Maccabi Haifa moves into fourth with win
05/06/2012 23:48
Greens revive hopes of qualifying for Europe via the Premier League.
Yaniv Katan of Maccabi Haifa Photo: Adi Avishai
Maccabi Haifa revived its hopes of qualifying for Europe via the league on
Sunday, climbing to fourth place in the Premier League standings with a 2-1 win
over Maccabi Tel Aviv at Kiryat Eliezer Stadium.
Haifa got the match off
to the worst possible start after gifting the yellow-and-blue the opener in the
ninth minute. Gustavo Boccoli gave the ball away on the edge of his area and
Eliran Atar put Tel Aviv in pole position.
However, it took the hosts
just three minutes to equalize, with Yaniv Katan continuing his excellent recent
form and scoring with an accurate effort into the bottom left corner from 20
meters out.
Haifa scored the eventual winner just 12 minutes
later. Mohammad Ghadir latched onto Boccoli’s long ball and chipped it
over Tel Aviv ‘keeper Guy Haimov into the path of Weeam Amasha, who tucked the
ball in from close range.
The win leaves Haifa just two points off Bnei
Yehuda in third place with two matches to play this season.
The teams to
finish the season in second and third place will book a Europa League berth for
next season, while fourth will also be sufficient should Hapoel Tel Aviv or
Maccabi Haifa win the State Cup and also end the league among the top three.