Years that have not been such a tense final cycle for the regular season, with no less than five teams competing for three places in the top playoffs. At this time (Live Sports 4) Five games are being played at the same time, with Maccabi Haifa wanting to reach the top of the table at least temporarily (the Tel Aviv derby starts at 21:00), now hosting Maccabi Netanya sixth in the table, which has one clear goal – to conquer the top playoff goal. 5,000 green fans came to Sami Ofer Stadium.
Maccabi Haifa came to the game satisfied after erasing a lag and qualifying for the quarterfinals of the State Cup at the expense of Maccabi Petah Tikva (1: 2). She now dreams of finishing the regular season in first place. Noble Omar, who came off the bench and scored a double against the Malabes – got back the team shirt in place of Yannick Wildshot. There are other changes in the lineup – San Menachem who returned from suspension took over the left defensive position in place of Rami Gershon. Captain Neta Lavie also returned to the squad with Jose Rodriguez on the bench. At the top, Nikita Rokavica, Dolev Haziza and Charon Sheri opened the link. The injured Taleb Twataha is out.
On the other hand, Maccabi Netanya had a particularly frustrating week when they surrendered 1: 0 to Hapoel Hadera in the league and were later eliminated from the cup by Hapoel Tel Aviv, even though they played not bad at all. Raymond Atwald is missing striker Kwan Freiter who is suspended for yellows and is replaced by Fernand Guri in the lead. Captain Almog Cohen, who was replaced against Hapoel so as not to endanger him, opened in the center of defense as usual. Lamek Banda also in the front. Abubaker Dombia was preferred over Chen Ezra. Goalkeeper Danny Amos continues to be absent due to injury and is replaced by the young Raz Carmi. Karem Jaber replaced Ido Weir. The Diamonds depend on themselves – a win and they will advance to the playoffs. If they end in a draw, they will hope that Hapoel Beer Sheva and Betar Jerusalem will not win their games. Even in the event of a loss, the Netanya players can rise – if BS loses and Betar does not win.
The vehicles
Maccabi Haifa: Josh Cohen, Raz Meir, Ofri Arad, Bogdan Planich, San Menachem, Muhammad Abu Fani, Neta Lavie, Charon Sheri (Jose Rodriguez, 52), Dolev Haziza, Omer Atzili, Nikita Rokavica.
Maccabi Netanya: Raz Carmi, Karem Jaber, Almog Cohen, Shir Tzedek, Zlatan Shachovich, Yuval Sadeh, Aviv Avraham, Gabi Kanikovsky, Abubaker Dombia, Lamek Benda, Fernand Guri.
the progress of the game
Maccabi Haifa started the match well, put a lot of pressure and came to hire at a very early stage, when already in the 7th minute Went up to 0: 1. The move started with an outside ball from the right wing, and ended in a great move by Nikita Rokavica, who overcame a justice song and found Raz Meir inside the extension. The defender sent a powerful kick with his left foot to the net of Raz Carmi, who only managed to touch the ball and not fend it off, and the Greens celebrated an early advantage.
After the goal, Maccabi Netanya woke up and felt much more relaxed after not being able to touch the ball more before. In the 12th minute, they also almost equalized with a spectacular goal, when Aviv Avraham sent the leg from a long distance and sent a huge ball and turned towards the connections of Josh Cohen, but unfortunately for the Netanya contact, his kick was stopped by a crossbar.
In the 21st minute, Maccabi Netanya reached another situation that did not endanger Josh Cohen too much. A short corner went out in front of Karem Jaber, who raised it into the Maccabi Haifa plaza. Fernand Guri came up high and slammed towards the goal, but his ball was weak and the green goalkeeper got along easily.
In the 38th minute, Maccabi Haifa had to double the advantage. Yuval Sadeh lost a ball in the center of the field, Muhammad Abu Fani found Dolev Haziza bursting, and the midfielder artfully left Almog Cohen behind. He galloped forward as a song of justice came out in his direction and Nikita Rokavica waited in the center of the extension. Haziza looked for the Australian and handed him over, but Zlatan Shakhovich, who came back in the sprint, overtook Rokavica and moved away to the corner. Missing by the Greens.
After one minute of extra time, referee Aviad Shiloah whistled for half and sent the teams to the break. Unequivocally, Maccabi Netanya was better than Maccabi Haifa in the first half, as the Greens have not posed a serious threat to Raz Carmi’s goal since Raz Meir’s early goal from the seventh minute. The Diamonds started a bit passively, but woke up as time went on, dominated, attacked – but still fell behind for the break.
With the opening of the second half, in the 49th minute, Maccabi Netanya reached a good situation. Gabi Kanikovsky made a nice move and raised a ball from the right wing to the center of the Maccabi Haifa plaza. Fernand Guri rose nicely and slammed towards the goal, Josh Cohen caught and grabbed the ball. Three minutes later Abubakar Domvia tried his strength on the left side of the extension and kicked, but again the ball was stopped by the green goalkeeper.
Barak Bachar saw that something was not working in his team, and in the 52nd minute he took out Charon Sherry and brought in Jose Rodriguez to play with his regular midfield trio. A minute later, Maccabi Haifa threatened the goal of Maccabi Netanya, when Nikita Rokavica with her back to the goal dropped a ball back towards Muhammad Abu Fani, who fired a huge missile from 20 meters, but his ball was high.
