Israeli soccer will have at least one team playing in Europe this coming season as Maccabi Tel Aviv will feature in continental play for the fifth time in six years. However, both Maccabi Haifa and Beitar Jerusalem were eliminated from Conference League contention.
Maccabi Tel Aviv defeated Hamrun Spartans 3-1 (5-2 on aggregate) thanks to an Ido Shachar brace as the yellow-and-blue punched its ticket to the Europa League Playoff Round, where it will play Dynamo Kyiv in a two-legged tie, starting next week.
Should Maccabi defeat Kyiv, it will feature in the Europa League’s League Phase, and should it succumb to the Ukrainian side, it will play in the Conference League’s League Phase.
Hamrun Spartans had the opportunity to open the scoring after the VAR (Video Assistant Referee) confirmed a handball in the box by Osher Davida, but Emerson’s penalty caromed off the woodwork to safety in the
28th minute. Maccabi Tel Aviv then quickly went on the attack as Raz Shlomo threaded the needle with a tremendous through ball to Shachar, who went in all alone on the Hamrun keeper to give the yellow-and-blue
a 1-0 lead.
However, Joseph Mbong drew the visitors even with a marker from inside the box in the 43rd minute, but in first-half injury time, Shachar scored his second goal of the match thanks to a pass from Davida as Maccabi headed into halftime holding a 2-1 lead.
Shachar, Davida lead second-half surge to seal Maccabi’s spot in Europa League playoff
Shachar and Davida teamed up again in the second half as this time the former fed the latter to bump the lead up to 3-1 in the 69th minute, which they would hold on to and advance to the Europa League Playoff
Round and a date with Dynamo Kyiv.
Maccabi coach Zarko Lazetic summed up his players’ performance at the TSC Arena in Backa Topola.
“In the first half we didn’t control things as we wanted. The game was very open with too many chances for them, with not enough responsibility and hunger from us for the battles. In the second half, we improved
our game and we secured another league stage as we are looking forward to our next task. Next week, we have another challenge and opportunity and we need to be better to be playing in the Europa League.”
The coach added: “We won the game and scored some beautiful goals, but we also have a lot to improve on and a lot of hard work ahead of us. Goals change the dynamics of the game and they are obviously important
and give us confidence. As for Dynamo Kyiv, they are a different team and now we have time to prepare for them.”
Shachar, who scored a first-half brace and added an assist after the break for Davida’s strike, also spoke about the game.
“I think we started the match well. We controlled things early on, but then we had some minutes where we didn’t play that well and that led to a penalty, but luckily for us, they missed. I am really happy that
we pulled ourselves together.”
Meanwhile, Maccabi Haifa fell to Rakow 2-0 (2-1 on aggregate) in third-round Conference League qualifying as its European campaign came to a crashing halt. The Greens will now turn their focus to the upcoming
Israeli league season.
A banner reading “Murderers since 1939,” held by Maccabi Haifa fans during the match sparked outrage in Poland. President Karol Nawrocki said it insulted the memory of millions of Poles, including Jews, killed
in World War II, while Poland’s interior minister condemned the “distortion of history.” The Israeli Embassy in Warsaw also denounced the banner, calling it shameful and unrepresentative of most Israeli fans.
The incident came after Rakow supporters displayed a banner in the first leg accusing Israel of killing in Gaza. UEFA has opened disciplinary proceedings against both clubs.
Just as an uneventful first half wound down, Rakow broke the goalless deadlock in injury time as Michael Ameyaw sent a pinpoint-perfect corner from the left side that Peter Barath headed home with authority as
he out-jumped a number of Haifa defenders to give the visitors a 1-0 lead at the break.
Things went from bad to worse for the visitors after Liav Essat’s dangerous tackle left Haifa with 10 men from the 54th minute. That allowed the Polish squad to double its advantage when Jelle Bataille tripped
up Tomasz Pienko in the area, setting up Lamine Diaby-Fadiga to score the eventual game-winner from the penalty spot and eliminate Haifa from the Conference League group stages.
Defender Sean Goldberg looked back at his team’s poor showing against Rakow.
“It was a very disappointing evening. We came with great expectations and ended up disappointed. Rakow is a very good team, well-trained, and we knew it would be a tough game. We just weren’t good enough. We
got a red card that we didn’t deserve, they scored on a penalty and another goal on a set piece. This shouldn’t happen. There was a very big desire to make our fans happy, but now it’s time for the league,
which is our bread and butter.”
Beitar Jerusalem defeated Riga 3-1, but fell on aggregate 4-3 to the Latvians in UEFA Conference League third-round qualifying. The result ended the yellow-and-black’s continental campaign for the 2025/26
season as it will now turn its sights to the opening of the Israeli league in a matchup at Bnei Sakhnin.
Jerusalem came out like a house on fire as it tried to cut down the 3-0 lead in quick order. The yellow-and-black peppered the Riga goal from the get-go as Omer Atziliy scored an early strike from outside of
the box in the 6th minute. Timoti Muzi doubled the advantage almost 20 minutes later off an Adi Yona pass to give the hosts a 2-0 lead that they took into the break.
As the yellow-and-black searched for the equalizer, the stingy Riga defense kept Beitar at bay while the Latvians scored in the 86th minute via Anthony Contreras, who had come on as a second-half substitute.
With the two-legged tie over for all intents and purposes in favor of Riga, Silva Kani scored deep into stoppage time to pull Beitar to within one goal, but it was too little, too late as the Latvians
eliminated the capital city side from continental competition.
Beitar coach Barak Yitzhaki also spoke about his side’s performance.
“It’s disappointing. The game opened exactly as we wanted in the first half. We scored two goals and could have scored two or three more, but we weren’t able to. The second half opened sluggishly, but even
then we knew how to take control of the game. We had opportunities, but we weren’t able to score and at the end of the day, unfortunately, we conceded in the last few minutes, which is a shame.”