OFI strikes twice in nine minutes to silence Hapoel Be'er Sheva in Europa League

Two goals in barely nine minutes after the break were all OFI needed to walk away with all three points at Arena Giulesti: 0-2 over Hapoel Be'er Sheva, in a Europa League league-phase match that the Greek side put away just as the second half got underway.

The first goal came with the clock barely restarted in the second half, though it's logged in the match record as the 46th minute: Achilleas Poungouras finished with his right foot from the center of the box off a set piece, making it 0-1. Less than ten minutes later, Taxiarchis Fountas doubled the lead with a right-footed strike from the left that curled into the top corner, set up by Nikolaos Athanasiou, also from a free kick. Two goals that were almost identical in their origin, both born from dead-ball situations, left the match all but decided by the 55th minute.

Hapoel Be'er Sheva didn't sit back and had its moments in the first half: Zahi Ahmed tried a header before the break that went just wide of the post, and in the second half the Israeli side created several chances, with shots from Jonas Malede, Mohammad Kna'an (twice) and Amir Ganah either saved or sent off target. OFI had its own close call before the goals too: Taxiarchis Fountas rattled the crossbar in the 25th minute. The closing stretch brought its own scare: in the 89th minute Thanasis Androutsos thought he had scored a third for OFI, but VAR disallowed the play, and two minutes later confirmed the goal would not count.

What the numbers say

Hapoel Be'er Sheva controlled possession and generated more overall play, but OFI was far more clinical where it mattered most.

Our own expected goals estimate, calculated from the match's shot data, gives Hapoel Be'er Sheva a 1.668 against OFI's 0.997. In other words, the home side created more and better chances in terms of volume, but lacked the finishing touch, managing just 4 shots on target out of 16 attempts, while OFI was far more efficient with the little it had.

That reading contrasts sharply with our projections before kickoff, where we gave Hapoel Be'er Sheva a 52% chance of winning, 26% for a draw and just 22% for OFI, with expected goals of 1.80 for the home side and 1.13 for the visitors. The result ended up being the exact opposite of what was forecast: the team that came in as the favorite couldn't find the net, and the visitors, with less of the ball, took the entire match.

What it means in the standings

The result leaves both teams in opposite zones of the tournament's overall table, though both remain in the lower half. Hapoel Be'er Sheva has just 1 point from 4 matches played (0 wins, 1 draw and 3 losses, with a goal difference of -7), while OFI sits at 6 points from 4 matches (2 wins, 0 draws and 2 losses, with a +1 goal difference). The gap between the two sides in the table now stands at 5 points.

For OFI it was an afternoon of efficiency: two shots, two goals, and a third wiped out by VAR late on. For Hapoel Be'er Sheva, on the other hand, the lingering feeling is one of having had the ball and the chances but not the finishing touch, something reflected in the negative goal difference the club is carrying through the tournament.