Mdriad 2 - 1 Hapoel (381027705)

Dark skies made the crowd of 55542 at mdriad Arena a little nervous, but the rain held off. MarkPaul Lenders was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Levente Kézdy and Philippe Amouyal. Mdriad tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. They fielded: Vilhena - Macià, Jewuła, Gaskó - Kaczkowski, Atmadzhov, Gordon, Volovski, Martin - Lendzion, Del Pizzo.

Hapoel had chosen a strategic 4-5-1 formation. The following players had been chosen: Povýšil - Santiago, Brandy, Török, Gal - Kiełczewski, Orbach, Kononov, Dąbrowski, Monjia - Matityahu.

Hapoel clearly had decided to counter-attack when they could. Some great play up the middle by Mdriad led to a chance for A. Atmadzhov to score after 17 minutes, but the shot hit the crossbar. The home side put themselves ahead 1 - 0 after 27 minutes courtesy of a breakthrough from D. Gordon, who scored with a stunning volley following a cross from the right wing. Hapoel played a good counterattacking move down the left 30 minutes into the match, with S. Matityahu finishing well for 1 - 1. It was 1 - 1 at the break. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by Mdriad, with 58 percent of the ball.

The visitors' central defence should have had no trouble clearing the pass to S. Lendzion, but the Mdriad player managed to shrug them off and fired a low shot past the keeper to give his team the lead. 2 - 1! Mdriad's X. Macià put in a disappointing effort on a penalty after 63 minutes, firing just wide of the goal. Coming through the middle D. Orbach almost scored the equaliser for Hapoel after 65 minutes, but J. Vilhena made an excellent save, tipping the awkwardly curled shot past the post. X. Macià almost put Mdriad ahead another goal when he curled a free kick over the defensive wall and almost into the net, but the visitors' keeper got there just in time to knock it wide. Hapoel almost scored after a swift counterattack 71 minutes into the game, but D. Orbach put the shot from the left flank just outside the goal. Mdriad's K. Jewuła left the field after 72 minutes because of a nasty blow to the shin. His replacement was B. Shmaryahu. Possession in this half belonged to Mdriad, who controlled the ball 57 percent of the time.

The most dominating Mdriad player was without a doubt S. Lendzion. However, B. Shmaryahu made a disastrous appearance. Hapoel's best player was S. Matityahu. J. Povýšil turned in a dismal performance, however. The match ends 2 - 1.