There was a lot of anger tonight (Saturday) at Hapoel Haifa after the disqualification of Alon Turgeman’s two goals in 0: 0 against Maccabi Petah Tikva. The club’s official statement reads: “These are two errors of judgment that join a chain of unacceptable mistakes against the team during the season, such as Gal Erel’s goal disqualification against Hadera, the recurring penalty that was decided in favor of Betar Jerusalem and as stated today in the game. Mistakes happen, but when they come back again and again against the same side, questions arise. It is possible that in Israeli football, the referees’ union needs to be ‘terrorized’ in order to receive proper and fair treatment. The club intends to send a scathing letter of complaint to the judges’ union earlier this week. “
Coach Elisha Levy also referred to the goals at the end and said: “We scored two legal goals from what I understood, that the VAR did not absorb them unfortunately. In the game I can understand wrong, but it can not be that the referee sitting next to the monitor is wrong.” On the game he said: “Nobody likes 0-0, but I take the result. The lineup has proven itself defensively.”
On the other hand, Nir Klinger referred to Ion Nikolasco’s miss towards the end and said: “I do not remember such a miss. We had shocking mistakes. We should want more, Hapoel Haifa should not ‘give’ us the game. There is pressure, but we have to play football at the end .