Maccabi Tel Aviv blanked Maccabi Haifa 3-0 as the yellow-and-blue leapfrogged Hapoel Beersheba into first place with the win coupled with the Southern Reds’ draw.
Weslley Patati opened the scoring with a 20-meter screamer in the 23rd minute to give the visitors a 1-0 lead, while Osher Davida and Ido Shachar found the back of the net late in the game to close out the win.
“I want to congratulate my players on a great performance from the beginning of the game,” Maccabi Tel Aviv coach Zarko Lazetic began. “We were under pressure and made some small mistakes at the start, but after that, we took control and responded correctly. We are very happy. I have told my players many times that we need to take all of our energy and focus it on concentrating on this game and winning it. With small steps, we will take the championship.”
Midfielder Dor Peretz added: “This was a high-level game from us. We were aggressive and determined to win. We have one more game to go to do the job, and while we will celebrate the win in this game, we have to begin focusing on the next one. We are a team of winners.”
Refaelov plays last game with Maccabi Haifa
“This is not how we expected to say goodbye to Lior Refaelov, who was playing in his last game,” Maccabi Haifa interim coach Itay Mordechai said. “We wanted to give him a better sendoff, but these last couple of games have us playing against the best teams in the league, and we have to say the truth that we are not at their level.”
Lior Refaelov, the Greens’ captain, played the final game of his career and will be appointed the head of the club’s scouting department next season.
“I am very sorry for this missed opportunity,” said the 39-year-old veteran. “We were down 1-0, and we started the second half well, and perhaps the game could have developed completely differently. It is a shame. It would have been ideal for me to score in my final game and leave on a high note, so this is not what I expected, and I certainly did not want to retire with such a loss.”
Beitar Jerusalem and Hapoel Beersheba drew 1-1 as the Southern Reds fell out of first place due to Maccabi Tel Aviv’s win at Maccabi Haifa with only one matchday remaining in the season.
After a goalless first half, a Zahi Ahmed handball in the box allowed Omer Aztily to give the yellow-and-black a 1-0 lead from the penalty spot in the 62nd minute. Dan Biton drew Beersheba even deep into second-half stoppage time, but that would be as close as Ron Kozuk’s team would get as his club dropped a pair of points and tumbled out of first place.
Kozuk shared his feelings after the match.
“It’s not over until it’s over. We need to get back home and beat Hapoel Haifa, and then pray really hard. Beitar Jerusalem proved today how athletic and strong they are. We’ll be there for that game, ready to go.
“The penalty that was awarded was scandalous. On the other hand, we had many chances in the first half that we couldn’t take advantage of, but even when we were behind, we showed character; however, it wasn’t enough.
Beersheba midfielder Eliel Peretz also commented on the draw, “It’s very disappointing. We couldn’t win, and now there’s nothing we can do about it; that’s football. There’s a game on Saturday, we’ll try to do our best and maybe Maccabi will stumble, God willing. We didn’t start the game well, and a few turnovers put Beitar into the game."
Beitar Jerusalem Barak Itzhaki added: “The way the game developed, certainly in the second half, we could have scored three more goals and it’s a shame we didn’t know how to do that. I’m talking about killing games and that’s what I mean – in the second half we were better and attacked well. It’s a shame that the game ended like this.”
Midfielder Dor Micha spoke about the game from his point of view.
“We wanted to secure our place in Europe today, but we’ll wait another week and hope that it happens. We had a great second half, not like we’ve seen in the last three games. We pressed, we had a lot of chances and could have decided the game, but unfortunately it didn’t happen.”
Hapoel Haifa and Maccabi Netanya played to a 1-1 draw as the two sides split the points at Sammy Ofer Stadium.Javon East scored from 13 meters out just ahead of the halftime break to give the Carmel Reds a 1-0 lead, but Daniel Dappa found the back of the goal in the 73rd minute to draw even as each team took home a point for their efforts.Haifa coach Roni Levy looked back on the game.
“To a certain extent, I’m disappointed as we had a chance to win and we were close. But I can’t say about a season like this that what players did ‘disappointed’ me. We now have one more round left to finish the season off properly. The players deserve everything here as they had such a great season, and that’s how I see it. Unfortunately, several players are carrying injuries, and we changed the lineup. Perhaps we could have scored a second goal, but we didn’t.”
Netanya coach Yossi Abukasis also spoke about the draw from his point of view.
“We talked at halftime about pressing a bit, and we did that well in the second half, as we stole the ball at times, the players were more concentrated, and we were organized. We were able to threaten and we took Haifa out of their game. The players gave it their all, even though we had nothing to play for and Hapoel Haifa did.”