Beersheba pulls off upset of leader Maccabi Tel Aviv

• Published date: 16 April 2024
• Author: JOSHUA HALICKMAN
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

After a goalless first half, the energy picked up as the game continued on. Still, a controversial offsides call led to a penalty being called by referee Igal Fried, to the dismay of yellow-and-blue, and Sefer calmly slotted the ball home to give Beersheba the victory

"We have gone through some weird and scary few days," said Beerheba head coach Elyaniv Barda.

"The guys didn't sleep all night, so we had to move practice from the morning to the night. We had to make some changes to our lineup, and they worked, but we still have more to improve. We had chances, but we didn't control the game enough, as we went a bit backward in the second half, which is something we have to work on."

"Beersheba didn't deserve to win," Maccabi Tel Aviv coach Robbie Keane exclaimed. "It was purely bad luck. What's good about football is that there is the next match, and we have to think further and quickly. The guys weren't at the level that they should have been, but we also shouldn't have lost this game."

"Beersheba didn't deserve to win"

By the Carmel Mountain, Maccabi Haifa slipped by Bnei Sakhnin 1-0 as Dean David's opening-minute goal held up the entire game to hand the Greens the points and keep them in the championship race.

"We also began the game last week at Bloomfield against Maccabi Tel Aviv very well, and then all of a sudden, we are backpedaling," Haifa coach Messay Diego explained. "I have to really check what is going on as we let Sakhnin come back into the game.

There have been plenty of games that we played well and lost, but I am very happy with the win despite us not playing that well."

"There are feelings of disappointment," Sakhnin bench boss Slobodan Drapic said. "We had plenty of chances, but we just couldn't collect any points. I believe that we played better than Maccabi Haifa, and we deserved at least a point. I hope that we can play this well in our future games."

Elsewhere, Hapoel Hadera stunned Beitar Jerusalem 1-0 at Teddy Stadium. James Adeniyi scored just before the break to help his squad earn the win.

"I knew that this was going to be a very difficult game, and I expected what would be on the pitch," Beitar coach Barak Itzhaki said. "We can't bow our heads just because of one game, and we will correct what we need to. We hope that we will do things much better in the next game."

"These are the sweetest three points in the world," Hadera coach Haim Silvas said. "We came in here to play at perhaps the toughest stadium in the country, and I...