eintracht cruise to maccabi success published: thursday 24 october 2013, 23.19cet
eintracht frankfurt 2-0 maccabi tel-aviv fc
václav kadlec and alexander meier struck either side of tal ben haim's dismissal to secure the eagles' third group f win.
by steffen potter from frankfurt stadium
eintracht frankfurt made a huge stride towards the uefa europa league round of 32, maintaining their perfect record in group f with a 2-0 win against a muted maccabi tel-aviv fc.
václav kadlec scavenged a first-half opener from a rebound before the dismissal of tal ben haim for a second bookable offence on 34 minutes left the visitors on the ropes. alexander meier stamped out any slender hopes of a comeback with a second goal just after the restart to the delight of a crowd of over 40,000 in frankfurt.
kadlec scored the first goal of this season's uefa europa league group stage four minutes into the matchday one game against fc girondins de bordeaux, and was quick off the mark once more. the eagles had made an aggressive start, a header from the towering meier drawing an early save from juan pablo, but the goalkeeper had no chance when meier's header against the post on 13 minutes set up kadlec to finish.
frankfurt controlled the game with some ease thereafter, with maccabi's mission to become the first israeli club to avoid defeat in germany becoming even more of a task when ben haim saw red after being shown two yellow cards in the space of four minutes.
having laid on the initial ball for eintracht's opener, tranquillo barnetta picked out meier again for the second of the night, the 1.96m-tall attacking midfielder making a powerful headed connection with the swiss international's near-post corner. summer signing kadlec passed up three decent chances to extend the lead, but it was no great disappointment for eintracht. only promoted to the bundesliga in 2012, they are now within sight of securing european football for 2014.
