Beitar Jerusalem triumphed over Maccabi Tel Aviv 3-1 as the capital city squad scored three unanswered second half goals with ten men to stun the first place yellow-and-blue side. Dor Turgeman opened the scoring for Zarko Lazetic’s team as he latched onto a Osher Davida ball to take a 1-0 lead. Things went from bad to worse for the hosts when Jean Marcelin was sent off at the stroke of halftime due to a dustup with Maccabi’s Sagiv Yehezkel leaving Beitar with ten men for an entire half.
Head Coach Barak Itzhaki made a pair of substitutes to make up for the missing player and his decisions paid off almost immediately as Timoti Muzi finished off a brilliant team play and sent a percent ball into the Maccabi goal and past shot stopper Roie Mishpati to draw eve at 1-1 in the 48th minute. Yarden Shua slotted home the go ahead marker on an 83rd minute borderline penalty call while Ayi Silva Kangani added an insurance goal three minutes later to send a sold out Teddy Stadium into ecstasy.
“It’s very exciting and I don’t even know what to say,” Beitar Head Coach Barak Itzhaki said following the game. “I have to really credit the guys for winning this game and playing an entire half with just ten men, I told them at halftime that they needed to get back onto the pitch with courage. I could’ve played a defensive half but I wanted to take a chance and play for the win despite being down a player.”
“We played a very good first half and we stopped playing in the second half,” Maccabi bench boss Zarko Lazetic. “We lost so many balls in the second half and they punished us. We tried to move the ball from one side to the other but we missed these passes and we had to run a lot. They had more energy and we missed our chances.”
Maccabi Haifa crushed to a 4-2 victory over Hapoel Hadera as Lior Refaelov scored a brace to help the greens to the 3-points and the win. Dean David gave Haifa an early lead off a Dia Saba ball while Refaelov scored his first goal via a free kick in the 41st minute to give the hosts a 2-0 lead. However, Dan Einbinder’s penalty just before the break and Itzik Shoolmaister’s strike just after halftime drew Hadera even at 2-2. Xander Severina gave the Haifa the lead once again whole Refaleov scored an jury time strike to polish off the victory in added time.
“We play like what our DNA is,” Maccabi Haifa Head Coach Bark Bacar said, “After two losses, we came into this game and attacked with plenty of players. The first goal was one of our most beautiful ones of the season. Ir was really the type a goal that we had wanted and hoped for. Hadera passed the halfway mark of the pitch perhaps three times and we had to give that little extra for everything. We will have to pay attention to that and be more focused if we want to continue climb up the standings.”
“The players gave everything they had,” a disappointed Hadera Head Coach Haim Silvas began. “At the end of the day, their quality overwhelmed us, we scored two goals against Maccabi Haifa away but we lost. I feel very sorry for the players, they gave everything.”
Hapoel Haifa blanked Maccabi Netanya 3-0 on the road to take the win and the 3-points. Naor Sabag opened the scoring in the 7th minute, Guy Melamed doubled the advantage later on in the first half and Itamar Noy scored as well to wrap up the dominant victory.
“These are very difficult days and playing soccer gives us a totally different perspective,” Hapoel Haifa Head Coach Rony Levy said. “We are satisfied with the victory but less so with the actual game – there were many good things and many things that need to be worked on. Of course, it’s better to correct these things with victories and certainly a victory like this. We will continue to work hard as It’s difficult to improve. Netanya is a good team but are going through a tough time, I’m glad we won.”
“The feelings are very difficult to describe right now because I think this was our weakest game of the season,” Netanya Head Coach Marko Balbul said. “This was a shameful and frustrating game and I apologize to the fanse that saw such a game from Netanya. There was only one team on the field here – Hapoel Haifa. A shameful game, nothing worked. We looked helpless.”
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