Hapoel Haifa underwent significant changes in the squad in the summer transfer window, but even with the opening of the January 2023 window, the Reds from Carmel are not resting on their laurels. This evening (Thursday) the club announced the addition of midfielder Alexander Shachkic, a player of the Montenegrin national team who signed a contract for a season and a half and only today became the second member of Roni Levy’s staff, after Tomer Yousfi who was loaned from Po’el Beer Sheva.
The 31-year-old Ščekić, a 1.93-meter-tall fullback, played for four years in Partizan Belgrade and cooperated with Beavers Natcho until January 2022. He came to Serbia from the Turkish Ganzlerbirligi, until a year ago he left for the Polish Lazgale Lubin and last summer he continued For six months in the United Arab Emirates, where he scored a single goal in 17 games in which he participated. In the Montenegrin national team, he made 35 appearances since the debut in 2016, the last of which was in November 2022.
The owner Yoav Katz, who conducted the negotiations with the actor’s agent Assaf Vakanin, said: “We have signed another player with a rich record and experience who will help us in preparation for the continuation of the struggles.”
As mentioned, this morning the Reds announced another reinforcement, after Tomer Yosef signed until the end of the season. The midfielder comes from Hapoel Be’er Sheva in Media scored 9 league goals in 92 appearances. The team also wanted to see Eugene Ansa arrive, but the likelihood of that happening is low. “There will be a reinforcement of several players. We have already brought two, Denis Poliakov and Oren Biton and also Yosef Kriv, but apart from them at least two more players will arrive. This team needs a revolution,” said an official who was aware of the details only this morning. As you may recall, last month the team already announced the addition of the Belarus national team defender Denis Polyakov.
And there was also a game yesterday, in which Hapoel Haifa was defeated 5:1 by the city rival Maccabi Haifa and ended its path in the State Cup in the round of 16. The club was deeply disappointed by the crushing defeat, precisely because in recent days they believed in the club that it was possible to surprise and dreamed of leveraging this for the rest of the season in the league, but Roni Levy’s players collapsed on the field.
Besides the loss and relegation, the team is very concerned about the condition of Mohamed Kamara and hope that the injury he suffered yesterday will not disable him for a long period of time. Also, the suspended Gal Aral will be absent against Hapoel Hadera when Tamir Glazer or Eliel Peretz will take his place in the lineup. Louis Taha is still in pain and suffering from fluid in his knee, so Constantinos Sotirio may return to the lineup if Taha or Capiluto feel they cannot complete 90 minutes.
“There is no doubt that we are in a very difficult situation,” admitted a player in the team. “We don’t look good and we don’t manage to find solutions. Something has to change and it doesn’t matter in what way.”
Besides the game itself, in Haifa they also commented on the attack on their two fans at the end of the game. The injured father claimed that about 20 green fans arrived and started attacking him and his family. His son suffered severe blows to the head and was even rushed to the hospital.
This morning Maccabi Haifa CEO Itzik Ovadia spoke with the father of the injured boy, and apologized on behalf of the club. “We condemn and condemn the incident, and call on the Israel Police to arrest those responsible and bring them to justice. Anyone who is prosecuted in this case will no longer be a part of us. We will cancel the subscription or allow the possibility to be part of the team’s games in the future,” the team said.
The CEO of the Football Leagues Directorate, Nicholas Lev, had a conversation with the father of that fan. Lev promised to push the police to investigate the issue, especially in light of the presence of the security footage. The boy was released from the hospital and at this point the family chooses not to file a complaint.