The Yellow-and-Blue advanced to the semifinals of the Cup competition after defeating Kfar Saba at home 2:0 and 5:0 on aggregate after a 3:0 away win. Shlomi Azulay and Eden Ben Basat provided the offense as Maccabi will be drawn against either Maccabi Haifa, Bnei Sakhnin or Hapoel Beer Sheva for one of the semifinal matches.

Head Coach Peter Bosz made wholesale changes in his starting lineup for the State cup match as second choice keeper Daniel Lifshitz was given the nod between the posts. A defense featuring Yuval Shpungin, Tal Ben Haim, Dor Peretz and Yoav Ziv played behind acting captain Gal Alberman, Shlomi Azulay and youngster Eliel Peretz in the midfield. Eden Ben Basat, Barak Itzhaki and Under-19 winger Eylon Almog provided the attack.

Maccabi dominated the first half, controlling the tempo and flow for the first 45 minutes of the game. Yoav Ziv had the Yellow-and-Blue’s first opportunity of the match in the 5th minute when his long range effort whipped past the right post of the Kfar Saba goal.

Finally after 23 minutes of action, the home side found the back of Ben Rahav’s goal. Ben Basat gave Azulay a beauty of a pass inside the box as the midfielder had an easy time slotting home for the 1:0 advantage. Just before the strike of halftime, Ben Basat was again the center of attention as Rahav yanked him down in the box setting up number 9 for a 45th minute penalty.

Ben Basat stepped up to the spot and confidently fired the ball past the helpless keeper as the sides headed into the break with Maccabi ahead 2:0.

The second half began with no substitutions for Maccabi as Ben Basat looked to add to his State Cup goal total. In the 53rd minute he had a chance to do just that but Rahav was in place to keep the striker at bay.

Kfar Saba looked to get on the scoreboard but Mavis Tchibota’s 57th minute opportunity scooted by Lifshitz’s right post to keep the clean sheet intact. Itzhaki tried to add to the Maccabi lead but his effort floated over the Kfar Saba goal in the 72nd minute.

Eran Zahavi, Haris Medunjanin and Eli Dasa all came in as second half substitutes as Maccabi advanced to the Israel State Cup semifinals with a 2:0 home victory and a 5:0 advantage on aggregate.

The semifinal round draw will take place on Thursday when Maccabi will learn who their opponent will be amongst the three other remaining teams; Maccabi Haifa, Bnei Sakhnin or Hapoel Beer Sheva.

As the club clarified a few weeks ago, the positive dialogue held with UEFA regarding an alleged breach in Financial Fair Play regulations, resulted in a letter which confirms that there will be no sanction imposed on the club.

The Yellow-and-Blue scored 12 goals and one of them will be voted February’s HP Goal of the Month. Now it’s time for Maccabi FIRST members to rate the top five goals from the best of the best. Watch, rate the goals and HP will give a prize to one of the winning voters: A “Top of the Line” HP Multifunction Printer. So why are you waiting? This Friday, March 4th at 11:00 the voting will end. So hurry up and YALLA Maccabi!

You can only vote once

For  the rules and regulations, click here

Matchday 26 will be the last match of the regular season before heading into the playoff round and Maccabi will host the Greens at Bloomfield. All of the details on how to buy tickets are inside

The final regular season match will feature Maccabi Tel Aviv hosting Hapoel Kfar Saba at Bloomfield Stadium on Saturday March 5th at 17:30 on Matchday 26 of the WINNER League.

Tickets may be purchased at the Maccabi Tel Aviv Official Team Stores, the Leaan website, by telephone *8780 or at the Leaan Ticket Office, 101 Dizengoff Street, Tel Aviv.

IMPORTANT!

Soldiers/Youth tickets may be purchased via telephone or at the Leaan Ticket Office with valid ID.

Home Ticket Printing is available

Up to 4 tickets may be purchased per transaction

Ticket Prices via telephone/Internet

Sections 2/13:

All tickets – 115₪

Sections 7/8:

Adult – 105₪

Soldiers/Youth – 55₪ (Only available via telephone)

Sections 4/5:

All tickets – 60₪

Ticket Prices at the Leaan Ticket Office and Official Maccabi Tel Aviv Team Stores:

Sections 2/13:

All tickets – 110₪

Sections 7/8:

Adult – 100₪

Soldiers/Youth – 50₪

Sections 4/5:

All tickets – 55₪

Ticket Prices at the box office on Matchday (should tickets remain):

Sections 2/13:

All tickets – 110₪

Sections 7/8:

Adult – 100₪

Soldiers/Youth – 50₪

Sections 4/5:

All tickets – 50₪

IMPORTANT! Every person, no matter the age needs a valid ticket to enter the stadium.

Physically challenged entry to match:

The following procedure will be in place for the upcoming home match for the physically challenged and their chaperone – Maccabi Tel Aviv will continue its long standing policy of not charging for physically challenged fans and their chaperones and will provide these tickets free of charge. Please present your disability certificate at the box office at Gate 10-11 to receive a ticket on a first come, first serve basis. We would also like to remind you that entry is for physically challenged fans who use wheelchairs on a regular basis.

Official Team Store hours of operation:

Official Team Store, 147 Dizengoff Street, Tel Aviv, Sunday-Thursday 10:00-20:00, Friday 09:30-15:00

Official Team Store, Cinema City, Rishon Le’Zion, Sunday-Wednesday 10:00-23:00, Thursday-Saturday 10:00-00:00

Official Team Store, Kiryat Shalom Training Facility, Sunday-Thursday 10:00-20:00, Friday 10:00-15:00

Leaan Ticket Office 101 Dizengoff Street, Tel Aviv: Sunday-Thursday 09:00-19:00, Friday 09:30-13:30

On Matchday at the Stadium ticket windows beginning 3 hours prior to the match until 45 minutes after the start of the match.

Defender Yoav Ziv is getting ready for this evening’s clash against Hapoel Kfar Saba at Bloomfield Stadium in the second leg of the State Cup quarterfinals after having defeated the Sharon Greens 3:0 in the first leg a few weeks ago. Ziv will have a big responsibility tonight as he will be helping some of the younger players adapt to First Team play and also spoke about the opportunity for those who haven’t played many minutes this year:

“We have a big advantage coming into this match but we still have be careful and give 100% of ourselves. It will also be an opportunity for some of the players who don’t play very often the chance to play and I’m one of them. We can all help the club move on to the semifinals of the State Cup and that’s what we will do on the pitch this evening.”

Feelings prior to a match:

“Every time I play, I always have butterflies in my stomach and that also goes for the preparation before the match itself. That’s the fun of playing football. It keeps one hungry to stay in the game.”

Working with the younger players:

“This game specifically will also be a chance to help out some of the younger players adapt. They’ll be coming into the match full of motivation and energy and our job is to help them gain some experience on the pitch.”

Squad depth:

“We have a very deep squad with a lot of quality. Anytime the coach needs a player for a certain role they will be able to contribute. We all saw the report of how many minutes some players have played and there are those who have taken part in what would be equal to more than 46 matches. That’s a crazy amount of games. I hope that we can all work together and continue on our way.”

Today I am cured. Almost a year ago, I was diagnosed cancer, but today I can say that after different treatments and two operations, I beat it. I played the biggest game of my life, and I won by a landslide.

The first sensations that invaded me when I was diagnosed cancer were fear and uncertainty.

Fear, because the word cancer means very negative consequences. And uncertainty, because I did not know that was going to happen to me what I had inside, what consequences could happen to me, etc …

They were very hard days and weeks, I cried and suffered a lot, and in which mental and physical, but mostly mental fragility, made me fall in an unknown state so far for me.

But thanks to the smiles of my son every morning, the help and support of my incredible wife Ana (she is my real héroe), family and friends (it would be imposible to write all their names!!), I began to see things differently, and normalize my situation facing this personal challenge with the best attitude and biggest bravery.

Within this large group of people, I want to thank:

To Jordi Cryuff and MTA´s Board for its proximity and warmth.

To Paulo and all my staff´s partners for their patience, love and unconditional support from the first to the last day.

To each and every one of the MTA´s staff  & players with whom I am sharing the dressing room, for all the love, strength and energy that have given me since they knew my illness.

To all fans and supporters that are part of MTA´s family.

WITHOUT ALL OF YOU I would not have succeeded. THANK YOU from the deepest of my heart.

Today I start to live my life with my family I join again to my rol inside the AFC Fiorentina.

Today the match is over. I win.

See you!

Nacho Torreño

Peter Bosz, the Yellow-and-Blue boss discussed the upcoming Israel State Cup second leg quarterfinal match against Hapoel Kfar Saba at Bloomfield Stadium on Wednesday at 21:00 along with kicking off versus the same side on Saturday at 17:30 on Matchday 26 of the WINNER League:

“Everybody who plays football knows that tomorrow is not an easy match. We had a fantastic result away 3:0 but we have to perform well and we want to win at home as well. We saw them (Kfar Saba) play against Beer Sheva a few days ago and they played some very good football.”

Playing  the same team twice within a week:

“It’s not every week that this will happen. We knew for a while that we were going to play Kfar Saba twice in a week and we will have to deal with it. It’s an important game tomorrow as we can go to the semifinal. Every player will have a chance to show me that they should play every week.

Injury updates on Nosa Igiebor and Omri Ben Harush:

“Nosa still has some ankle pain and won’t be available while Omri’s knee is getting better he also won’t be available for tomorrow’s game.”

Importance of analyzing matches:

“We try to analyze every game. After the match I watch the video for 90 minutes and I analyze exactly what happened. Sometimes you give up many chances and the other side doesn’t score and sometimes we give up only two chances all game and they do score. So it’s very important to analyze the video after each and every game.”

Gal Alberman not starting last week:

“He is important for us and he’s played fantastic for Maccabi. We changed the system last match and for the last few games he has not been at his best form. Eran as well has played many minutes. The season began in the middle of June with no break in December. The club has played 44 games and that’s a lot. We will have to give them a break and hopefully they will come back strong.”

Comments from Beer Sheva that they have better players:

“Let them say it. I’m not going to play these games. If they think so, then fantastic. We will see at the end of the season.”

The possibility of Sheran Yeini returning to Maccabi Tel Aviv:

“He has played every game for awhile now after he came back from injury with me. He’s happy, but I don’t think he will make this move. But I don’t really know.”

Maccabi Tel Aviv’s defender Yuval Shpungin had a chance to speak to the assembled media about the club’s pair of contests against Hapoel Kfar Saba on Wednesday night at 21:00 in State Cup action and in League play on Saturday at 17:30. Both matches will take place at Bloomfield Stadium and will be home games. He began by talking about playing left back

“It’s not my natural position but I’ll do the best I can wherever the coach wants me to play and I’ll do the best that I can.”

Coming back from injury:

“I had some injuries and there were stretches of time that I didn’t train with the club. But now that I am back trading with the club I have to show him what I can do and give my best at every practice. I play hard and I train hard, that’s why I also get injured a bit. I didn’t play much at the start of the year and being injured is tough. But I just have to keep plugging away.”

On team defending:

“The whole team plays defense and we all know that we have to do better. There are some games where we gave up goals because of defensive lapses. We just have to keep improving.”

The battle for first place:

“We are concentrating on tomorrow’s match and nothing else right now. We want to win every game and each one begins at 0:0. There’s not much more to think about. They can say whatever they want, that’s their thing. Our actions will speak for themselves on the pitch.”

Take a deep breath. Open your diaries and begin marking it up. The month of March is packed full of fun. Clip & Save:

March 2 – Second Leg State Cup Quarterfinals: Maccabi Tel Aviv – Hapoel Kfar Saba

After winning the first leg 3:0 at Levita Stadium, the Yellow-and-Blue come into the second match at Bloomfield Stadium in fine form to wrap up a semifinal spot. To purchase tickets CLICK HERE

March 3 – Orlando and Dor Micha will greet the fans at the Pop-Up Shop at the Ayalon Shopping Center.

Get your costumes ready (and if you don’t have one, you’ll be able to find plenty to purchase at the Pop-Up Shop) and bring your pens. Two of the club’s stars will be waiting for you at the Ayalon Shopping Center Pop-Up Shop between 17:00-19:00. Make sure you have your mobile phones to take selfies.

Don’t worry, we haven’t forgotten about all of you at the G Shopping Center in Kfar Saba. Haris Medunjanin, winger Tal Ben Chaim and Eden Ben Basat will be at the Pop-Up Shop during the month to meet you all with your Maccabi costumes. (Date and time will be published on the Official Website – make sure you check it out early and often).

March 5 – Matchday 26 WINNER League: Maccabi Tel Aviv – Hapoel Kfar Saba (17:30 Bloomfield Stadium)

For the second time in a week the Yellow-and-Blue will meet Sharon Mimer’s team and this time it will be the final game of the second round of league matches prior to the playoffs. After a goalless 0:0 draw in the first round, Maccabi will look for a win and get ready for the playoffs in style.

March 8 – March Community Day

Following the success of the first Community Day in February, where 150 Maccabi FIRST members came to meet the players, take pictures and receive autographs prior to the training session we are doing it again in March. TAKE A LOOK:

March 12 – (date to be determined) Matchday 27: Opening up the playoff round at Bloomfield Stadium

The Yellow-and-Blue will open up the playoffs at home kicking off against the fifth place team. Maccabi Haifa, Bnei Sakhnin and Hapoel Raanana are all potential opponents and can you believe all of this one week prior to the head-to-head match at Hapoel Beer Sheva.

March 19 – (date to be determined) Matchday 28: Heading to Turner Stadium to battle for the title

It’s going to be some match and it will be Maccabi Tel Aviv’s first visit to the brand new Beer Sheva facility, Turner Stadium, for what will undoubtedly be the first “Match of the Year” between the two sides during the playoff round.

March 23 – Israel National Team plays a friendly match against the Croatia National Team in Osijek

The Israel Football WINNER League will take a week off as Alon Hazan will guide the National Team in Croatia.

Isn’t that enough?  Don’t close your diaries just yet as you know we love surprises and we will have plenty over the course of the month including “Find the Treasure” where you’ll have an opportunity to win a pair of tickets to a match at Bloomfield.

Excellent. There is tons of action for all of you to enjoy. So sit back, give your pens a rest, lay off of the keyboard and we will see you in March.