Category: News

Going to Sammy Ofer Chelsea Match Update

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Maccabi’s last big home game is upon us. The Israeli Champion will face England’s title holder, Chelsea on Matchday Five of the Champions League, Tuesday, 21:45 at Sammy Ofer Stadium. We’re sure you’re counting down the minutes, so here are a few important things you should know right before you leave for Haifa:

How to get to Sammy Ofer Stadium:

Want to avoid the traffic jams? Heavy traffic? Being nervous about getting to the game on time? Here are some alternative ways of arriving at the Stadium without the hustle and bustle:

Just like for the match against Porto and Dynamo Kiev, FANZONE in conjunction with Maccabi Tel Aviv is organizing special shuttles to the game from various areas around the country including three centrally located pickup points. For details CLICK HERE

Israel Railways will have additional trains during the hours leading up to and after the match at the Carmel Railway Station. There is a 10% discount on railway tickets. For details CLICK HERE

Tickets:

IMPORTANT: All tickets are SOLD OUT. Anyone without a ticket should not come to the stadium area.

All tickets for the physically challenged and wheelchair seats are sold out.

Zahavi is waiting for you at the merchandise stands!

Well it’s not really Eran Zahavi because he’s preparing for the game, but a postcard with his signature and match schedule is waiting for all those who have downloaded the official App and presented it at the merchandise stands around Sammy Ofer Stadium. So iPhone users what are you waiting for?! The App is waiting for you at the APPSTORE

Merchandise stands:

You’ve arrived at Sammy Ofer Stadium for the last home Champions League match for the season and you haven’t purchased a souvenir yet? Don’t forget to check out one of the Official Maccabi Tel Aviv merchandise stands located around the Haifa stadium where you can find a variety of products. From official scarves to Maccabi Tel Aviv Champions League jerseys and more.

Where can you find the merchandise stands and when do they open?

All of the merchandise stands open on Matchday at 18:00 and will remain open until 30 minutes until kickoff.

Glazer: “Chelsea’s the best team in Europe”

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Just prior to the huge Champions League day ahead, Maccabi’s youth team is busy preparing in earnest for their encounter with the Under-19 side of Chelsea. Maccabi “Shachar” will take on Chelsea at the Netanya Stadium, 14:00 and all fans are invited to come and support the club as there is no charge for admission.

The club’s captain, Dan Glazer spoke to the Official Website before the crucial game on Matchday Five of the Champions League Youth League and discussed preparing for the defending European champions: “We have a match to say the least that won’t be easy. Chelsea is the best team in Europe for our age group. We won’t be dominant in this match as we are in our Israeli league games. We will have to be strong, aggressive and focussed on our counterattacks with the hope of taking advantage of these situations.”

 On the club’s first match with the Blues:

 “They were much better than us in the first game and that was also our first ever in this competition. At the start of that match we were able to play with them. They are a team with a lot of amazing individual abilities and talents that will be hard to measure up against. I’m certain though that our professional staff will prepare us properly for the match.”

The side’s aspirations:

“We really want to win but we also know that it won’t be easy. We never come into a match looking to play for a draw or to get a nice type of result. This will be a different type of game than we have in league play and we will have to do things the best way possible.”

Arie: “We have a big challenge ahead of us”

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Just like the first team, the Under-19 squad is busy preparing for Tuesday’s match against Chelsea. Maccabi “Shachar” Tel Aviv will face the defending Champions League Youth League champions Chelsea at the Netanya Stadium, 14:00. Yesterday, the side drew with Beer Sheva in Winner League play and the coach Ziv Arie spoke about the match and also about the challenge against the Blues that lies ahead:

“We’re not happy with the result. We may have to figure out how to win when scoring one goal but then we can’t give any up. I don’t have any complaints about the defense because Beer Sheva had very few chances other than when they scored and we made a mistake. We weren’t aggressive enough in the first half but I was much happier with our second half play.”

About the many missed opportunities the players had Saturday:

“We are still having problems in the last third of the pitch and when we want to complete a play, but we must have patience. We have a lot of new players and it will just take time and patience even though it may be frustrating.”

Coming into the Chelsea match:

“We love different types of matches and each one presents another opportunity to play a certain way. It will not be easy but just like every other match we won’t come to play for a scoreless draw. We will strive to look like a football club that can stand toe to toe and to get a good result, it’s not just pie in the sky. Chelsea is a very talented team and we have a very big challenge ahead of us.”

Azulay: “We have to focus on Chelsea”

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Shlomi Azulay played a full 90 minutes in Saturday’s 3:0 victory over Hapoel Haifa at Sammy Ofer Stadium. The midfielder came over to the Yellow-and-Blue with Eli Dasa a few months ago and is beginning to play a more important role for the team after returning from injury:

יוקאנוביץ’: “יש לנו הזדמנות נהדרת בשלישי”

On the club’s performance prior to the Champions League match:

“It’s always good to come back and win especially after our poor performance against Netanya. Now we have to focus on the match against Chelsea.”

About moving to the top of the table:4Z6A2108-2

“We don’t really listen to what’s going on in the media and we concentrate on our work on the pitch. Right now we are in first place and there’s no question that we have to keep improving both in training and in the actual matches.”

Coming back from the two week break:

“The break was good to get our energy back. Now it’s time to get back to work, we played yesterday and we’ll play on Tuesday. We will do the best that we can to collect points.”

Getting back into the starting lineup:

“It’s been awhile since I played a full match and it felt good. I hope that it continues this way and I have more chances to play and help the team. Right now there’s a lot of competition to get into the lineup and we have to constantly prove ourselves. A player that wants to reach the highest levels must give it their all and that’s why I came to Maccabi.”

Maccabi Shachar draws with Beer Sheva 1-1

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After 90 minutes of intense football, Maccabi “Shachar” Tel Aviv drew with Hapoel Beer Sheva 1:1 after a 90th minute goal by Maksim Grechkin while Emran Alkrinawi scored first for the visitors. On Tuesday, 14:00 the Yellow-and-Blue will face Chelsea in Champions League Youth League action at the Netanya Stadium.

Both teams featured second choice keepers for the match with Maccabi “Oded’s” Chen Ozeri in goal for Maccabi and Ido Arlaki for the visitors in place of the suspended Rachamim. Maccabi had a brilliant opportunity in the 3rd minute as Mahmoud Al Awisat took a deep pass that gave him a chance from 16 meters on the right side. The striker’s smart shot was saved off of the goal line by a Beer Sheva defender who was under huge pressure by Galili standing right at the door step.

The Yellow-and-Blue had another good chance in the 28th minute off of a set piece. Gaby Kanichowsky touched the ball that Tomer Altman struck hard towards the goal. Arlaki mishandled the shot but was able to stave off Awisat’s rebound. Maccabi “Shachar” continued to apply pressure as Dor Galili’s shot hit off of the bar and went out to safety. However, Maccabi would pay the price for their missed opportunities. A Beer Sheva counter would result in a goal by Alkrinawi who chipped the ball over Ozeri that sent the hosts down 1:0 into halftime.

Omri Haramati came on for Awisat to start the second half and ten minutes later Ziv Arie made another change bringing in Or Dasa in place of Amit Rosenboim. The substitutions allowed Maccabi to change its formation and move Bar Galili over to right back and Dan Glazer to central defender. In the 70th minute the Yellow-and-Blue brought in Ron Gabay for Dor Galili and just a minute later Beer Sheva’s Noam Gamon was handed a red card for a violent foul on Grechkin.

At that point Arie made another pair of substitutions and introduced Shay Golan and striker Lazar Durovic giving Maccabi a number of chances to find the equalizer. Dasa, Durovic and Grechkin all had marvelous opportunities to locate the back of the goal but it took until the 90th minute to finally do so. Grechkin was able to successfully get Maccabi on the board and help the Yellow-and-Blue split the points as his last minute shot beat Arlaki.

Maccabi “Shachar” will now prepare for their matchup with Chelsea on Matchday Five of the Champions League Youth League on Tuesday. Make sure to keep up-to-date with the latest Maccabi Tel Aviv news by downloading the brand new App from the AppStore, on the Official club website or on the official Facebook Page.

Zahavi: “I want to score more goals”

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Just three days before the Champions League match against Chelsea, Maccabi defeated Hapoel Haifa at Sammy Ofer Stadium 3:0 on goals by Zahavi, Igiebor and Rikan, The captain celebrated his 100th league goal and spoke about the accomplishment, his will to continue to improve and also about the Chelsea match:

4Z6A2251-2On his 100th league goal:

“It’s certainly nice, but now I want to score more goals. I’m happy we won and now we have to prepare for Tuesday’s Champions League match.”

About the match:

“We were in control for the majority of the game, but we weren’t aggressive enough in the last 1/3 of the pitch during the first half. It’s also hard to play against a team that has all of their players back on defense. We knew it wouldn’t be an easy game but we took the points and that’s important.”

Chances of taking points on Tuesday:

“It’s definitely possible to take points from Chelsea. It’s time to go for it all as we have nothing to lose in the Champions League. We will do the best we can and hope for the best.”

4Z6A2481-2Avi Rikan scored his first goal wearing the Yellow-and-Blue and also spoke after the match:

“It wasn’t a big game for us but we finished it off scoring three goals, especially after the penalty and red card to Haifa. You’ve seen that in the last few matches we played, teams are playing us tight and trying to score on counter attacks. We’re trying to get more offensive opportunities without being vulnerable in the back.”

On picking up three points:

“I’m happy that we scored three goals and picked up three points. Sometimes it looks like we’re playing in first gear but we dominated and took the three points. We did our jobs.”

Jokanovic: “We have to show our best”

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Head Coach Slavisa Jokanvic spoke to the assembled media following his side’s 3:0 win over Hapoel Haifa away at Sammy Ofer Stadium. After a scoreless first half, the Yellow-and-Blue stepped up their attack as Captain Eran Zahavi scored on a 49th minute penalty.

יוקאנוביץ’: “יש לנו הזדמנות נהדרת בשלישי”

About the two halves:

“We started playing the game in the first half, but weren’t able to score. We were not aggressive enough in the last 1/3 of the pitch. In the second half we scored the penalty and then with an extra player we were able to score two more goals.”

Being content with the win:

“I’m very happy here in Israel and happy to be with my team, but we can always improve. We made things interesting today and we also made some big mistakes too. There is always room to improve. We can be happy with the result and three points but we have a lot of work to do.”

On playing Chelsea this week:

“We need to play better against Chelsea than we did today. The Champions League is the highest level of European football. Chelsea may not have played well this season but they are still Chelsea, we have to show our best and I expect that we will do this.”

Maccabi defeats Hapoel Haifa 3-0

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Maccabi Tel Aviv visited Hapoel Haifa at Sammy Ofer Stadium on Matchday Eleven after the two week international break that gave the players much needed rest and relaxation. Following a 0:0 first half, Captain Eran Zahavi scored his 100th league goal and 10th of the season on a 49th minute penalty. Nosa Igiebor and Avi Rikan would also add goals for the Yellow-and-Blue after Haifa was reduced to ten men following the penalty for the 3:0 victory.

With almost a full complement of players at his disposal and a midweek Champions League clash against Chelsea in mind, Head Coach Slavisa Jokanovic juggled up his starting lineup. Serbian keeper Predrag Rajkovic started in goal with Yuval Shpungin, Avi Rikan, Eitan Tibi and Carlos Garcia just in front of him. The midfield was manned by Gal Alberman, Shlomi Azulay, Nosa Igiebor and Gili Vermouth. Eden Ben Basat featured as striker with captain Eran Zahavi just behind him on the attack.

The first forty five minutes ended scoreless with Maccabi controlling 75% of the play in the first half, but it was Rajkovic who was quite busy with Haifa having four chances on goal.  The Yellow-and-Blue keeper had to be on his toes making a number of terrific saves, however none was better than Haifa’s 37th minute attempt. Reds striker Ma’aran Lala received a deep ball in the Maccabi box but Rajkovic was in the right place at the right time to make the point blank range save to keep the sides deadlocked at the half.

Eli Dasa was introduced after the break to jump start the champion’s offense and it didn’t take Maccabi long to do exactly that. Azulay’s 49th minute shot glanced off of Bruno Pinheiro’s arm in the box that was called a handball by referee Daniel Bar Natan, good for a penalty. Zahavi stepped up to the spot 11 meters from the goal and slotted a perfect ball low and to the left of Haifa keeper Premysl Kovar for his 100th Israel League goal and his tenth of the season.

Immediately after the goal, Haifa’s Dor Malul was promptly shown red for dissent giving Maccabi a one man advantage that they would capitalize on in the 68th minute. Igiebor slammed the ball home for his first league goal of the year after receiving an intelligent cross goalmouth pass by Dasa from the right side. Vermouth had laid the ball off for Dasa helping create a wonderful strike by the Nigerian.

Maccabi added to its lead in the 77th minute with Rikan getting in on the action, scoring his first of the season. Ben Basat gave the ball to Zahavi at the top of the box and smartly handed it off to the oncoming Rikan on the left side of the goal and placed the ball past a diving Kovar.

The Yellow-and-Blue moved into first place in the Israel League prior to their Champions League Matchday Five game against Chelsea this coming Tuesday, 21:45 at Sammy Ofer Stadium. Make sure to keep up-to-date with the latest Maccabi Tel Aviv news by downloading the brand new App from the AppStore, on the Official club website or on the official Facebook Page.