After almost two weeks, Hapoel Jerusalem returns tomorrow (Saturday) at 20:30 to play basketball and will host Hapoel Galil Alyon in the Arena. Also tomorrow Sim Sander Vena will be the foreigner who will not be registered – fifth league game in a row.
The Reds went into the break with good momentum with four consecutive wins, and will hope to continue it despite the forced break. “We’ve had a good week of practice and hopefully we’ll pick up where we left off,” Kadin Carrington said. “We want to return properly from the break, we were in good shape and we will come as focused as possible.”
Aleksandar Džikić also commented on the break and the difficulties it posed in light of the large number of national team players in the team: “I don’t think there is a coach in Europe who is satisfied with the national team window. We didn’t train for about a week, the national team players joined us two days ago, but that’s what it is and we have to deal with it. At least We are returning to play at home, in front of our audience.”
Hapoel Jerusalem, as I recall, opened the league with two consecutive losses, to Hapoel Holon and Beni Herzliya, but recovered with three consecutive victories against teams that hold a negative balance, and will also face one tomorrow, which will also arrive with a missing squad – without the injured Roi Huber, Lotan Amsalem, and Hiel Melamed . “In my experience, teams that arrive in this situation are more dangerous,” said Džikić. “The players have more confidence in these situations, they know they can make mistakes and that they will play anyway.”
This will be Yonatan Alon’s first game as the sporting director of Hapoel Jerusalem – with the first opponent being the team he left less than two weeks ago. Alon and the members of Hapoel Jerusalem’s professional staff are working on the player market in order to find a quality guard to deepen the squad.