Maccabi Haifa recovered from the defeat against Paris Saint-Germain with a home victory last night (Saturday), 1:3 against MS. Ashdod, which raised Barak Becher’s team to first place, at least temporarily, at the expense of Maccabi Tel Aviv. For the first time this season, the Greens went into halftime with a lead, something that in the previous two years was routine and the club hopes that after the World Cup, the statistics will change.
Barak Becher decided to stretch the players and waited until the last minute to reveal the lineup. The players who got a chance knew how to take it against Ashdod, led by Mavis Chibuta. The winger, who was purchased for one million euros last January, has mostly received criticism since he arrived at Maccabi Haifa, but last night he was one of the best on the field. His elevation set up the first goal and in the second goal he already registered an assist for the statistics.
Barak Becher complimented him at the end and the club said: “He received a lot of criticism and most of it rightfully so. He is starting to pay off bills and in the right way. It’s thanks to a lot of hard work and patience.” In Haifa they were also satisfied with the performance of Frantzadi Piero, who was robbed of a goal because of a touch by Timothy Avani, but scored a goal (fourth of the season), in addition to an assist. Mohammed Abu Fani, who scored the third, broke a six-month drought in the league and was cheered by his teammates. Becher rested Charon Sherry, who played almost all the minutes from the season opener.
Raz Meir made a renewed debut in the team after about eight months due to injury and concluded: “It’s a fun feeling that we succeeded. I need to return to playing minutes, I had a perfectly fine game. It was difficult for us at the beginning because of the pressure game. We made adjustments, overcame it and won. I went through a difficult period , I had an operation in Chicago, a very long rehabilitation. I made every effort to do the best I could. I will give a lot more with God’s help, everything is slowly working according to the plan.”
Meir was asked if Haifa is better than last season: “Even last year we were a strong team, we brought in a lot of good players. We are a very good squad, we made an upgrade in terms of versatility in methods and players understand better how to change roles in the game and we are a strong team in my opinion.”
Meanwhile, the team’s player, Omer Atzili, enjoyed a gesture from the Maccabi Haifa fans who came to the games with shirts and signs supporting him. The actor thanked them on social media. The team dedicated the victory to the fitness coach, Uri Harel, who lost his wife, the late Michal, over the weekend. The players came to the game with black ribbons in her memory.
