Haifa take big stride towards Europa League group stage with 2-0 first leg win over Astra

Football:
Just a few hours before kick-off 2 Katyusha rockets, fired by Hezbollah terrorists from southern Lebanon, landed near Haifa's neighboring city of Akko. But this clearly didn't faze the 12,500 Maccabi Haifa fans who turned up at Kiryat Eliezer and cheered their team on to a 2-0 victory over Romanian club Astra Giurgiu in the first leg of their UEFA Europa League play-off tie.

Haifa's Hen Ezra runs past two Astra defenders (m haifa)

Haifa started the game full of confidence and dominated the ball throughout the first half. Unsurprisingly they only had to wait until the 30th minute for their first goal, when the club's Spanish midfielder Ruben Rayo directed a free-kick from just outside the area into the top corner of Astra's goal. Following the goal The Greens played even better and managed to force a penalty in the 41st minute when Haifa's Israeli striker Shimon Abuhazira's header hit the arm of Astra's Brazilian defender Junior Morais. Despite showing such great ability with his goal 11 minutes earlier, Rayo stepped up to take the penalty but hit it very lightly and too close to Astra's goalie Silviu Yung to the extent that Yung managed to actually catch the shot. The 2nd half started with Haifa playing at a much slower pace but despite that managed to find a second goal through a slow Alon Turgeman shot from the edge of the box that rolled off the post and in. Haifa have gone undefeated so far in their Europa League qualifying campaign and have scored 15 goals without conceding even one.
"We pressurized them, and we made quite a lot of chances", said Haifa's manager Arik Benado after the final whistle, "I am very proud of the way the players played. 2-0 is a good result but the story is not over until after the 2nd leg next week. It is true that we are still looking to add certain players to our squad but i really liked what i saw from my current squad today. I saw a strong and serious team".
Haifa defender Dekel Keinan also had what to say about the result: "2-0 is a good result, especially because we kept a clean sheet and we managed to create a lot of chances, but nevertheless the tie isn't over until after next week's match. It was our first important test and we got through it. You could see why they (Astra) are currently at the top of the Romanian first division but tonight, we were at the top of our game in every possible perspective".
Amongst the spectators was Israel Football Association chairman, Avi Luzon, whose job came into question recently after allegations made against him claimed that he is too connected to the club that he used chair, Maccabi Petah Tikva, and it is causing a conflict of interest in Israeli Football.
Haifa start their domestic season on Sunday when they host Hapoel Ironi Kiryat Shmona and play the second leg of their Europa League play-off tie with Astra next Thursday.

Fixtures for week 1 of the Israeli Premier League:
Akko vs Maccabi Tel Aviv (Saturday evening)
Hapoel Ra'anana vs Maccabi Petach Tikva (Saturday evening)
Hapoel Ramat HaSharon vs Hapoel Haifa (Saturday evening)
Bnei Yehuda vs M.S Ashdod (Saturday evening)
Beitar Jerusalem vs Hapoel Be'er Sheva (Saturday at 20:15) Live on Sport1
Hapoel Tel Aviv vs Bnei Sakhnin (Sunday at 20:00)
Maccabi Haifa vs Ironi Kiryat Shmona (Sunday at 21:00)*
     ( * times of all games are subject to changes)