After 11 consecutive victories, the leader and champion in the last two years, Maccabi Haifa, recorded a particularly painful 3:0 loss to Maccabi Tel Aviv this evening (Monday) with goals from Parfa Giagon and a pair from Eran Zahavi.
Muhammad Abu Fani was sent off with a second yellow card after a pair of fouls on Dan Glazer, while Barak Becher with unnecessary talk to Ural Greenfeld also saw the red card.
As a result, the midfielder and the coach will not take part in the game of the Greens against Maccabi Bnei Rayna (Saturday, 15:00, Sport4).
Sent off with a straight red.
Bachar (Photo: Ariel Shalom)
Barak Becher summed up the loss: "There are games like this where things don't go well. We knew that Maccabi Tel Aviv would come to fight for its life. Their ability and aggressiveness won the game. We didn't succeed and lost. Why was I sent off? I crossed the line a meter or two. I told the referee, 'Get me Yellow' and he brought me red. It was unequivocally my weakest game at Maccabi Haifa."
Coach Birok added: "It is possible to catch a bad game against a team that does everything well. In the last few games, we are not good enough, against such an excellent team it is impossible to look like that. On Saturday we will get back to ourselves. We will correct what is necessary, maybe one deviation like this can straighten us out. It hurts, maybe it will help later. There was a knockout here, we lost to an excellent team that did things we are not used to being done to us, this is football. It was probably too comfortable a feeling, that despite the streak, we are immune. We knew that Maccabi Tel Aviv would come to explode, and it just didn't go our way. Maybe It's a loss that will shock us all - the players and the team."
Huge disappointment in green.
Atzili and David (Photo: Barney Ardov)
Regarding a refresh in the squad: "We need, the question is which players we can bring. There aren't too many good and cheap Israelis on the market, and foreigners are impossible. It's always good to refresh. Goni Naor and Eden Kartsev? When there's something to talk about, we'll talk, I don't want to throw out names. We went cheap today , Mishpeti brought a huge game. We grabbed sevenths and sixths in the Champions League and it's not pleasant, we also grabbed today and it's not pleasant. No one is looking at the championship, even though that's the goal. The league is still long, there will be more games between the teams. The league opened today. It was It's a weak day for all of us, there's no thought of making complaints to anyone. I'm not looking for culprits."
The only one that stood out for the champion.
My lips (photo: Barney Ardov)
Roi Mishfati, one of the few standouts on Maccabi Haifa's side, reacted to the loss: "We didn't make it to the game, we'll think tomorrow and concentrate on Saturday. It doesn't suit us, but as we knew how to make a crazy streak, we need to know how to gather ourselves and return to the ability of Maccabi Haifa."
The green goalkeeper added: "I am very happy that we sent the fans home sad. They cheered non-stop and it hurts us, but we will repay them on the field."
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Israeli soccer
Super League
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Maccabi Haifa