Maccabi Tel Aviv defeated Maccabi Petah Tikva 2-0 in the traditional Super Cup season opener this week as the 2024/25 Israel soccer campaign started on the right foot for the yellow-and-blue.
Maccabi Tel Aviv came out of the gates on fire as Eran Zahavi had a quality chance in front of the goal while Dan Bitton tried his luck from the outside but came up empty. However, in the 15th minute the yellow-and-blue finally broke the ice. Zahavi latched onto a Gaby Kanichowsky ball and scored into the far left corner to give Zarko Lazetic’s squad a 1-0 lead.
An active Zahavi slammed the ball over the bar less than 10 minutes later, while Petah Tikva’s Luka Stor had an opportunity to even up the contest but came up short ahead of the break as the yellow-and-blue headed into halftime holding a 1-0 advantage.
Maccabi picks up pace
Maccabi picked up the pace to begin the second half as Dor Peretz missed an open goal and Matan Hozez – back from loan – also came up empty right in front of the net. After coming on as a substitute, Avishay Cohen raced into the box but Petah Tikva ’keeper Marco Wolff came up big. But a busy Hozez put the icing on the cake with an injury-time goal to wrap-up the victory and hoist the first trophy of the season.
The Super Cup was not only the first title awarded this year but by taking the victory Maccabi Tel Aviv advanced to the Toto Cup semifinals ahead of its first European test next week.
The yellow-and-blue will begin its continental campaign in the second round of UEFA Champions League qualifying next week, when it will most probably face Fotbal Club FCSB from Bucharest, Romania, which has a 7-1 lead on aggregate against Virtus from San Marino. Maccabi Petah Tikva will also begin its European journey when its faces Portuguese side Braga in Europa League qualifying next week.
“First, I would like to congratulate everyone – players, staff, management – to say thank you for the great support,” Maccabi Tel Aviv new coach Lazeric began. “For sure, we're now almost three weeks together. We won the trophy, but normally we're just beginning and this is good for our courage, to believe in what we do. For the first 30 minutes we were good – with, without the ball, lots of confidence, good decisions. After that, we played down and for sure we need to improve a lot of things.
“In the second half we were ok,” Lazeric continued. “A lot of transition, running – it's too much. I'd like to have more control of the ball. We're beginning, this is more than I expected for the first match. This is one trophy and one good week for us. We have one day of rest, another match for our players who didn't play today, one day of recovery. Then we have five or six days to prepare for the next game.”
The bench boss also looked ahead to the club’s Champions League qualifier.
“Physically, maybe we won't be 100%. But whoever is not ready mentally is not doing their job. Everyone wants the opportunity to play a Champions League game. For sure our fans will miss it, but the situation is how it is. That will be one more reason to be 100% prepared mentally. That's necessary if we want to win.”
“We knew it was going to be a very tough game, especially due to the physicality,” noted Petah Tikva coach Dan Roman. “We showed some character but we will need to look back at the game and see what we need to improve. It’s clear that this team needs to be strengthened and as we have the Europa League qualifier coming up against Braga we will do our best to put on the best show that we can.”
Defender Raz Shlomo summed up Maccabi’s first game of the young season.
“It was very hot and we know how difficult it is to play in this heat at this time of year. But at Maccabi we want to win all the trophies and I'm happy that we won the first one. In football, you can find yourself with a new coach any day. Like every staff, they have their demands. We've been together now for three weeks and I think it's going well, I believe you saw that today.
“For the upcoming season, I need to improve,” Shlomo added. “The coach said that he wants to improve each player individually. I hope that I'll improve from last season because when you get an opportunity with Maccabi you need to take it. I hope that from this game and practice this will give the coach more reasons to trust me.”
Petah Tikva’s Stor reflected on the loss and looked ahead to his side’s match against Braga.
“We have to work on a lot of things and we didn’t know what to expect in this game. We will need some time to get it. We weren’t good on the ball and we needed more possession as well as better tactics. We have some time to get ready for the Europa League and the preparation will be different against Braga as they usually play in Europe, but we will fight for a result.”