Maccabi Haifa reaches Toto Cup semi-finals with 3-0 win – Israel Sports

Maccabi Haifa defeated Hapoel Be’er Sheva 3-0 in the Toto Cup European Match to send the Greens through to the semi-finals of the pre-season competition. Dean David scored in the first half, while Gadi Kinda and Dia Saba found the back of the net in the second half to seal the win.

The match served as a preparation for both teams as they prepare for their respective UEFA Conference League second round qualifiers next week. Haifa will take on Azerbaijan’s FC Sabah; the southern reds will play PFC Cherno More of Bulgaria.

Maccabi Tel Aviv’s victory over Maccabi Petah Tikva in the Israel Super Cup last week wasn’t the club’s only first trophy of the new season; the yellow-and-blue team also reached the semi-finals of the Toto Cup. It was also good preparation for both clubs ahead of their European competitions. This week, Maccabi Tel Aviv will play Fotbal Club FCSB, formerly known as and sometimes still referred to as FC Steaua București, in the second round of the UEFA Champions League qualifying, while Maccabi Petah Tikva will take on SC Braga in the Europa League qualifying.

After a first 35 minutes of back-and-forth play, Pierre Cornud provided a great ball to Muhammed Jaber, but his poor shot was saved by David who slotted the ball home, putting Barak Bachar’s team 1-0 up at half-time.

In the 60th minute, Gadi Kinda took advantage of a Frantzdy Pierrot miss to double the Greens’ lead, while Dia Saba grabbed a rebound from an Ilay Hagag effort to give his team a 3-0 lead and victory.

Photo of Maccabi Haifa vs Bnei Sakhnin (Photo: Courtesy, MACCABI HAIFA)

“First of all, I will start with something important,” began Barak Bachar, head coach of Maccabi Haifa. “I will remember a fan who fell – the late Yaron Zohar, an outstanding soldier in Golani’s 13th Battalion. He fought terrorists for hours and killed dozens of them, but was hit by shrapnel from an IED and was killed on the spot. He was a Maccabi Haifa supporter since childhood; he never missed a beat, not even a single match of the club.”

The Haifa coach continued: “We have just started the season and we are still in training camp, but on Wednesday we fly to our first match and our first mission of the campaign. We have a difficult match against a strong team and the goal is to pass that first test. I expect us to see improvement from match to match. We were crushed by the Olympic team in our first match against them, but the next time we played against them we saw some better things. There were also good things from this match, where we played well and got an important victory.”

“If you make mistakes, you pay – against any team,” Be’er Sheva head coach Ron Kozuk said. “We have to keep working hard and training. There were some bright spots. At the beginning of the game, we stuck to our principles and created half chances, but you have to keep doing that throughout the game. There were many things I liked about the game. We put Haifa under pressure and won the ball at times, there is no doubt about that, there is a lot of work, and we also have to get more quality from abroad.”

“First game of the season, and it was very hot, but we went into the game and we could win,” Lior Refaelov said, reflecting on the victory. “There were things that, simply put, worked for us, and those were things we had worked on during training camp. All in all, we could have scored more goals.”

Guy Badash spoke after the game. “We didn’t want to start the season like that. In the first half there were some good things that we worked on with the coach; we have to improve, no doubt. But there were also good things.”

Haifa’s upcoming schedule

Haifa are scheduled to face FC Sabah in the second round of Conference League qualifying on Thursday. The Azerbaijani club, founded in 2017, are making their second European appearance after appearing in last year’s Conference League qualifying, where they defeated RFS from Riga, Latvia, but ultimately lost their two-legged tie to Partizan Belgrade on penalties.

Hapoel Be’er Sheva take on Cherno More Varna in the second round of Conference League qualifying on Thursday, as the Southern Reds face a team that was founded 113 years ago and started their Bulgarian season with a goalless draw against CSKA 1948. The last time Cherno played in Europe was in 2015 in Europa League qualifying, when they lost to Dinamo Minsk. Interestingly, the Bulgarians defeated Maccabi Netanya 3-1 on aggregate in UEFA Cup qualifying in 2008.

Maccabi Tel Aviv will play Fotbal Club FCSB in Bucharest on Tuesday in the second round of Champions League qualifying, as the Romanian club advance after beating Virtus of San Marino 11-1 in the first round. The club, formerly known as Steaua Bucharest, has a rich history in European play, having won the European Cup on penalties against Barcelona in the 1985-86 season.

Maccabi Petah Tikva will finally face a tough match on Thursday against Portuguese powerhouse Braga, who played in the group stage of the Champions League last year.

Haifa’s upcoming schedule

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