Maccabi Tel Aviv
After starting the second round on the right foot with an away victory in the Galilee landscape over Bnei Rayna, Maccabi Tel Aviv returns to Bloomfield and after two months, including the World Cup break, will be able to enjoy an almost full stadium for the first time (Saturday, 15:00, Sport1). In two home league games and one Toto Cup game, 10-11 goals were closed due to a penalty imposed on the team due to the derby events and tomorrow the crowd returns to fill the stadium.
Vladan Ivić is not expected to make many changes in his lineup compared to the one he started against Bnei Rayna and he is considering keeping the same lineup. Derek Lucassen, who has progressed a lot and is considered Ivić’s best defensive player at the moment, will continue in the center of defense while Yonatan Cohen should continue in the lineup on the left side of the line. Dor Peretz, Avi Ricken and Oskar Gluch are supposed to continue together in midfield with Eran Zahavi and Djorja Jovanovic in attack. The latter did not have a good game against Raina, but the club believes that he will return to scoring very quickly. “In the previous round it was easy against Hapoel Hadera, but this is a completely different team now and we will face a much tougher opponent,” say Maccabi Tel Aviv.
The team hopes not to get involved in a type of game like the one against Hapoel Haifa before the break, when Maccabi Tel Aviv managed to score a single goal only in the 98th minute. On the other hand, we also do not want to see a game in which the team scores at the beginning like against Raina but has great difficulty translating its advantage in quality into another goal. “You have to quickly find the first goal but know how to kill the game later on,” they concluded.
Hapoel Hadera
The team that has not won in its last five games in all formats will be hosted by Maccabi Tel Aviv in Bloomfield and will try to avoid another defeat, as it suffered from the Yellows in the first round. Coach Assaf Niemani is expected to keep most of the lineup he started in the last round against Hapoel Jerusalem with the exception of one change, when Dia Lavabidi will return to the lineup at the expense of Ron Unger. Philip Ipola has almost completely recovered from his leg injury, but the professional team preferred not to risk it and he will rest another game to be ready for the next game against Benny Reina. Another player who will be absent tomorrow is midfielder Sa’ar Fedida, who was injured again this week and felt pain in his hamstring and is also out of the squad.
The coach said before the game: “We are in the stages of returning from the World Cup break, we will get into our playing form and we will see a team that is forming and coming together. We have had a good week of training and are looking forward to tomorrow.”
Regarding the meeting with the Yellows, the coach added: “There is no doubt that the game against Maccabi Tel Aviv in the first round was the game that made the turn in terms of our thinking. We arrived after four victories in the Toto Cup and it blew up in our faces in a difficult way. We came against Maccabi with a different attitude, with a different mindset, And everyone knows how it ended, because it blew up in our faces. There is no doubt that we will arrive tomorrow with a different mindset, we respect the teams in front of us. We learned a lot from this game against Maccabi Tel Aviv and we will do everything so that it does not happen again.”
On the complaints against Hadera’s style of play: “I understand that our style of play, in relation to the location, creates a buzz and a lot of ricochets, but everyone should understand that it was made very, very clear by the management, that the expectation is to keep the team in the league as soon as possible. We don’t look at the table, Our position today is like a lying sun and we need to know our place and our destination. If we guarantee our stay at an early stage, I promise everyone that Hapoel Hadera will look different. Until then, as far as I’m concerned, the goal justifies the means.”
Trivia
* Maccabi Tel Aviv conceded only one goal to Hapoel Hadera in the 11 meetings in the top league (10 wins and another 0:0) and has not lost to them in the league since the 3:1 in December 1977.
* Maccabi Tel Aviv is on a streak of 21 home games without a loss in the league and will be able to close 2022 undefeated in Bloomfield. The last loss was in October 2021 – 2:0 to MS. Ashdod.
* Maccabi Tel Aviv has conceded only six goals so far, of which only two in home games.
* Hapoel Hadera did not score in the last three rounds (loss 3:0 in Beer Sheva and twice 0:0). A total of three draws on their balance sheet – more than any other team in the league this season.
The composition of the groups
Maccabi Tel Aviv
Coach: Vladan Ivić
The game setup
5:3:2
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30M. Candle -
31That. Piven -
25d. Lucasan -
4A. Savorit -
24J. Cohen
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42d. breach -
11A. Gloch -
22A. ignorant
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99third. Jovanovic -
7P. golden
Substitutes bench:
Hapoel Hadera
Coach: Asaf Niemani
The game setup
5:3:2
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27d. for my love -
24ninth. Bushnak -
32third. bobbin -
5P. Levi -
3Q. Storm
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7S. chooser -
15M. Zalka -
10third. Abramov
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11M. brigade -
9S. Alfred
Substitutes bench:
The 15th round games:
Saturday, 15:00: Maccabi Tel Aviv – Hapoel Hadera (Sport1)
Saturday, 17:30: Hapoel Jerusalem – Kiryat Shmona City (Sport1)
Saturday, 18:00: Hapoel Haifa – Maccabi Bnei Rayna
Saturday, 18:00: Nes Ziona section – MS. Ashdod
Saturday, 19:30: Hapoel Beer Sheva – Beitar Jerusalem (Sport2)
Sunday, 20:15: Bnei Sakhnin – Hapoel Tel Aviv (Sport4)
Monday, 20:30: Maccabi Netanya – Maccabi Haifa