Maccabi Haifa beat Maccabi Tel Aviv last night (Monday, 3/1/2021) 3:2 in the 16th round of the Premier League. The match was held at the Sami Ofer Stadium which was filled with 30 thousand enthusiastic spectators, and what a match they got. After a 2:0 advantage for the yellows within 15 minutes of the start of the game, the champion in green completed a huge turnaround in the second half and recorded an 8 league victory in a row.
Before the start of the game, Omar Atzili received the December player of the month award on behalf of the league management. In addition, the Greens held a ceremony in honor of the 53rd birthday of Reuven Atar, a former player of their team.
Complete shock at the start of the game
50 seconds passed from the start of the game and the yellows took the lead. Eduardo Guerrero picked up a corner, Aden Shamir shot wide and Dolev Haziza headed the ball into the net. Own goal for number 8 in green, the yellows celebrate a quick goal. The greens could not get out of the shock, and conceded the second goal within 13 minutes, and another goal. Charon Sherry lost the ball 20 meters from the goal, Shamir collected the ball, turned and fired a rocket to Josh Cohen's connection. 2:0 yellow in less than fifteen minutes from the start.
Precisely in a double deficit, the greens woke up. In the 20th minute, Etzili's free kick was hit by Shawn Goldberg into the crossbar, and Bogdan Palanich's rebound was saved by Matan Balatsa from the line. On the other hand, the guests almost scored the third in the 24th minute. Matan Khoza passed a cross to Guerrero who kicked with a touch and Cohen headed to the corner. In the 30th minute, Azili's free kick was deflected by a shot and Ali Muhammad shot from the air, but Daniel broke through. 2:0 to Maccabi Tel Aviv at halftime.
The champion increased the pressure
At the start of the second half, the greens continued to look for a narrow goal. Muhammad Abu Fani narrowly missed the frame, and Din David was then stopped in front of Peretz. The game became quite messy for long minutes and many turnovers were recorded by both teams. When Dean David was already able to subdue Peretz and score, he was caught in the gap and the goal was disallowed. On the other hand, the yellows hardly came close to Cohen's goal and just wanted the game to end.
In the 71st minute, Barak Bakr threw Godsavi Donio into the fray at the expense of Ali Muhammad, a substitution that in retrospect turned out to be genius. Losing a yellow ball in the 77th minute ended with Donio's pass to Sherry Shagalg in Peretz's net, only 2:1 to Maccabi Tel Aviv. 2 minutes later, Omar Atzili found the offensive player and this made it 2:2. New game in Haifa, 7 assists for the king of assists (and goals) of the league.
Ends? Definately not. The greens were looking for a change against the great enemy with all their might, and in the 87th minute they found it. Sherry sent Atzili on the left side, number 7 sent wide and Dean David pushed from a rain the green victory goal. With the rest of their strength, the players in green managed to survive a long overtime and record a prestigious victory over the nemesis.
First win for the greens over the yellows after 18 league games
Maccabi Haifa celebrates its 8th victory in a row in the league. The champion is still in second place with 38 points, 2 less than leader Hapoel Beer Sheva.
Also, after 18 consecutive games in the league between the two teams, the greens managed to beat their opponents in yellow. Maccabi Haifa's previous victory over Maccabi Tel Aviv in the league was achieved on 24/10/2016, over 5 years ago. In addition, this is the Greens' first home league win since 17/12/2012, i.e. more than 9 years ago. This is Maccabi Haifa's first ever league victory over Maccabi Tel Aviv since the greens from Kiryat Eliezer moved to the new facility in the summer of 2014.
In the next cycle, the champion will be hosted by Maccabi Petah Tikva (Saturday, 8/1/2022) and will try to continue her impressive run and the fight for the championship.
I don't remember such excitement since the upheaval of 1977