The Yellow & Blue began their domestic season off on the right foot defeating Bnei Yehuda 2:0 on Matchday One of the Toto Cup. Avi Rikan and Sagiv Yehezkel scored first half goals to give Maccabi the victory as they will now prepare for the second leg of Europa League Third Round Qualifying against Panionios in Athens, Greece.
Head Coach Jordi Cruyff’s Starting XI featured mnay players who were making their 2017/18 debut including keeper Daniel Tenenbaum, Egor Filipenka, Sean Goldberg, Marcelo dos Santos and Sagiv Yehezkel. Dor Peretz, Avi Rikan, Eliel Peretz, Shlomi Azulay, Yonatan Cohen and Barak Itzhaki rounded out the Yellow & Blue lineup.
Available on the bench were keeper Predrag Rajikovic, Vidar Kjartansson, Sheran Yeini, Dor Micha, Eitan Tibi, Matan Baltaxa and Cristian Battocchio.
First Half
Maccabi began the match with 3 defenders, Dor Peretz, Egor Filipenka and Sean Goldberg as Sagiv Yehezkel and Avi Rikan played on the wings. Matan Hozez had the first chance of the contest for Bnei Yehuda in the 16th minute as he came down the right flank, but Tenenbaum was up to the task and made a diving stop. Cohen had Maccabi’s first opportunity of the match but his effort from the top of the box was saved by an alert Zoubas in the 21st minute as the game remained goalless
However, in the 35th minute an active Rikan beat Zoubas from the top of the box as he took a nifty pass from Goldberg and slotted the ball home to give the Yellow & Blue a 1:0 lead. Three minutes later Cohen almost doubled the Maccabi advantage as Eliel Peretz have him a perfect pass as he went in on a one-on-one situation but skied the ball over the keeper.
In the 42nd minute Dovev Gabbay had a beautiful chance inside the box but Tenenbaum made a fantastic instinctive save as the Brazilian-Israeli dove to his left to smother the ball. A minute later Gabbay had another opportunity but Tenenbaum cut off the angle and the Bnei Yehuda striker hit the right post as Dor Peretz cleared the ball away from danger.
Just before the sides headed down to the dressing rooms for the halftime break, Sagiv Yehezkel took a deep pass from Azulay and made no mistake with the ball as he beat Zoubas for a 2:0 lead.
Second Half
Three minutes into the second half, Itzhaki had a wonderful chance all alone in the box but his effort was saved by Zoubas to keep the score as is. One minute later, Tenenbaum made another fine stop as he parried a Eli Balilti shot from the left out.
In the 61st minute, Dor Micha made his 2017/18 season debut in favor of Itzhaki while Matan Baltaxa made his first appearance in Yellow & Blue for Azulay. Tenenbaum was again in place to make the stop on Gaira Joof’s effort in the 64th minute while Filipenka was issued a yellow card a minute later and was then taken off in favor of Eitan Tibi.
Baltaxa was shown a yellow card in the 68th minute following a reckless tackle in the midfield while Sheran Yeini and Cristian Battocchio came on in place of Yehezkel and dos Santos in the 72nd minute. Yeini is now Maccabi Tel Aviv’s all-time Toto Cup appearance leader having played in 54 matches.
In the 83rd minute, Baltaxa gave Cohen a terrific ball in the box but number 24 missed wide left of the goal as Maccabi Tel Aviv wrapped up a neat 2:0 win over Bnei Yehuda on Matchday One of the Toto Cup. The Yellow & Blue will now get ready for the return leg against Panionios in Athens, Greece on Thursday night.
