Yellow-and-blue top Maccabi Haifa to maintain title hopes

MACCABI TEL AVIV players celebrate their 3-2 victory over Maccabi Haifa in the State Cup semifinal at Teddy Stadium. (credit: YEHUDA HALICKMAN)

Maccabi Haifa bench boss Barak Bachar spoke about the defeat.

“There’s not much to say in a situation like this. Clearly, the season hasn’t been good. We tried to bring a bit of joy to the fans, but we didn’t manage it. We need to put our heads down, apologize to the supporters and keep moving forward this season. We can’t look at next year; we have to focus on the here and now. There aren’t many options; we’ll evaluate the players.”

Elsewhere, Hapoel Tel Aviv slipped by Hapoel Petah Tikva 1-0 as Daniel Dappa scored from inside of the box after taking a beautiful pass from Loizos Lozou to help the Reds to the three points as they try to punch their ticket to European qualifying.

Hapoel Tel Aviv coach Elyaniv Barda spoke about the win and Dappa’s contribution.

“I’m very happy for him. He worked very hard for a very long time, and I’m really glad it finally went in for him. It definitely helped the team, which is the most important thing. We earned three very important points in our fight for a place in Europe. I think that in the end it was quite an even match, even though in the first half we controlled the game and it was our best pressing performance.”

Petah Tikva coach Omer Peretz, who only recently agreed to a contract extension with the club, spoke after the defeat.

“When you concede a goal so late in the match, there’s great disappointment. It’s possible that Hapoel Tel Aviv were better in terms of flow, but in terms of chances, we created good opportunities and could have scored.”

Maccabi Netanya blanked Bnei Sakhnin 3-0 as the diamond city side received first-half goals from Basam Zaarura and Oz Bilu, while Heriberto Tavares found the back of the net in the second half to wrap up the three points for Roni Levy’s team.

“We started the match well,” Netanya bench boss Roni Levy said. “I’m beginning to see many things here that I like and there’s a good attitude. The day-to-day conduct is just as important, and I see a very significant improvement in how we look. We need to maintain this over a longer period.”

Sakhnin head coach Yossi Abukasis summed up the match.

“It started with the throw-in, that’s where we let them into the game. After that, on the second goal, we made a big mistake. We couldn’t lift the players up because many of them knew they wouldn’t continue, so they didn’t have the drive. We weren’t there from the very first moment.”

Maccabi Bnei Reineh downed Ashdod SC 2-1 as Vitale Damascan’s 60th-minute goal canceled out Ayi Ochayi’s earlier strike, and Antonio Sefer’s penalty gave the Galilee side the win and the points to continue the climb out of the league’s cellar.

Hapoel Jerusalem and Hapoel Haifa play to a draw

Hapoel Jerusalem and Hapoel Haifa played to a goalless draw as the capital city Reds dropped into the relegation zone and now find themselves behind Ironi Tiberias, who defeated Hapoel Kiryat Shmona 2-0 on first-half goals by Sambinha and Stanislav Bilenkyi.

Lior Zada, Jerusalem’s head coach, said: “It’s not a simple situation, and it’s not easy. We’re in a relegation battle, and no one expected us to suddenly look like Manchester City or Barcelona. Right now, we need to play much more direct football; we’re trying to be more efficient. There were also some good things: good energy, and we didn’t concede.”

Tiberias bench boss Eliran Hodeida spoke about maintaining momentum.

“We don’t want to jinx it as we’re happy with both the defense and the attack, happy with the three points and with the football we showed in the first half. We’ve only just begun the journey, every goal matters, and we’ll need to stay focused ahead of Wednesday.”

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