Maccabi Haifa edges closer to first place

Maccabi Haifa crushed Maccabi Netanya 4-0 this week in Israel Premier League action as Dean David’s brace set the tone for the victory in what was captain Tjaron Chery’s last game for the club this season as he will return home to Holland for personal reasons.

David found the opening goal after he put in his own rebound off a header in the 38th minute while Anan Khalaili doubled the advantage three minutes later to head into the break with a 2-0 lead. David scored in the 64th minute to give Messay Dego’s team a 3-0 advantage as Frantzdy Pierrot added the final marker in injury time to polish off the game.

Chery spoke about his time with Maccabi Haifa.

“I’m very emotional as everyone has shown me so much love. I want to thank all of the fans and management for what they did for me and how they are allowing me to go home without an issue. Everyone knows how close we are to another championship and they still let me go. I am grateful and I will miss everyone over the next few months.”

“I had never played for a club for more than two years and this is my fifth season here. That really says it all. As for the biggest moment, it has to be the goal against Paris Saint-Germain, but even this game was special. I think 80% of the stadium was wearing my jersey and I love all of the fans and vice versa. I haven’t played well lately and everyone knows what I can do. On Wednesday we need to win the Toto Cup title and I’ll be back in 4-5 months better than ever and I am certain that Maccabi Haifa will win the league championship. They can do that without me but I will be back to lift the title.”

"These are tough moments despite the win"

“I only wish I can stop Chery’s flight to Holland,” Dego said following the game. “These are tough moments despite the win. There will still be one more game that we can enjoy Chery playing in. There will come the day when I will tell everyone what type of person Chery is and what he did for me the first moment that I arrived at the club. His level of training, the respect as to how he asks everyone to be quiet when I speak in order to listen and the time that we spent talking about family; we have a very special relationship. I told him he has 4-5 months now to enjoy his family and then he has to return!”

At the Moshava Stadium, Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Petah Tikva drew 0-0 as each side took a point for their efforts.

“We have to be better and understand where we need to improve,” yellow-and-blue coach Robbie Keane began. “We tried to score and we had plenty of chances, we need to be better. If you look at how we controlled the ball and the chances we created we played well but this was just one of those days that the ball wouldn’t go into the goal and that happens sometimes.”

“This was a draw that was like a win for us,” Petah Tikva coach Ofer Tesselpepe said. “We are missing plenty of quality players but we have a group of young guys who are really responsible and gave it their all. I am happy for there and for the fans that supported us.”

Meanwhile, Hapoel Beersheba slipped by Hapoel Jerusalem 1-0 thanks to Amir Ganah’s 74th-minute goal to keep up their positive play of late and collect another 3-points and the win.

“I’m happy about taking the three points and the momentum that has kept us going,” Beersheba coach Elyaniv Barda said. “I believe that this has a direct impact on our play. I think we weren’t at our best in this game, we didn’t create chances and we weren’t sharp enough. Our decision making wasn’t good enough and we had lost these types of games this season so I’m happy this one went to us.”

“Yet another game that we didn’t deserve to lose in any way shape or form,” Jerusalem coach Ziv Arie said. “Our game plan worked and I don’t remember Hapoel Beersheba getting so few chances. We created plenty of opportunities but we couldn’t score. This is yet another chapter in our difficult season.”

At Bloomfield Stadium, Beitar Jerusalem snuck by Hapoel Tel Aviv 1-0 as Fred Friday nodded home the lone goal of the match off a Dor Micha ball in the 79th minute to take the points and the win.

“We haven’t been able to build up momentum, but I hope that this win will give us the push for that,” Beitar coach Yossi Abukasis said. “You have to remember that we began the season with minus-4 points and we had a very good first half here. We are trying to bring in two new players to lighten the load a bit on the guys up front.”

Up north, Maccabi Bnei Reineh and Hapoel Haifa played to a goalless draw as the sides split the points.

“We tried to decide the game in the first half,” Reineh coach Sharon Mimer said. “We had a bunch of chances, but a 0-0 game plays right into the hands of a team like Hapoel Haifa. I knew they would have a bit of an advantage due to our exhaustion but I am really upset that we couldn’t find a way to score in the first half which was perhaps one of our best this season.”

Elsewhere, Hapoel Hadera and Ashdod SC drew 1-1 as the two teams each took a point.

Ravid Abergil gave the port city side a quick 1-0 lead in the 11th minute, but Ruslan Barsky found the equalizer for Hadera 20 minutes later to close out the scoring.

“I only met up with the team for the first time for this game,” Hadera’s new head coach Haim Silvas said. “We didn’t start off the game well and it took about a quarter hour for us to get going. The goal we scored gave us some life as we got back into the groove and in the second half we started to open up a bit.”

Finally, Maccabi Petah Tikva and Bnei Sakhnin drew 1-1.

After a goalless first half, Ariel Lugassy scored to give Petach Tikva a lead in the 60th minute, but Basil Khuri drew Sakhnin even a quarter-hour later as each team took a point.

“Sports sometimes doesn’t go the way you want it to,” Sakhnin coach Slobodan Drapic said. “We have to deal with injuries and players who have been suspended. It’s too bad we lost two points here, but the league is long and we need guys to come back ready to go.”