With all due respect to the Paris Saint-Germain Festival, Maccabi Haifa arrived tonight (Sunday) at Teddy’s and was put on the ground of reality in a painful way by Hapoel Jerusalem. The undefeated hosts, who last week celebrated their first derby victory in the league since May 1991, stunned the champion with a resounding 0:3 and not only beat them for the first time since October 1999, but equaled the record victory against them (0:3 away in April 1961).
Barak Becher deviated from his routine and for the first time this season started in the league with the team that played in Europe a few days before. However, the 11 that ran non-stop against the stars of Paris Saint-Germain, looked lost and lacked desire against Ziv Aryeh’s players, for whom Maccabi Haifa is PSG. Goni Naor was the owner in the center of the field and wanted to prove to the greens that it was worth insisting on him. His steals of the ball created situations and in the 22nd minute Ofek Bitton hit the first one after a bad start by Josh Cohen. The red control continued, Beaton recorded a huge miss, but immediately afterwards made amends with a goal from the air after a corner from Jordan Butaka in the 35th minute. A first pair in his career to bond and ecstasy among the local audience.
Maccabi Haifa has already gotten used to starting badly this season and making amends in the second half, but this time Bacher couldn’t bring in the stars from the bench. He stayed with his line-up, saw fruitless pressure that yielded nothing and in the 53rd minute surrendered in the third, after a failed breakaway trap and a goal by William Toogie after Beaton’s assist in the performance of his life. Hapoel Jerusalem kept the result and celebrated together with its fans the biggest week since the club was resurrected and passed through the lower leagues. A third consecutive victory over the zero, a place at the top and a team that can aim for the top playoffs.
As far as the champion is concerned, the national team’s break came at the right time after a grueling series of games and she will try to recover for the big meeting with Maccabi Tel Aviv in the sixth round, to which she will arrive from second place. Becher thought at least he would win over Dean David with a goal after a drought that has lasted since last season’s cup semi-finals, but the clinching goal was disqualified due to a difference in extra time and this is another problem that the Greens will have to solve for the sequel.
The composition of Hapoel Jerusalem: Adebayo Adley, Aloj Yao, Unjay Bacho, Noam Malamud, Harel Shalom, Goni Noor, Nadav Nidam, Ofek Biton, Guy Badash, Jordan Botaka, William Togi.
Maccabi Haifa lineup: Josh Cohen, Daniel Sondgren, Dylan Betobinsica, Sean Goldberg, Pierre Corneau, Netta Lavie, Mohammed Abu Fani, Charon Sherry, Dolev Haziza, Omar Azili, Franzi Piero.