Maccabi hosted Kiryat Shmona this evening (Saturday) in the 13^th round of the Japanika league. Both teams did not perform at their best during the first half, yet Kiryat Shmona took the lead after 26 minutes with a goal by Morcillo. The second half was a completely different story, Sun Menachem and Shlomi Azulay needed just 10 minutes to make an impressive comeback. Maccabi failed to score a third goal and in the 93^rd minute, at the last opportunity of Kiryat Shmona, the guests equalized the score after a corner kick by Ahmedi met the head of Bartkus the goal keeper. It was the last match of the first round-robin of the league, next week Maccabi will host Maccabi Tel Aviv.
Prior to the match the club held a special ceremony to honor Dani Shmilo Rom who played his entire career for Maccabi Haifa and was part of the Israeli national team in the Mexico 1970 World Cup. Shmilo has 283 appearances at the league in which he scored 78 goals. He also has 43 appearances at the Israeli Cup scoring 20 goals and he was a part of the historic squad who won the Israeli cup in 1962. The honorary club ambassadors, Zion Merili and Eitan Aharoni, awarded Shmilo the club's shirt with the number 9 on it.
 
Kick off
4' Samuel Bar On shoots from 18 meters, Haimov was alert and reaches the ball.
13' A nice attack by Maccabi with some passing combination between Neta Lavi and Ofir Mizrahi ended with a lovely ball towards Awad, who shoots from inside the box and forces Bartkus to make a great save.
26' A corner kick for Kiryat Shmona ends with a goal for the guests. Morcillo, who entered as a substitute just 9 minutes earlier, scored. 0:1 for Kiryat Shmona.
45' 3 minutes of stoppage time.
Second Half
46' Substitution for Maccabi: Sintayehu Sallallich in, Ofir Mizrahi out.
47' Shlomi Azulay delivers a corner kick that arrives to Sun Menachem's head and he levels the score, 1:1.
55' Dos Santos provides a lovely pass to Awad that from 10 meters shoots straight to the hands of Kiryat Shmona's goal keeper.
58' Awad crosses beautifully into the box, Kehat misses the ball but Azulay comes from behind and with a single touch sends the ball into the net. Maccabi takes the lead as the score is 2:1 now.
70' Substitution for Maccabi: Shon Weissman in, Shlomi Azulay out.
80' An organized attack by Maccabi ends with a shot from 16 meters by Mandjeck but the ball hits the wrong side of the net.
83' Substitution for Maccabi: Seydouba Soumah in, Muhammad Awad out.
90' 4 minutes of stoppage time.
93' Bartkus heads-in for Kiryat Shmona a corner kick by Ahmedi to make it, 2:2
Final whistle