As the Israel soccer preseason winds down in preparation for league play to get underway at the end of the month, the Toto Cup’s semifinals and placement games have been set.
Maccabi Haifa will face Hapoel Tel Aviv in the first semifinal while Hapoel Beersheba will play Hapoel Haifa in the second. The winners will play in the final, which is scheduled for September.
The placement games slated to take place include Ironi Kiryat Shmona hosting Maccabi Petah Tikva, Ashdod SC welcoming Bnei Sakhnin, Maccabi Netanya visiting Hapoel Hadera, Maccabi Tel Aviv playing Hapoel Jerusalem and Hapoel Nof Hagalil kicking off against Beitar Jerusalem.
Before the Toto Cup matches take place, a trio of Israeli teams will play in UEFA Conference League playoff-round action, with the first of two legs being played on Thursday.
Maccabi Tel Aviv will travel to Kazakhstan to face Shakhter Karagandy, Maccabi Haifa will visit Azerbaijan for a date with Neftci Baku while Hapoel Beersheba will host Anorthosis Famagusta as the Israel clubs will all try to advance to the group stages of the competition.
It was reported this week that the Israel Football Association was in discussions with UEFA in order to ensure that the first game of the group stages would be moved to Tuesday, September 14 in order for it not to fall on Yom Kippur, which is scheduled to come to out on the eve of Wednesday, September 15 and the following day, September 16. Should UEFA and the opposing teams not agree, the games would take place on Thursday night following the 25-hour fast which would put the Israeli squads at a disadvantage.
Back in local play, Kiryat Shmona made a stunning three-goal comeback to topple Bnei Sakhnin 3-2 in the Toto Cup. After going down by a pair of goals, the northern squad scored a trio of markers beginning in the 89th minute to shock the hosts and take the points.
Sharon Mimer’s team grabbed a 1-0 lead in the 19th minute when Israeli international Beram Kayal sent Marwan Kabha a nice ball in the box, which he promptly put behind a helpless Dziugas Bartkus.
Sakhnin doubled its advantage just ahead of the break as Kayal once again played conductor with a brilliant through-ball to Raz Stain, who scored to give the hosts a 2-0 lead.
Just when it looked as if the Galilee squad had wrapped up the victory, Ayid Habshi drew a penalty and promptly scored from the spot to cut the lead to 2-1 in the 89th minute. Roie Kehat then sent Ron Peretz a nice pass, which he placed by Muhamed Kandil to draw K8 even, and in the 93rd minute Muhamed Shaker set up Shalev Dasta, who scored from close in to complete the miracle comeback and snatch the victory from the hands of defeat.
Meanwhile, Hapoel Hadera knocked off Hapoel Nof Hagalil 3-2 in an entertaining game at the Netanya Stadium.
Muhamed Ghadir gave the hosts a 1-0 lead in the 24th minute, but Stav Nachmani found the equalizer via the penalty spot soon thereafter to level the score. Hadera regained the advantage in the 60th minute as Gustavo Marmentini finished off a team counterattack, but once again Nachmani scored to tie up the game at 2-2.
However, Omer Fadida pounded in a poor clearance by Nof Hagalil ’keeper Stefan Marinovic to hand Hadera the three points.
Elsewhere, Maccabi Netanya slipped by Beitar Jerusalem 2-1 at Teddy Stadium to capture the points and leave the capital city side winless thus far in the preseason.
The diamond city squad opened the scoring before the game was even 10 minutes old as Gaby Kanichowsky, who has been rumored to be heading abroad, found a wide-open Igor Zlatanovic, who beat Beitar ’keeper Itamar Nitzan for a 1-0 lead.
Zlatanovic doubled the advantage just before the halftime break when he finished off a passing play once again orchestrated by Kanichowsky along with Aviv Avraham to go up 2-0.
Beitar finally scored its first goal of the preseason as Oren Bitton nodded home a short corner kick to cut the lead to 2-1, but that was as close as Erwin Koeman’s club would get as Netanya wrapped up the win.
Also, Hapoel Tel Aviv defeated Hapoel Jerusalem 2-1 at Bloomfield Stadium to punch its ticket to the Toto Cup semifinals.
Idan Vered sent a pinpoint perfect pass to Shai Elias, who beat ’keeper Yehonatan Shabi to give the hosts a 1-0 lead in the 14th minute. But William Agada drew Jerusalem level in the 60th minute when he took advantage of poor defending by Hapoel Tel Aviv.
However, 10 minutes later striker Shlomi Azulay sent the ball into the Jerusalem goal to secure the conquest for Hap TA.