Maccabi TA beats Hapoel Haifa
First place Maccabi Tel Aviv took home three points and the win in a 3-1 victory over Hapoel Haifa on Matchday 8 of the Israel Premier League Ligat Japanika. First-half goals by Omer Atzily and Avi Rikan, along with a second-half marker by Dor Peretz helped the yellow-and-blue to the win. Risto Mitrevsky pulled back a goal for the host’s in the 90th minute.
The contest began well for Maccabi Tel Aviv as they took a quick 1-0 lead in the second minute. Eyal Golasa took a rebound off of a Rikan shot and left it for Omer Atzily, who found the back of the goal beating Haifa’s keeper Ernestas Setkus. An active Rikan throughout the first half stole the ball from Setkus in the box, and made no mistake with his attempt as he buried it in the 45th minute to help Maccabi head into the halftime break up 2-0.
Dor Peretz scored the third yellowand-blue goal in the 79th minute when he headed in a magnificent Micha cross. As the match wound down, it looked like Maccabi keeper Predrag Rajkovic would record a clean sheet until Risto Mitrevsky scored a 90th minute marker off of a Gili Vermouth free kick as the contest ended in a 3-1 Tel Aviv win.
Following the match, Maccabi Head Coach Vladimir Ivic spoke about his side’s performance, “I believe we played a serious game from the beginning to the end, and this is what we needed to do.”
Upstart Bnei Yehuda defeated Beitar Jerusalem at Teddy Stadium 5-1 and moved into third place on the table. After Beitar Coach Guy Luzon was relieved of his duties last week, David Martin, the onetime Jerusalem and National Team Coach Luis Fernandez’s interpreter, stood on the sidelines for the yellow-and-black and the result was no different. Yarden Shua opened the scoring in the 23rd minute when he found the back of the goal thanks to a terrific pass by Matan Baltaxa. However, the match was altered in the 31st minute when Dan Einbinder was sent off with a red card, leaving the hosts with 10 men for the balance of the contest.
Mavis Tchibota took full advantage of a mixed-up Beitar squad and gave Bnei Yehuda a 2-0 lead just a minute later. Aaron Olanare pulled back a goal for Jerusalem in 59th minute, but just two minutes later Tchibota scored his second of the game. From there on in, the match was for all intents and purposes done as the visitors added goals from Shua and Dolev Haziza, to wrap up a 5-1 away victory. On Monday, former Hapoel Haifa coach Nir Klinger was appointed to take over the reins at Beitar.
Hapoel Hadera kept pace with Maccabi Tel Aviv as they defeated Ashdod 3-2, thanks to a late winner by Lucio. Kevin Tapoko opened the scoring in the 24th minute with a header in the box, but Ashdod drew even thanks to Nir Barda in the 41st minute as the sides went into the halftime break all knotted up at 1-1. David Mateos handed Lucio a ball in the box that he sent home to give Hadera a 2-1 lead early on in the second half, but Dan Biton’s 66th minute goal again drew Ashdod even. However, Hadera went on a 92nd-minute counter attack that ended with Lucio finding the far corner of the goal from the box as Hadera recorded the dramatic victory.
Maccabi Netanya took care of Hapoel Beer Sheva 1-0, halting the southern reds winning streak at two games. Guy Melamed scored a 60th minute header to take the three points from the defending champions, leaving Barak Bachar’s side 10 points behind table leaders Maccabi Tel Aviv.
Valon Ahmedi starred for Kiryat Shemona in a 3-0 away victory at Bnei Sakhnin. Ahmedi scored the first goal on a free kick and assisted on second half goals by Samuel Broun and Yoal Abuhatzera to pick up the win.
Hapoel Ra’anana defeated Maccabi Petah Tikva 1-0 at Ramat Gan Stadium. Petah Tikva controlled the pace of play throughout the first half, but Naor Paser’s 49th minute red card turned the tide in favor of the hosts. Yoav Tomer scored deep into injury time as Karem Arshid sent Yarden Cohen a through ball, who handed it off to Tomer, who in turn found the back of the goal for the slim one goal victory.
The final game of Matchday 8 between Hapoel Tel Aviv and Maccabi Haifa ended after deadline.