Maccabi Haifa wrapped up the 2022/23 Israeli League Championship in style on Monday night with a 5-1 win over host Maccabi Netanya.
The title is the Greens’ third in a row under head coach Barak Bachar, who is said to be leaving the club for Red Star Belgrade in Serbia. For Bachar, this is his second three-peat as he had won three straight with Hapoel Beersheba between 2016-2018, and he is currently considered to be the top Israeli coach.
Tjaron Chery opened the scoring in the 16th minute for the Greens, but Igor Zlatanovic drew the hosts even right ahead of the break to head into halftime all knotted up at 1-1.
However, Bachar’s squad came out flying in the second half, with goals aplenty. Frantzdy Pierrot fed Dia Saba for the eventual game winner, Muhamed Abu Fani added a marker as well, while Pierrot scored a goal of his own and Saba completed a brace to clinch the championship and send the Haifa faithful into ecstasy.
“This was a very long season and we have wanted to finish it off for some time,” Bachar began. “We could have done so but as time went by the title became even sweeter. This has been a very emotional time for all of us. We will now celebrate this championship as we have ended a three-year period that has been stellar, including a Champions League campaign which was a dream that we had not yet experienced. Olympiacos, Red Star and now to win with a 5-1 score, I didn’t expect any of it.”
“I’m embarrassed as to how we looked in the second half,” Netanya coach Rom Kozuk said. “I’m angry and upset as this can’t happen to us. We were not thinking about the upcoming State Cup final and we were just focused on this game. We showed that we can play with Haifa after a good first half but if you take your foot off of the gas against them, you’re going to lose.”
Haifa’s Dolev Haziza also spoke about the title
“I’m very, very happy and we knew that we just needed to win and didn’t need to look at the other scores. This is my third championship and we can now add a star to the jersey. This is no doubt one of the greatest accomplishments in my career.”
At Bloomfield Stadium, Maccabi Tel Aviv downed Hapoel Beersheba 3-0 as Gaby Kanichowsky and Yonatan Cohen scored a pair of quick first-half goals while Eylon Almog added a late marker to wrap up the victory.
“I’m proud of my players,” Maccabi coach Aitor Karanka said. “We had many players who were unavailable due to injury and we had some who had not played much in the past month, but I knew that I could rely on the guys because they had trained well. I couldn’t be prouder.”
“I want to congratulate Haifa on a terrific season,” Beersheba coach Elyaniv Barda began. “We came into this game with a lot of belief, but that blew up in our faces in the first half. I am not ready to see us look like we did in this game and I am personally very disappointed.”
Up north, Ironi Kiryat Shmona slipped by Beitar Jerusalem 3-2 to end the season on a high note after having been relegated to the Leumit League for next year’s campaign.
The northerners began the game well with a trio of first-half goals via Itamat Shviro, Eyad Habshi and Roie Kehat to go up 3-0 by the break.
Danilo Asprilla scored a pair of late goals to give the yellow-and-black a chance to look for the equalizer but it was not to be as Slobodan Drapic’s side took the win and the three points.
“It’s always great to win; we haven’t had that feeling much this season,” Drapic commented. “Of course, it’s not great that we were relegated and won a game in what was essentially garbage time. I am sure that the club will know how to get right back up to the Premier League.”
“Up until the 35th minute we could have scored three or four goals,” Beitar coach Yossi Abukasis said. “This was a crazy game due to what the score was at halftime. We were better in the second half and we took advantage of some of the chances we had. We have to learn from this game ahead of the State Cup Final.”
Meanwhile, Hapoel Tel Aviv downed Hapoel Hadera 2-1 as Raz Twizer scored a first-half brace to hand the Reds the points and the win.
Twizer found the back of the goal in the 15th minute from in close while 12 minutes later the defender headed home his second of the match to give Haim Silvas’s squad a 2-0 advantage at halftime.
Hadera’s Stav Nachmani broke up the clean sheet in second half injury time, but that was as close as the hosts would get as the visitors wrapped up the win.
“This was a tough season but we ended it well,” Silvas began. “Hapoel’s next generation came into this match and won it in front of our great traveling fans. I’m happy that we finished the season on high note and I’ll sleep well knowing that we reached our goal. Hapoel has a good future ahead.”
“We came close,” Hadera coach Niso Avitan said. “We had many missed opportunities, especially in the first half. This was a typical end of the season game where many youngsters played. I am happy that we remained in the league and that we did the job.”
Elsewhere, Hapoel Haifa smashed Maccabi Bnei Reineh 4-0 as Muhammed Kamara scored a brace to end the season on a high note.
“It’s great to end the season with a win and head into the break on a positive note,” Haifa head coach Roni Levy said. “We know that there is plenty of work to do and we have a plan with many options going forward. There will be changes and it’s going to be a long summer that will demand much thought.”
“We had a few good moments and we controlled the pace of play in the first half,” Bnei Reineh’s Sharon Mimer said. “But we conceded on some counter attacks that were naive goals. We had a good season all in all and we stayed in the league. We wanted to win, but we just didn’t do enough.”
Also, Sektzia Ness Ziona and Bnei Sakhnin drew 1-1 to split the points.
Or Roizman gave host Ness Ziona a 1-0 lead in the 15th minute, but Basil Khuri drew Sakhnin even ahead of halftime as each team earned a point.
“We had some good games in the playoffs, some garbage time and some in which younger players had a chance to play,” Sakhnin coach Kobi Refuah said.
“This was a decently played game with chances to score while we also saw a lot of young guys on the pitch which is a great experience for them,” Shlomi Dura noted.
Finally, Ashdod SC blanked Hapoel Jerusalem 1-0 on Elad Shahaf’s 60th-minute header to give the port city side the three points.
“Every win is great,” Ashdod coach Ran Ben Shimon said. “We got a chance to see many younger players which was a bonus and there were plenty of smiles after the game.”
“This was a typical end of the season game,” Hapoel bench boss Ziv Arie began. “The players wanted to win but we didn’t have enough quality to get it done. All in all, we’ve had a gold season but the players are very mentally exhausted.”