Guy Luzon’s side hosted their neighbors to the north, Hapoel Acco. The Greens were coming off a strong mid-week win against their cross-town rival, Hapoel Haifa, which secured them a spot in the next round of the League Cup. Although having already secured their place in the next round, they looked to continue their recent form in their fifth match and keep confidence running high as they inch closer to the beginning of the Israeli Premier League
As the match began, the Greens started on the front foot. Minutes into the half, Caio had great effort from inside the box, but the Acco goalkeeper tipped it away. In the 11th minute, the first yellow card of the game was given to Hapoel Acco’s Gal Shish after fouling Raz Meir. Ten minutes later, the Greens took the lead at Sammy Ofer with link up play from Awad to Caio, and Caio made no mistake with the ball, putting it past the goalkeeper and giving Maccabi Haifa the advantage
The Greens looked dangerous throughout the half, with attacks down the flanks and success in crossing balls into dangerous areas. Just before the break, Raz Meir was shown a yellow card. Haifa would take the lead 1-0 going into the half
The second half began with the Greens first change of the match with Omri Ben Harush came on for Dekel Keinan. In the 51st minute, the home team broke through once again, this time from Gili Vermouth. He put the Greens up 2-0 with just under half the match still to be played
As the Greens kept the pressure on the visitors, manager Guy Luzon chose to start making changes, first bringing on Omer Damari for his first appearance of the season, replacing Awad. Only six minutes later, the third change was made as Eitan Volblum replaced Georgi Kostadinov. Soon after this change, Hapoel Acco won a free kick, and Amran El Krenawy put the chance away, beating Levita, and brining his side within one goal of the Greens
Luzon decided to make two more changes after Acco’s goal in an effort to see the match out for the win. He brought on Mahmoud Abu Fani for Roei Kehat and Ofir Mizrahi for Caio Alves. Unfortunately, Hapoel Acco was able to equalize in 85th minute and held on to finish the match at 2-2. The Greens look forward to their first match of the Israeli Premier League on Monday, August 21, 2017 against Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv