Maccabi Tel Aviv’s Classico conquest of Maccabi Haifa highlights Week 2 slate

Maccabi Tel Aviv dominated Maccabi Haifa 3-1 in the Israeli Clasico on Sunday night as Dor Peretz scored a first half brace to help the yellow-and-blue to the three points at Bloomfield.

Kenny Miller’s squad looked to break the ice early on as Peretz slotted home a penalty after Helio Varela had been tripped up in the box and then Peretz doubled the advantage when he took a gorgeous Ali Camara ball and slotted it home for a 2-0 lead at the break. Osher Davida added the third marker for the hosts while Eitan Azulay broke up the clean sheet for Haifa with an inconsequential penalty as Maccabi closed out the win.

“We talked before the game about the disappointing result in Europe,” Miller said. “We won the Super Cup, reached the Toto Cup final and we wanted to continue our good run of results. We enjoyed the energy of the home crowd. In the first half, it was the performance we wanted, but they put us under pressure in the second half.

“There are two teams in every football match, so it’s difficult for everything to go exactly the way you want for 90 minutes. As for Dor Peretz, he has had a great start to the season. He’s amazing, works hard every day and works on his finishing. He gets into good positions and that is showing in the games.”

Haifa coach Barak Bachar reflected on his side’s defeat

“We lost the game but had some good minutes,” Bachar began. “We were soft and while the second half was a bit better, we have to improve as a team. We could have pressed more and been more aggressive, we could have done a better job against a team like Maccabi Tel Aviv who were coming off a tough loss. But we conceded an early penalty and things went the wrong way from that point on.”

Meanwhile, Maccabi Netanya crushed Beitar Jerusalem 4-1 as Matheus Davo scored a second half hat trick to stun the yellow-and-black and secure the points after an opening day goalless draw with Bnei Sakhnin.

After a goalless first half, substitute Daniel Worko gave Almog Cohen’s team a 1-0 lead early on in the second half, but from that moment on it was at Netanya as Roni Levy’s star striker Davo scored a trio of goals while Maor Levi added one as well and Oz Bilu assisted on three of the markers to wrap up the victory.

Levy looked back at the win.

“It’s the start of the season and we want to play our football. We knew that this was going to be a tough game but we did what we needed to to take the win. We scored on our chances this time and this was no question one of our best games since I took over as coach. We needed to know that even when we conceded we knew how to dig out of the hole. But we need to keep going and push ahead.”

Hapoel Beersheba beats Hapoel Ramat Gan

In Rehovot, Hapoel Beersheba downed Hapoel Ramat Gan 2-1 as Eliel Peretz scored the late winner to help Israel’s lone European representative to the points and the win.

After a goalless first half youngster Amit Ohana scored on a superb individual effort to give the defending champions a 1-0 lead. However, Matan Hozez quickly drew the hosts even, and Peretz’s free kick in second-half injury time gave the visitors the lead for good as Beersheba took the season opening win.

“This win is important because we want to win the championship,” Beersheba coach Ron Kozuk began. “I had no doubt that it would be a difficult game. We faced a good opponent with an excellent coach and I’m happy with the result. There were a lot of good things; we were inside the opponent’s penalty area many times. Our job is to win games and I’m proud of the players and happy for them.”

“The defeat is extremely cruel,” Ramat At Sammy Ofer Stadium, Hapoel Haifa and Hapoel Tel Aviv played to an entertaining goalless draw that saw both teams lose a man to a red card as well as some terrific saves by the keepers especially Yoav Gerafi, who made a decisive penalty save off of Stav Turiel to ensure that the Carmel Reds secured a point.

“I’ll divide the game into two halves,” Hapoel Tel Aviv coach Elyaniv Barda said. “The first half was very poor. We weren’t focused and we still hadn’t come back from Europe mentally, something I was very concerned about. Fortunately, in the second half we managed to get back to ourselves. We won a penalty and I believe that if we had taken the lead, the game would have been ours. After that, we missed chances and then one of our substitutes was sent off. But the things we did came too late and simply weren’t good enough.”

“We could have lost the game and I’m very disappointed,” Hapoel Haifa bench boss Haim Silvas began. “In the first half, we were in complete control, but we lacked that killer instinct. We didn’t start the second half well, Hapoel Tel Aviv came out strong and the red card as well as the penalty also made things difficult for us. I enjoyed watching my team in the first half, but we need to know how to put games away and we didn’t do that enough.”

Also, Hapoel Petah Tikva slipped by Hapoel Jerusalem 1-0 as Karim Kimvuidi scored in the 14th minute for the lone marker of the match that handed the win to Omer Peretz’s side.

“The last month or so was a difficult period,” Peretz said following the win. “We didn’t start the season well and we needed this victory to give us energy and make the players believe in themselves.”

Ironi Kiryat Shmona blanked Ironi Tiberias 2-0 as Amadou Sanga scored a terrific goal off a break in the first half, and Rufat Abdullazade put home a free kick in the second half to give the northerners all the points.

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