11 years after Hapoel Tel Aviv managed to get a wonderful draw against PSV Eindhoven, Maccabi Tel Aviv hoped to achieve a good result at Phillips Stadium tonight (Thursday).
Although the Yellows lost 1-0 to Eran Zehavi and his teammates, they left themselves a good chance at all to surprise next week in a rematch at Bloomfield.
Mladen Krestic made excellent preparation for the game against the Dutch.
He stuck to Zahavi close guard and every time Gakpo or Maduka got the ball in the dangerous areas they immediately got an offense because in a one-on-one the Maccabi defensive players had no chance against them.
Precisely in the first minutes of the game, the excellent Gakpo managed to elude the Maccabi players, easily penetrated the field and placed the ball in Daniel Peretz's net.
The goalkeeper, by the way, also provided some great saves, which kept his team alive throughout the game.
Maccabi has not been able to produce real situations for scoring, occasionally half-situations, but that is not enough to score against a team like Eindhoven.
True, Maccabi would probably have received a penalty if there had been a VAR at this point in the Conference League, and maybe that would have changed the game a bit, but the bottom line is that they stood defensively and tactically in a great way.
Kagpo celebrates victory, Photo: Reuters
Eindhoven will also be a favorite in the rematch in Israel, and it will most likely arrive much more alert and ready after this game, but in Bloomfield bursting with yellow fans, maybe Maccabi could surprise and make history on the way to the quarterfinals.
The answers next Thursday.
Krestajic.
Can do something in return ?, Photo: EPA
Burglary could not find the network, Photo: AP
Eran Zehavi.
Coming to Israel soon, Photo: EPA
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