minute later Scarione almost picked up a brace but keeper Yoav Gerafi was in the right place to make the stop. As the match hit the 19th minute Ben Chaim swung a cross in from the left side to the middle of the box where Itzhaki’s header went wide right of the goal as Maccabi continued to look for their second goal on the evening.
However, it wouldn’t take them too much longer to find it as Ben Chaim was tripped up in the box after receiving a terrific pass by Scarione God for a penalty that number 11 easily slotted home to the bottom left of Gerafi’s goal for a 2:0 Yellow & Blue advantage. Alberman’s long range scorcher was collected by Gerafi in the 34th minute but out of nowheres Gadi Kinda capitalized on a Maccabi defensive error and out the ball behind Rajikovic to cut the lead to 2:1 in the 40th minute.
Ben Chaim almost put home his second of the match but his sharp angled shot went off the post and out as the referee blew the whistle to signal the end of the first half.
Second Half
With Ashdod looking for an equalizer they began attacking Maccabi and almost converted a pair of early second half chances but Rajikovic made sure to keep the score as is with two nice saves. Head Coach Arveladze made his first substitution of the evening introducing Tal Ben Haim in favor of Barak Itzhaki and moved to three central defenders in the back.
With the new formation in place winger Ben Chaim had a marvelous chance to increase the lead in the 56th minute but his effort went off of an Ashdod defender and out for a corner. In the 60th minute Nivaldo headed a ball back to the keeper that almost went into the goal, however Gerafi made it back in time to make the stop on the line.
Drazen Bagaric had two chances to draw Ashdod even in the 63rd and 65th minutes but Rajikovic made the save on the former while the latter was just wide right of the goal. Following a yellow card issued to Alberman, Arveladze made his second substitute of the match bringing in Nosa Igiebor for Dor Micha while Eyal Golasa was introduced for Haris Medunjanin in the 71st minute.
Bagaric again had an opportunity to tie up the match but his shot from the top of the box went over the bar and out in the 78th minute and Dasa was issued a yellow card in the 86th minute as play went back an forth with each side looking for a goal late in the match. However, neither club would find one as the Yellow & Blue remain perfect early on in the season winning 2:1.
Maccabi’s next match will be in two weeks due to the international break when they face Beitar Jerusalem at home.
Know your opponent: SC Ashdod
Stadium: Yud Alef Ashdod (7,500)
Coach: Roni Aouate
Many aren’t familiar with the brand new Ashdod boss who took over the coaching reins from Eyal Lachman last season. The Ashdod born Aouate’s playing career came to an early end due to an injury but he began his trade in the city itself with Ironi Ashdod and then moved onto the Youth Club of SC Ashdod where he helped the side win a historic State Cup.
To help out the young Aouate, the veteran coach Gili Landau will be available to him as the Professional Director of the Youth Department as he will also handle some of the senior squad duties.
Former players – SC Ashdod has a young and talented squad with a couple of faces that will be familiar to Shota Arveladze’s side. Brazilian Nivaldo was a member of the Yellow & Blue between 2010-2012 and Ben Ben Yair who grew up in the Maccabi Youth Department and played a few times for the first team, will meet up with the team that he got his start in.
Preseason – The port city side played three matches in the Toto Cup competition as they prepared for the upcoming season. Aouate’s first match was a 3:1 home victory over Beitar Jerusalem that was played in Rishon Le’Zion while their second contest was a 2:2 draw against Ashkelon and in their third game at Turner Stadium Aouate’s side surprised Beer Sheva with a win over the champions. Even though Ashdod had a good start in the third most important tournament they lost to open the regular season falling to Kiryat Shemona away.
Under the magnifying glass: The Ashdod youngsters
Roni Aouate’s team had a very lethal and young attack which included a number of players who grew up in the Ashdod youth department. Michael Ohana, the 20-year old, leads the offense that also includes a number of players who are part of the Israel National Team youth sides such as Or Inbrum, Din David, Gadi Kinda, Niv Zrihan and others who will attempt to help the team to a successful campaign.
