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Abuhatzira celebrates scoring his second goal (maccabihaifa) |
Maccabi Haifa
successfully made it through to the Europa League's 3rd round of
qualification by thrashing Khazar Lankaran of Azerbaijan 8-0 away from home after
a 2-0 win at home last week completing a crushing 10-0 win on aggregate. The game,
which was played under tight security 50km away from the Iranian border started
of with a scare for Haifa
with a golden chance for the hosts hitting the post after 10 seconds through a
shot from Brazilian striker Junior Nildo. But that was not to be the flow of
the game and in the 8th minute Maccabi struck with a save by Khazar's goalie Toni
Doblas falling to Alon Turgeman to convert the rebound. 2 minutes later that
lead was doubled by team captain Yaniv Katan whose shot bounced into to the
ground straight of his foot and lobbed into the net. The 3rd goal
came when new signing Ruben Rayos was brought down in the penalty box and
stepped up to take the penalty in the 14 minute. In the 26th minute
a deflected shot came to Shimon Abuhatzira to volley home from the edge of the
penalty area for the 4th and best goal of the match. Hen Ezra scored
the 5th by putting a rebound through the legs of Doblas in the 41st
minute. Abuhatzira finished the half with another goal from a header after 44
minutes. The 7th goal which was also scored by Rayos broke a record
for the most goals scored in European competition in a match by an Israeli
team. Khazar's terrible defending really summed up the match for the host
and in the 77th minute Eyal
Golasa found himself with way to much time in the area with no defenders
marking him and shot past the keeper and into the back of the net to put the
icing on the cake. Yaakov Shahar the club owner said after the match that he
felt that they could have scored more in the first half and what he liked most
about the game was that the players kept running on the pitch although they
were crushing their opponents. Arik Benado Haifa's manager said after the game
that he was pleased with the result and he is now only focusing on the next
round. Rayos said after the game that the win was dedicated to the fans and
that he was happy with the result. Maccabi Haifa will play Ventspils of Latvia who
beat Jeunesse of Luxembourg 4-1 away from home after a 1-1 draw at home
completing a 5-1 aggregate win. The first leg will be played in Latvia
on the 1st of August and the second leg will be played in Kiryat
Eliezer on the 8th August. The winner of the tie will advance to the
playoff round which is the final qualification round before reaching the group
stage of the Europa League.
(This article was written by an amateur trial writer) (because the usual writer did not have time)
Hapoel Tel Aviv 2-2 Beroe Stara Zagora (Hapoel Tel Aviv advance with 6-3 aggregate win.)
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