The Yellow-and-Blue controlled the tempo of the match throughout but couldn’t find a way past the stingy Sakhnin defense as the match ended in a 0:0 draw.
Head Coach Peter Bosz made a couple of changes to the side that played Sakhnin this past Thursday night in State Cup semifinals action at Sammy Ofer Stadium as Gal Alberman returned to the midfield and was joined by Shlomi Azulay replacing both Tal Ben Chaim and Haris Medunjanin. Predrag Rajikovic took his usual spot in goal while Eli Dasa, Eitan Tibi, Carlos Garcia and Avi Rikan played in front of him. Dor Peretz, who featured in the Dutchman’s Starting XI last week continued to get credit from the boss while Alberman and Azulay joined the youngster on the pitch. Barak Itzhaki, Dor Micha and the Captain Eran Zahavi provided the attack for the Yellow-and-Blue.
The match started off as a chippy affair with both clubs feeling each other out for the first ten minutes. That was until Sakhnin’s striker Shlomi Azulay had a 16 meter chance from the top of the box that was collected by Rajikovic to keep the game goalless early on. In the 15th minute, Gal Alberman delivered a beauty of ball to Itzhaki but number 10’s close range header just missed its mark and went over the bar.
Itzhaki’s left foot strike went off the woodwork in the 23rd minute as the Maccabi bench all leapt from their seats while Zahavi’s sharp angle attempt just missed the target and went out by the left post. Just minutes later another Itzhaki chance just went wide, Zahavi’s 17 meter opportunity was saved by Mohamed Kandil as was Azulay’s weak effort off of a Dasa pass in the box.
After Garcia picked up a yellow card in the 40th minute, Azulay gave Micha a huge pass in the box who in turn gave Itzhaki the ball and the striker again drilled the ball off of the right post as the teams headed into the break deadlocked at 0:0.
The second half began the same at the first half ended with a terrific Maccabi chance that missed the target as Tibi’s close effort couldn’t find the back of Kandil’s goal and went out. Alberman’s long range scorcher in the 57th minute was parried to safety by Kandil for a corner while Dasa’s header was just short of the goal after taking a Zahavi pass in the box.
With Maccabi dominating possession over the first 65 minutes but unable to score, Bosz introduced Haris Medunjanin for Azulay in order to jump start the offense and find the match’s first elusive goal. Following Micha’s fantastic chance in the box in the 70th minute, Bnei Sakhnin broke down the pitch but Firas Migrabi’s effort was blocked by Rajikovic as the ball was sent out for a corner kick which Azulay almost sent into the back of the goal but skirted just wide of the goal.
As the tension increased at Doha Stadium with Hapoel Beer Sheva already defeating Hapoel Raanana and increasing their top of the table lead to 4-points, Orlando Sa replaced Dor Peretz to ramp up the Yellow-and-Blue attack another notch in the 73rd minute. However, it would be Sakhnin who would have a couple of dangerous chances soon thereafter but Maccabi’s Serbian shot stopper looked to maintain his clean sheet and made a pair of fabulous stops, the second of which being a brilliant kick save.
As the match headed into the final ten minutes, Coach Bosz made his third and final substitute bringing on Tal Ben Chaim in favor of Barak Itzhaki in search of a winning goal. Micha sent Zahavi a terrific ball as number 7 cut into the box but his attempt just came up short as it went off of the right side of the goal and out. With the match headed into injury time another scrum in the Sakhnin box led to a Ben Chaim effort that also missed the mark as did all of Maccabi’s other chances on this night as the ended in a 0:0 goalless draw.
Hapoel Beer Sheva’s lead widened to 3-points at the top of the table with the “Match of the Year” between the two sides to take place next Monday at Bloomfield Stadium, 20:55.
