Maccabi Tel Aviv cruised by Hapoel Hadera 3-0 to head into the International break with 6 points after two games. Dan Bitton broke the ice in the 13th minute thanks to a Joris van Overeem ball while Gaby Kanichowsky added the second goal a quarter hour into the second half. Eran Zahavi scored the third goal of the contest when newcomer Kiko Bondoso sent a perfect pass to the yellow-and-blue striker who sent the ball into the left hand corner of Ohad Levita’s goal to wrap up the clinical win.

“We played really good at times,” Maccabi Tel Aviv coach Robbie Keane explained. “I kept giving them the same message, don’t get bored keep moving the ball. We got an early goal and we probably should have capitalized, I think we try to force things too many times. In the second half it was 2-3 touches, moved the ball and we got the goals. It was good to get a lot of players on the pitch to get minutes which is important for the team.”

“We have to deal with the schedule and it’s not great to lose a game 3-0,” Hapoel Hadera coach Niso Avitan said. “There were some minutes that we played well but others not but we tried our best and we are looking for some players to come in. I do believe that we have a decent team.”

Maccabi Haifa slipped by Hapoel Jerusalem 2-1 as a pair of goals in just a couple of minutes helped the Greens take the 3-points. After a goalless opening half hour, Abdoulaye Seck head home a Tjaron Chery corner kick while two minutes later Dia Saba cleaned up a rebound for a quick 2-0 lead. Don Cedric pulled a goal back just ahead of the break but that would be as close as the capital city Reds would get.

“I want to win every game and we lost so I am disappointed,” Hapoel Jerusalem head coach Ziv Arie said. “We were very soft and they took advantage of every loose ball. We played well but after they scored we fell apart although the second half was better but we didn’t have a lot of chances and we turned over the ball just too many times.”

“This was a very important win,” Maccabi Haifa coach Messay Dego began. “I told the guys that we were going to play a very balanced team and they can play at a very high level. But we scored some nice goals and I’m very happy with the win and the way that we played throughout. Other than the goal, Jerusalem didn’t have any other chances.”

Beitar Jerusalem downed Ashdod 2-1 as yellow-and-black new recruit Mayron George bagged a brace in his debut to help Yossi Abukasis’s squad to the 3-points. Ofir Kriaf snatched the ball in the midfield and sent George a perfect pass that the Costa Rican striker put away to give the visitors a 1-0 lead in the 8th minute. However, Deni Hocko’s own goal drew the hosts even, but George headed home the second half winner to give Beitar their first victory of the season.

“We have to improve on the minutes that we are controlling the play,” Abukasis said. “We began the match well but we conceded a weird goal that gave Ashdod life. While we didn’t start the second half off well we ended up scoring a beautiful goal. We came close to scoring a third goal as we had some good chances but unfortunately we weren’t able to do it.”

“We really pressed for the equalizer late in the second half but we just wasn’t enough,” Ashdod coach Eli Levy explained. “We created some good chances and we played well while Beitar didn’t have that many more opportunities. The difference was that they scored and we didn’t.”