Maccabi Haifa faced Hapoel Be’er Sheva in the semi finals of the Toto Cup at Netanya Stadium. Guy Luzon’s side was coming off a draw from the weekend in the same stadium against Maccabi Netanya. The winner of this match would play Maccabi Tel Aviv in the finals.
The match began with a quick pace as each team showed their intent on attacking in the opening minutes. In the 9th minute, Rukvytsya took a ball into the box and forced a save out of the Be’er Sheva goalkeeper, Guy Haimtov, which was then cleared for by the defense. As the half progressed and the match became more fluid, Haifa’s counter attack and passing looked increasingly dangerous.
In the 30th minute, Rukavytsya had the ball fall to him outside the box with a clear path to goal, but the Hapoel defense cleared it at the last moment. In the 31st minute, Raz Meir crossed a great ball in that found the head of Klaus, but the Greek international couldn’t find the target. The first half of the match saw chances at both ends, but defenses that were equal to the task and the match went into the break scoreless.
To begin the second half, Gili Vermouth entered the pitch in place of Sallallich for the Greens. The second half began much like the first with a high energy, fast-paced match with chances coming early for both sides. In the 51st minute, Greens goalkeeper, Ohad Levita, made a fantastic save on a shot from distance that had taken a deflection on the way to goal. In the 61st minute, Raz Meir had a break half the distance of the field, beating defenders, but could not find the final pass across the goal to an open Caio, and the chance was missed.
In the 71st minute, Michael Ohana, scored a goal for Hapoel Be’er Sheva giving them the lead going into the final 20 minutes of the match. After the goal, Buzaglo came on the pitch for Klaus. Minutes later, Guy Alberman was replaced by Kostadinov. In the 78th minute, Raz Meir was replaced by Mabouka. Guy Luzon’s final sub was Demari replacing Rukavytsya. The Greens tried to equalize in the remaining minutes, hoping one of their substitutions could make the important difference. In the last play of the match, only meters out from the goal line, Caio missed the target with a header. Failing to find the equalizer, Maccabi Haifa was knocked out of the Toto Cup.
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