Zahavi brace leads Macacbi to 3-1 win

The Yellow-and-Blue kicked off against Maccabi Petach Tikva at Bloomfield Stadium on Matchday 20 of the WINNER League

Captain Eran Zahavi found his way back on the scoresheet after not finding the goal last match against Acre as the Maccabi superstar picked up a brace in the 3:1 win. Nosa Igiebor scored his second goal in as many games as the midfielders continued to play an important role in the club’s recent success.

Maccabi Tel Aviv Head Coach Peter Bosz looked to keep his perfect record alive as the Dutch boss started Serbian keeper Predrag Rajikovic right behind a defensive quartet of Eitan Tibi, Tal Ben Haim, Carlos Garcia and Omri Ben Harush. Wily veteran Gal Alberman was in his usual holding midfielder position along with Shlomi Azulay and Nigerian Nosa Igiebor by his side. Up front featured an attacking trio of Dor Micha, Tal Ben Chaim and Captain Eran Zahavi.

With former Maccabi Tel Aviv coach Ran Ben Shimon manning the sidelines for Maccabi Petach Tikva the visitors took the game right to the Yellow-and-Blue from the outset battling for every ball possession tooth and nail. Gidi Kanuk had two brilliant chances but Rajikovic was there to make the stops and keep the match goalless until the 17th minute when the captain broke the deadlock.

Zahavi received a fabulous pass by Micha as number 7 went airborne to drill the ball behind Itamar Nitzan with a half scissors kick to give the hosts a 1:0 advantage. Just five minutes later, the Yellow-and-Blue doubled their lead as Nosa Igiebor scored a terrific curling Golazo from 17 meters out that sent the fans into pandemonium.

However, Petach Tikva may have been down but not out as they were rewarded for their efforts right before the half. In the 44th minute Dor Hugi jumped on a loose ball in the box, beating Rajkovic to cut the lead in half as the whistle sounded sending the clubs into the break.

No substitutions were made by either team as the half opened with both sides trading chances throughout the first 20 minutes. Igiebor found Micha as his 16 meter bullet was blocked by Nitzan for a corner in the 60th minute and Kanuk’s chance the other way was pawed to safety by Rajkovic to keep the lead intact.

With Petach Tikva testing Rajikovic looking for the equalizer, Ben Chaim led Zahavi with an unbelievable pass and the captain went in all alone slotting the ball through Nitzan’s legs for the 3:1 lead in the 66th minute.

Barak Itzhaki was introduced in the 75th minute for Dor Micha joining Eli Dasa who came on earlier in the half for Shlomi Azulay. Petach Tikva still looked to stay in the game as Muhamed Calibat led a couple of breaks for the visitors. But the first attempt was knocked away at the last second by central defender Ben Haim and the second was deflected by Rajikovic over the bar to maintain the advantage

Maccabi continued to look for a way to pad their lead with Dasa feeding Zahavi a wonderful pass but his effort went over the bar as the Yellow-and-Blue collected the victory and 3-points moving into first place. Next week, Maccabi will visit Beitar Jerusalem at Teddy Stadium on Monday February 1st on Matchday 21.

Captain Eran Zahavi found his way back on the ...

Youth Department Action, Saturday January 23, 2016

The Under-19 club begins its State Cup journey, the Under-17's are still on international break while the Under 16's & 15's continue league play

SC Julis – Maccabi “Shachar” Tel Aviv, 13:00, Julis (State Cup)

The  youth club’s State Cup participation begins this Saturday when they visit Julis for their first match in the Youth State Cup named after Avi Ran Z”l.

Maccabi “Oded” Tel Aviv – International break

Maccabi “Eli Fuchs” Tel Aviv – Maccabi “Moshe Dayan” Petach Tikva, 09:00, Kiryat Shalom

This match will be the pregame game show for the club’s First Teams later in the day when the Under-16 Maccabi side hosts their counterparts from Petach Tikva. The team will look to continue its good form as the visitors find themselves in third place 10 points behind the young Yellow-and-Blue who sit atop the table.

SC Ashdod – Maccabi  “Eldad” Tel Aviv, 09:00, Ashdod College

Erez Belfer’s seemingly invincible side will kick off Matchday 12 by visiting Ashdod as they look to win and remain in first place

Bnei Sakhnin – Maccabi “Team 2” Tel Aviv, 11:00, Sakhnin

Ran Elias’s charges will visit Sakhnin and face their counterparts on Matchday 12 of the Under-15 Sharon League.

SC Julis – Maccabi “Shachar” Tel Aviv, 13:00, Julis ...

Yellow-and-Blue Saturday – Match Results

The Under-19 side picked up a draw and all of the other scores from this past weekend's Youth Department are inside

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

 The Under-19 team have now gone two straight matches without a victory after drawing against their counterparts from Rishon Le’Zion. You can read the match summary by CLICKING HERE.

 Maccabi “Oded” Tel Aviv – Off

Hapoel Rishon Le’Zion 2:4 Maccabi “Eli Fuchs” Tel Aviv

Eliezer Ben Aharon and Gady Brumer’s team won yet another match this time coming back twice from a deficit to win at Superland. Saar Sa’adon scored a brace while Yam Ben Yehuda and Dani Amar also provided goals for the league leading side.

Maccabi “Eldad” Tel Aviv 5:2 Maccabi “Gould-Shenfeld” Haifa

Erez Belfer’s club won big in Under-15 action. The young Yellow-and-Blue hosted the northern city’s side and received scoring from Ido Shachar, Gil Ben Shalosh, Osher Davida (x2) and Omri Ram.

Beitar “Oren” Tubruk 0:1 Maccabi “Team 2” Tel Aviv

Yet another win by Ran Elias over Tubruk helped his team to their third win in a row and maintained their place a top the league table with the help of a 70th minute goal by Amit Yakov.

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

Maccabi wins in the wind

Maccabi Tel Aviv defeated Hapoel Acre 3:0 in the northern coastal city on Matchday 19 of the WINNER League as Dutch coach Peter Bosz maintained his perfect record

The Yellow-and-Blue collected another three points to stay within one point of first place Hapoel Beer Sheva with the help of Tal Ben Chaim’s first half marker, Nosa Igiebor’s goal and Shlomi Azulay’s second of the season. Acre had a man sent off early on in the match as Hatem Obida was shown a red card in the 5th minute for kicking Eran Zahavi to the ground.

Head Coach Peter Bosz’s starting XI was similar to his first match with the club as the Dutchman started Predrag Rajikovic in goal with a back four of Eitan Tibi, Omri Ben Harush, Carlos Garcia and Tal Ben Haim. Gal Alberman took his usual position as the defensive midfielder along with Shlomi Azulay and Nosa Igiebor with a on attacking threesome of Tal Ben Chaim, Dor Micha and Captain Eran Zahavi.

It didn’t take long for the action to heat up while the wind and cold air swirled around the Acre Municipal Stadium. In the 5th minute, Acre’s Hatem Obida kicked Maccabi captain Zahavi who crumpled to the ground far away from the run of play. After consulting with the linesman, referee Sahar Arbeli handed the home side’s central defender a red card forcing Acre to play with only 10-men for the balance of the match.

Being a man to the good, the Yellow-and-Blue controlled the ball for large portions of the half. Zahavi would have a number of quality chances, first in the 11th minute as his free kick went wide of the goal. Number 7’s 23rd minute effort from a tough angle was picked off by Acre keeper Dani Amos and his 31st minute scissors kick opportunity was saved by the shot stopper as well.

In the 43rd minute, Maccabi finally broke through with the wind in their faces. Alberman cleanly stripped the ball from Adnan Zahirovic and smartly played it to Ben Chaim. The speedster raced into the box and launched a screamer past Amos to give his team a 1:0 lead as the match headed into the break.

To open the second half, Head Coach Peter Bosz made a tactical substitution taking off central defender Garcia for striker Barak Itzhaki to try and open up the Maccabi attack. However, aside from an Igiebor chance in the 60th minute few opportunities presented themselves to the Yellow-and-Blue. Bosz made an additional substitution in the 67th minute introducing striker Eden Ben Basat for Ben Chaim who had earlier picked up a yellow card.

Just two minutes later, Maccabi doubled their lead as Igiebor calmly slotted the ball by Amos to go up 2:0. Igiebor took an amazing pass in the box from Itzhaki and went in all alone on the Acre keeper to score his second league goal of the season. The visitors looked for another marker but Itzhaki’s scorcher clanged off of the bar,

Alberman’s long distance effort was collected by Amos and Ben Basat’s header went out. However, Azulay fixed the situation quickly thereafter with an intelligent low shot that beat Amos to give the Yellow-and-Blue a 3:0 lead in the 82nd minute and the valuable three points.

Maccabi Tel Aviv’s next match will be on Saturday night, 20:00 at Bloomfield Stadium as they will welcome back their former striker Rada Prica and Maccabi Petach Tikva on Matchday 20 of the WINNER League.

The Yellow-and-Blue collected another three points to stay within ...

Kwem on trial with Maccabi Shachar

Maccabi “Shachar” Tel Aviv is giving the 18-year old Nigerian striker a trial over the next week and should he impress Kwem will sign a contract with the club

Looking to improve its attack, Maccabi “Shachar” Tel Aviv has brought Nigerian striker Augustine Chidi Kwem in on trial. The Nigerian youngster was born in 1997 and will look to impress the training staff under the direction of coach Ziv Arie with the goal to improve the team’s attack.

Every Under-19 club is permitted to have one foreign player on its squad and with Lazar Durovic recently leaving the club, the Yellow-and-Blue now have a place available on the team.

Looking to improve its attack, Maccabi “Shachar” Tel Aviv ...

TOP 5: MTA Vs. Hapoel Accre

Just prior to the match against Hapoel Akko (20:00), check out these five great goals from past encounters with the Northern club

Maccabi “Shachar” and Rishon play to goalless draw

Two weeks before the First Team's will play each other in State Cup action, the Under-19 sides kicked off in Ramle to a goalless draw

On Matchday 14 of the TOTO League, Maccabi “Shachar” Tel Aviv played a home match against Hapoel “Yehuda” Rishon Le’Zion at the Ramle Stadium that ended scoreless. The Yellow-and-Blue came into the game missing a fair number of players including Dan Glazer and Muhamed Awesat (injury), Gaby Kanichowsky (suspension) Eylon Almog and Eden Kartzev (Under-17 National Team) while Gili Landau manned the sidelines as head coach Ziv Arie also served a suspension handed down by the Israel Football Association due to actions during the Derby.

Maccabi had an early opportunity in the fifth minute of play as Amit Shapira led a counterattack giving the ball off to Guy Aviv on the right flank who crossed it to Or Dasa in the box. However, his header was cleanly saved by the Rishon Le’Zion keeper. The Yellow-and-Blue patiently continued controlling possession throughout the first half as well as throughout the majority of the match.

Tomer Altman stood out in place of the injured Dan Glazer taking his responsibilities in the midfield. In the 14th minute the midfielder sent an excellent deep pass to Dasa on the right side. The striker perfectly handed the ball off to Meshata but number 7 lost it under his foot. Amit Shapira was close to scoring after receiving and unbelievable ball from Amit Rosenboim but his effort was again saved by the Rishon keeper as the teams headed into the break.

Gili Landau, coaching the game in place of the suspended Ziv Arie made two substitutions bringing in Oliel Peretz who just returned on loan from Beitar Tel Aviv/Ramle and Ran Vaturi who came in for Idan Yogev and Ofri Meshata. In the 60th minute, three more substitutions were brought on as Omri Haramati, Rany Hamzey and Bar Galili were all introduced.

Peretz took a long pass from Haramati in the 60th minute and took a scorcher of a shot, however the Rishon keeper was in the right place yet again. Very few chances occurred during the balance of the match as the game ended in a goalless draw with the clubs splitting the points. During the course of the half Altman, Haramati and Peretz all received yellow cards.

On Matchday 14 of the TOTO League, Maccabi “Shachar” Tel ...

On the way to the Cup: 2014/15

Maccabi Tel Aviv opens their State Cup title defense tonight, 21:00 at Ramat HaSharon. Let's look back at their opening round win last year against Beitar Tel Aviv/Ramle

Maccabi defeats Ramat HaSharon 3-1

The Yellow-and-Blue scored a Round of 32 victory at Grundman Stadium to move on in the Israel State Cup as they look to defend their title

Maccabi Tel Aviv played their first match of the Israel State Cup tournament, entering the competition in the Round of 32 where they visited Leumit League side Ramat HaSharon. In a match filled with penalty kicks, it was Maccabi who came out on top. Barak Itzhaki and Eran Zahavi converted their spot kicks for the Yellow-and-Blue as Yossi Shivchon would turn the trick for Ramat HaSharon. Eden Ben Basat scored the winner in the 71st minute helping his side advance to the Round of 16 of the Israel State Cup competition.

New Head Coach, Peter Bosz changed up his starting lineup from last match in the WINNER League giving the rest of his squad a chance to get some playing time. Daniel Lifshitz started in goal while Yoav Ziv, Tal Ben Haim, Dor Peretz and acting captain Carlos Garcia played in front of the shot stopper. Eden Ben Basat, Barak Itzhaki and Dejan Radonjic played up front with a midfielder corps consisting of Avi Rikan, Shlomi Azulay and Gili Vermouth.

The Yellow-and-Blue started out strong as Vermouth had a couple of chances in the opening ten minutes but both of his efforts couldn’t find the back of Ramat HaSharon goal. However, just a minute later it was Itzhaki who put the ball behind Golan Elkaslasi on a penalty kick called after a foul in the box by Mor Tzur to give Maccabi a 1:0 lead.

The two sides traded chances as Ben Ben Yair produced an opportunity from 17 meters out for the Sharon team in the 25th minute but Lifshitz, the Yellow-and-Blue’s second choice keeper made the save to preserve the slim lead. Ben Basat’s effort missed the target and Elkaslasi saved Radonjic’s chance while Kobi Musa’s screamer just went wide of the Maccabi goal as the teams headed into the break.

After a quiet opening to the second half, Maccabi coach Peter Bosz made a double substitution in the 65th minute bringing on Dor Micha and Eran Zahavi for Vermouth and Radonjic to help jump start the offense. But instead Ramat HaSharon were awarded a penalty of their own after a Ziv foul in the box. Ex-Maccabi man Yossi Shivchon stepped up for the spot kick and converted from 11 meters to draw the second division side even.

However, it wouldn’t stay tied for long as Ben Basat scored from the top of the box to give the Yellow-and-Blue a 2:1 lead in the 71st minute. Zahavi added an insurance goal from a penalty after Ben Basat was pulled down in the Ramat HaSharon box to give the defending State Cup Champions the 3:1 lead and the win.

Maccabi Tel Aviv will now move on to the Round of 16 and play at Rishon Le’Zion on either January 26/27, This coming Monday evening the Yellow-and-Blue will take a trip up the coast to face Hapoel Acre on Matchday 19 of the WINNER League.

Maccabi Tel Aviv played their first match of the ...

Youth Department Action, Saturday

The Yellow-and-Blue face the Orange in Under-19 action, while the Under-16 & Under-15 sides play top of the table matches in the Maccabi Youth Department

Maccabi “Shachar” Tel Aviv – Hapoel Rishon Le’Zion, 12:00 Ramle

 The Maccabi Under-19 side will look to get back to their winning ways this Saturday when they host the wine city’s team. After falling in the Derby, Ziv Arie’s club will attempt to close the gap just before the last game of the Toto League’s first round.

 Maccabi “Oded” Tel Aviv – Off

 Hapoel Rishon Le’Zion – Maccabi “Eli Fuchs” Tel Aviv, 10:30 Superland Rishon Le’Zion

 Following an important win over Ashdod last week, the young Yellow-and-Blue will aim to continue their good form, this time against their counterparts from Rishon Le’Zion. Eliezer Ben Aharon and Gady Brumer’s side lead the league after 13 Matchdays and will face the Oranges who are in 5th place.

 Maccabi “Eldad” Tel Aviv – Maccabi “Gould-Shenfeld” Haifa, 12:15 Kiryat Shalom

 After winning their Derby match last game, Erez Belfer’s team will look for another win and keep their positive momentum going to further cement their first place position.

 Beitar “Oren” Tubruk – Maccabi “Team 2” Tel Aviv, 12:15 Tubruk

 Ran Elias and his Maccabi Under-15 team face a tough test this coming week against Tubruk. Maccabi currently sits in first place, with their goal to stay there until the end of the campaign.

Maccabi “Shachar” Tel Aviv – ...