Maccabi Haifa moves into fourth with win

Greens revive hopes of qualifying for Europe via the Premier League.

By ALLON SINAI
Yaniv Katan of Maccabi Haifa 370 (photo credit: Adi Avishai)
Yaniv Katan of Maccabi Haifa 370
(photo credit: 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.