Maccabi Haifa: Dominating the League and Ready for European Competition

2024-02-10 22:06:42

When you combine talent, technique, speed, dribbling, movement without the ball, pressure in the opponent’s area (at least in the second half tonight) and the opponent gives you space, then in the end the game will look like it does. If you add the lack of two of Maccabi Haifa’s mainstays – Mahmoud Jaber and Pierre Corneau – then it’s no wonder that currently Maccabi Haifa is big in the league at two levels, including above Maccabi Tel Aviv with the way it looks recently.

If the Yellows have a coach who can’t find his feet and hands, Masai Dago continues to upgrade himself and positions himself as the best coach in Israel, and this is despite my claims against him at the beginning of the season. I’m glad to see that I was very wrong.

The greens had a hard time in the first half. Beitar Jerusalem guarded, was aggressive and did not give much space to Maccabi Haifa, but the champion’s advantage was great. In the end, the blow in the form of Anan Halaili’s goal returned the Jerusalemites to their natural size.

It turns out that this goal confused the yellows, because they did not reach the second half. They were no longer guarding, Jordan Shua and Adi Yona tried to save, but did not succeed and Maccabi Haifa started dancing on the grass. Gadi Kinda and Lior Rafalov played close to each other and the greens enjoyed each other and added excellent pressure and enthusiasm.

Of course, Dean David’s goal came from Rafalov and Kinda’s move and the striker’s speed. Then, Masai Dago brought in five new players, each of whom is a player in his own right – and that’s what makes Maccabi Haifa so good and efficient. The competition is great for the team, no matter who plays and where, he will deliver the goods.

But, the most important thing for the champion is that it has three great brakes. As much as Shimich was slandered in the past, today you can already see what a great stopper he is. He has a great aerial game, good ball movement and exceptional responsibility. Abdoulaye Sek who came back played as a right stopper, even more of a defender than a stopper, and Masai Dago had to fix that. Halaili doesn’t really play all along the line in the formation of the three brakes since he has a noticeable tendency to the offensive part.

Lorenzo Shimich showed how great a stopper he is (Omari Stein)

Maccabi Haifa is going to Hungary on Tuesday for an important game against Ghent as part of the Conference League playoffs. She must get past the Belgians and if they succeed in the task it will be a continuation of a great winter in Sami Ofer. The Greens are on the right track, when the integration of Gadi Kinda and Kenny Saif instead of Chiron Sherry is also welcome. Saif looks great so far and delivers the goods above and beyond.

I can’t end the column without saying a good word to Franzi Piero. As usual, he was underestimated many times and said that he could only score from the five-point box. True, his goal was disallowed, but a performance like this is reserved for the greatest strikers in Europe. Piero proved that he is capable of doing everything, it’s just a shame that the goal was disallowed.