Maccabi Tel Aviv blanks Maccabi Haifa to take Israeli Classico

Oct 19, 2024 | Football

Maccabi Tel Aviv blanked Maccabi Haifa 2-0 in the Israeli Classico in a game held at Teddy Stadium in Jerusalem due to the Home Front Command limitations on the amount of fans being allowed to attend games in the Tel Aviv area. The yellow-and-blue got off to a quick start as Gaby Kanichowsky scored a stunner of a goal in the 18th minute while Elad Madmon jumped all over a rebound in the box to give Maccabi a 2-0 lead. The hosts had a chance to add a third marker via the penalty spot after Dor Peretz was yanked down in the area but Osher Davida’s attempt was saved by the Greens shot stopper Sharif Kaiuf as the score remained as is for the balance of the clash and Maccabi collect the 3-points.

“It wasn’t a knock out and congratulations to Haifa for a good game,” Maccabi Tel Aviv Head Coach Marko Lazetic said. “After we missed the penalty, they took control, we suffered in the last minutes. Of course, congratulations to our players and we don’t have a full squad. We were especially good without the ball, we put incredible pressure on and this is something we will take forward.”

“We missed our chances at the end off the day and you have to put the ball in the goal,” Haifa bench boss Barak Bachar said. “Both Dean David and Dia Saba are players who know how to do that but in this game they had issues. We fell behind early, but for most of the first half we pressed, Maccabi Tel Aviv didn’t really understand what was happening and just cleared the ball out. If we would have scored in the situations that we had, then everything would have been different.”

Hapoel Haifa got by Ironi Tiberias 1-0 on a late second half goal by Guy Melamed to give the Carmel Reds the win and the 3-points.

“I think we deserved the victory,” Haifa coach Rony Levy began. “We had many opportunities and sometimes it’s dangerous when you don’t break through and score because you might also concede. We scored the goal we deserved but there is still room for plenty of improvement. We played against a determined and aggressive team, but kudos to our players.”

“The opening 10 minutes were pretty good for us,” Tiberias head coach Eliran Hodeda began. “But from the 15th minute on they took over the game. We were not organized enough and didn’t control the pace of the game. Haifa had a number of really good chances and so did we but overall I think a draw would have been more reflective of the game.”

Maccabi Bnei Reineh slipped past Kiryat Shemona 1-0 as Kayes Ganem’s 72nd minute strike handed Sharon Mimer’s side the 3-points advantage the victory.

“It was important to come into this game with the right energy at home and get back on the winning track, because we started to go backwards,” Reineh Coach Sharon Mimer said. “We have a deep squad with good players and we took another step on our journey. We will enjoy the win and analyze what we could have done better and then head to our next game. We want to have a season that was as good as the previous one.”

“We fell asleep,” a disappointed Shay Barda began. “The entire game there were no chances for either side. It was a boring game and then we were punished. All of our last six games we had situations to score and I think we are among the teams that threatens the goal the most, but we aren’t scoring enough. In this game we were too tactical.”

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