Sagiv Yehezkel's three assists in Maccabi Tel Aviv's 3–1 Super Cup win are easy to treat as a spectacular individual line. The more useful conclusion is structural. Maccabi always had a route out of pressure because Yehezkel could receive wide, move the attack across the pitch and deliver before Hapoel Be'er Sheva's defensive line had reset. He was not simply the last passer three times; he was the mechanism that stopped possession becoming predictable.
The opening goal established the pattern. Itamar Noy's pass released Yehezkel into the right channel, and the ball across goal left Saied Abu Farchi with a simple finish in the 10th minute. Be'er Sheva had already failed to secure their defensive possession, but Maccabi still needed to turn that error into an uncontested shot. Width did the conversion: Yehezkel stretched the recovery run, Abu Farchi held the central lane, and the final pass arrived before the cover could close.
The second assist was different enough to matter. Yehezkel supplied Dor Peretz from the left side in the 58th minute, and the captain placed his finish rather than overpowering Ofir Marciano. He later created another headed chance for Peretz from the same kind of movement. Switching sides of the attack made him harder to contain than a winger fixed to one touchline — Be'er Sheva could identify the danger, but not a single zone in which to trap it.
Roy Revivo's dismissal in the 66th minute should have changed the match's geometry. Ten-man teams normally sacrifice their highest wide outlet, narrow the distances between defenders and accept longer spells without the ball. Maccabi did not abandon the threat. Six minutes after the red card, Yehezkel delivered the third assist and Abu Farchi completed his brace — tactical insurance, since Be'er Sheva could not commit everybody forward while the best supplier on the pitch still had space to attack.
That is the sharpest criticism of the champions' response. Kings Kangwa had already shown the value of varied movement, equalising with a backheel and helping Be'er Sheva take control before half-time. Once they gained the extra player, though, their possession did not consistently force Maccabi's reduced block to turn. Too many attacks met the defence in front of it, while the space left behind became more dangerous than the numerical advantage was productive.
Maccabi's own performance was not without risk. Their pressure produced early openings, but the match also contained enough loose transitions to warn against reading one July trophy as a finished model. Revivo's second yellow created an avoidable emergency, and Be'er Sheva struck the frame before the interval. A system that gives Yehezkel freedom must still protect the spaces he leaves when an attack breaks down.
The encouraging part for Kenny Miller is that the width did not depend on sterile crossing volume. Yehezkel's first assist followed a timed release behind the line, the second came after he appeared on the opposite side, and the third punished a team chasing the game. Three different match states, solved by the same player without demanding the same move twice.
European qualifying will test whether that outlet survives against opponents who press the receiver earlier and recover with greater discipline. Maccabi will not always be able to create an empty goal or let Peretz arrive untracked. But the Super Cup offered a credible principle to carry forward: keep one wide player capable of receiving under pressure, crossing early and changing sides, and the whole attack has somewhere to breathe.
Abu Farchi's brace and Peretz's finish won the trophy; Yehezkel's choices connected them. That distinction is why the performance deserves more than a celebration of three assists. Maccabi's best attacking idea was portable across scorelines, sides of the pitch and even a red card — on the first competitive night of the season, the strongest evidence yet that the cup holders have more than a single result to build on.
