Ending the season in style: Maccabi defeats Beer Sheva 4:0


Maccabi Tel Aviv ended the season in style with a 4:0 win at Hapoel Beer Sheva. The Yellow & Blue dominated play throughout the 90 minutes and left no doubt as to why they were crowned champions. A John Ogu own goal opened the scoring to give Maccabi a 1:0 lead while Yonatan Cohen’s free kick strike doubled the advantage right before halftime. Avi Rikan added the third goal and Eli Dasa scored in added time to wrap up a 4:0 win to end the season in style.

Head Coach Vladimir Ivic’s Starting XI included keeper Daniel Tenenbaum, Eli Dasa, Shahar Piven, Eitan Tibi, Jair Amador, Ophir Davidzada, Dor Peretz, Dan Glezer, Avi Rikan, Yonatan Cohen and Itay Shechter.

Available on the bench: Daniel Peretz, Eric Saborit, Chico Ofoedu, Eliran Atar, Bar Cohen, Eyal Hen, Ruslan Barsky.

First Half
Beer Sheva’s Tomer Yosefi had the first chance of the evening in the 6’ but Tenenbaum made the stop and two minutes later Maccabi’s Yonatan Cohen’s free kick was taken care of by Ariel Harush. Yosefi once again was dangerous in the 11’ but Tenenbaum was in place to make the save.

In the 23’ Maccabi took a 1:0 lead thanks to an own goal by Beer Sheva midfielder John Ogu who knocked the ball behind Harush off a Davidzada cross into the box. Shechter’s 18 meter blast just missed the target while Rikan’s volley was saved by an alert Harush.

Arik Sabo of Beer Sheva, Shechter and Tibi were all issued yellow cards in the 35’ and two minutes later Peretz almost beat Harush but the keeper was up to the task. However, just before the break Cohen’s left footed free kick beat Harush to give the Yellow & Blue a 2:0 advantage as the just before the halftime break.

Second Half
Beer Sheva had the opening chance of the half when Dor Elo sent Michael Ohana the ball but the latter headed it over the bar in the 48’ and 11 minutes later Rikan tried to find Cohen but his cross just missed the mark.

Maccabi continued to attack and scored their third goal of the match when Dasa sent a ball to Shechter whose header went off the bar right to Rikan who slammed it home for a 3:0 lead in the 62’. Ruslan Barsky replaced Piven who came off injured in the 69’ and Miguel Vitor was issued his second yellow card and was sent off with a red card due to a foul on Peretz.

Chico Ofoedu entered the match in favor of Shechter in the 75’ and three minutes later Cohen was handed a yellow card. Eliran Atar was the final substitute of the season coming on for Rikan in the 81’ as the Yellow & Blue continued to threaten the Beer Sheva goal via Cohen, Peretz and Ofoedu. However, it was Dasa that added a fourth marker just outside of the box to complete a dominant 4:0 win.