Category: News

Jokanovic: “Important we opened up with a win”

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The Yellow-and-Blue picked up a win on Matchday Fourteen of the WINNER League, defeating Bnei Sakhnin 2:0. Head Coach Slavisa Jokanovic spoke about the match and his team’s play following the game:

סלבישה יוקאנוביץ’ לאחר הניצחון על סכנין

“I wasn’t nervous during the match, but we did run into some problems in the first half. We played well in the second half and ok I’m sure we can play even better football going forward. Now that we are after the Champions League it’s especially important that we opened up the second round with a win and picked up three points.”

Focusing on the league:

“This competition began back in August. There are still many points to play for with 22 games and 66 points to go. I’m sure we will lose some points but it’s great news for us that we took 3 points tonight but again it’s a long way to go. Nothing will be over or decided next week.”

Next Matchday against Hapoel Beer Sheva:

“Our obligation is to be ready for our next game and I’m here to work towards each and every match in front of us. There is nothing more important than the next game and in this case it is against Beer Sheva.”

Zahavi: “Plenty of work to do”

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The Yellow-and-Blue took three points in their opening match of the spend round of WINNER League matches at Bnei Sakhnin. Barak Itzhaki and captain Eran Zahavi talked about the match and looked ahead to the Hapoel Beer Sheva game next Monday December 21st:

סלבישה יוקאנוביץ’ לאחר הניצחון על סכנין

Itzhaki:

332A8471

“Every win is an important victory. Of course we saw Beer Sheva win yesterday but we came here to do our job and make sure that we’re in good shape prior to the next week’s match.

Concentrating on Israel league action for the balance of the season:

“The Champions League is behind us and done. Now we are focusing on the domestic league and we must make sure we play well each and every game.”

On the first half penalty call:

“It was for sure a penalty. I felt the Bnei Sakhnin player push me from behind and there is absolutely no question that it was a penalty.”332A8717

Zahavi:

“There’s no question that Beer Sheva is playing well, but we concerned about ourselves right now and we will prepare for the match as we do for every game. Right now we’re doing well also.”

The missed penalty:

“I missed it and that was it. I’m happy that I was able to score another goal in the second half and we also played much better in the final 45 minutes. But we still have plenty of work to do to keep improving and to continue to get better.”

Maccabi picks up 2-0 win over Sakhnin

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Maccabi Tel Aviv visited Bnei Sakhnin at Doha Stadium to open up the second round of WINNER League matches and came away with a 2:0 victory on a brace by the captain, Eran Zahavi. A first half goal and a second half strike sandwiched a missed penalty at the stroke of halftime by number 7 as the Yellow-and-Blue won their Matchday Fourteen encounter. Next Monday night, December  21st at 20:55, Hapoel Beer Sheva will visit Bloomfield Stadium in an attractive 1-2 matchup.

סלבישה יוקאנוביץ’ לאחר הניצחון על סכנין

Head Coach Slavisa Jokanovic went with a 4-3-3 formation in front of starting keeper Predrag Rajkovic as Eli Dasa and Omri Ben Harush were the right and left backs respectively while Tal Ben Haim and Carlos Garcia played as central defenders. Gal Alberman, Shlomi Azulay and Nosa Igiebor played right behind an attacking trio of Avi Rikan, Barak Itzhaki and captain Eran Zahavi.332A8355-2

Bnei Sakhnin seemed to be the more dangerous of the two sides in the first ten minutes as the hosts had a pair of corner kicks and an excellent close range chance by Jorginho that was smartly cleared by defender Ben Haim. In the 12th minute Rikan’s 16 meter screamer of effort from the left side just went by the near post to keep the match goalless for the time being. However, just one minute later Zahavi would change all of that.

Dasa lifted a nice ball into the box from the right side that Zahavi headed into the left post that didn’t find the back of the goal. But number 7 followed up on his own rebound and pounded it home for the 1:0 advantage. As the match headed into the 22nd minute, Jokanovic was forced to use his first substitution as he replaced an injured Azulay with Dor Peretz.

With the first half winding down Bnei Sakhnin began to threaten the Maccabi goal but Rajkovic was in the right place at the right time on a pair of opportunities. In the 38th minute,332A8427

Jorginho’s header from a perfect lead pass by Firas Mugrabi was saved by the Serbian keeper while Weam Amasha’s  chance from inside the box was instinctively pawed away by Rajkovic to keep the lead intact. Just before the sides headed to the break, Zahavi was awarded a penalty when Itzhaki was pushed down in the box, but his ensuing kick from 11 meters went off of the right post and out as the halftime whistle was blown.

With the missed penalty still on his mind, Zahavi made amends very quickly with a 55th minute strike from the top of the box that beat Sakhnin keeper Kadosh to double the Maccabi lead. The hosts didn’t raise the white flag yet and in the 61st minute Mugrabi sent a wonderful pass to Sakhnin’s Shlomi Azulay whose headed ball just bounced off of Rajkovic’s left post and out of bounds.332A8695

The visitors searched long and hard for a third goal as the final half hour ticked down but Peretz’s goal was ruled offside, Itzhaki’s free kick went over the bar and Ben Chaim’s effort was sent out of play by Kadosh as the match ended 2:0 in favor of the Yellow-and-Blue.

Next Monday December 21st, Maccabi Tel Aviv will host Hapoel Beer Sheva at Bloomfield Stadium on Matchday Fifteen pitting the two top teams in the league against one another separated only by goal differential. Check the official Maccabi Tel Aviv website and download the official club App to keep up to date on all of the latest news and views about your favorite team.

  • פותחים סיבוב שני בדוחא

  • ו...מצא את הראש של זהבי

  • איפה הכדור ואיפה השוער

Five Maccabi players to represent Israel

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The Under-18 Israel National Team will play host to the traditional winter tournament that will feature Serbia, Germany and the Ukraine along with Israel. Coach Eli Ohana will have five Maccabi Tel Aviv youth players on his roster including keeper Haviv Ohayon, Bar Galili, Shai Golan, Tomer Altman and Or Dasa who will all be wearing Blue-and-White.

Israel will host its games at Ramat Gan Stadium while the other matches will take place at the Israel National Team training facility at Shefayim. Israel’s first game will be at Ramat Gan Stadium against Serbia tomorrow, Monday at 15:00 and admission is free.

Yellow-and-Blue Saturday – Results December 12

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Hapoel Rishon Le’Zion 0:6 Maccabi “Oded” Tel Aviv

After falling to Ashdod last week, Ori Uzan and Leon Asraf’s club got back onto the winning track with a superb away match scoring six goals while recording a clean sheet. Netanel Peretz scored a brace while Saar Sa’adon, Neil Goldberg, Prince Thomas and Yarin Sharabi all found the back of the Rishon Le’Zion goal as they continue to lead the table.

Hapoel Ashkelon 0:3 Maccabi “Eli Fuchs” Tel Aviv

Eliezer Ben Aharon and Gady Brumer’s team picked up an important away victory against Hapoel Ashkelon that moved them to within three points of first place Ashdod. Next week the club will face Hapoel “Nir” Ramat HaSharon as they look to close the gap even further.

Bnei Yehuda “Grundman” Tel Aviv 0:3 Maccabi “Eldad” Tel Aviv

Another Yellow-and-Blue team picked up a win on Saturday as Erez Belfer’s side won a Tel Aviv derby on three goals by Raava Assayag.

Maccabi “Team 2” Tel Aviv 4:2 Hapoel “Aliya” Kfar Saba

Ran Elias’ team also won on the help of an Amit Yakov brace and goals by Omer Itzhak and Asaf Hershko to defeat Kfar Saba at home.

Rikan: “Play more offensive minded football”

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The Yellow-and-Blue return to Winner League action on Monday night, 20:30 at Doha Stadium where they will take on Bnei Sakhnin to open up the second round of games on Matchday Fourteen. Avi Rikan, one of the club’s midfielders is getting ready for the return fixtures in the domestic league and talked about what the team needs to do going forward in order to succeed in league play:

אבי ריקן לקראת סכנין

“The upcoming league game is what we are focused on right now. We come to every match ready to play and Monday’s game in Sakhnin will be difficult. We will come prepared and do the maximum we can to win.”

What  Maccabi needs to do in order to win:

“We’ve been playing many matches in a short period of time but it’s our job to be ready the way that we need to be and not look at the other team. The teams that we have faced recently are primarily defending so we will have to run a bit more, work harder and be more focussed, organized and accurate in order for us to make sure we take maximum points and win the game.”ריקן

What the players have been working on in practice:

“Of course it’s not easy to go from one competition to another as the Champions League required us to play a different style. In the domestic league we have to play much more offensive minded football and that’s what we’ve been working on at training. To play more of an attacking style and closer to the opponents goal as well as to play from the flanks, we will need to get more traffic up front and give our all to get opportunities to score some goal.”

Continuously improving:

“We have to keep plugging away and play our best. Even matches where we didn’t play the best that we could’ve we were still able to take points and that was very important. I’m sure that over the next while we will begin to look even better than we had been during the first round and our confidence will go up.”