Maccabi Haifa coach Masai will decide by the team's meeting tomorrow (Thursday) afternoon, who will take on the team's goal against Bnei Sakhnin. Itamar Nitzan, who is in a difficult period for him, may come off the bench and Sherif Kiuf is in the 11th picture.
The main consideration in the professional team is whether this is the right time to give the first goalkeeper vest to the 22-year-old, with both the latter and Nitzan preparing for Sakhnin as if they were supposed to start in the lineup.
In the rest of the positions, most of the composition is closed. Dia Seba will start in midfield, presumably in place of Dean David. Mahmoud Jaber has recovered from a knee injury and is expected to start along with Ali Mohammed. Frantzdi Piero is expected to step up as a lone striker with Seba, Charon Sherry and Anan Halaili. Dolev Haziza will not be in the squad due to the inflammation he suffers from in his heel.
"The last two games were not good, the ability is not the best, but we worked and talked about the game, especially against Rennes who was weak, and we made the adjustments," said coach Masai ahead of Sakhnin, adding: "We are ready for Sakhnin and are doing everything to return to our good ability, we would like to see the real Maccabi Haifa."
On the question of who will play between Sherif Kioff or Itamar Nitzan, for the first time Dego was unequivocal about Nitzan, whom he often defined as the first goalkeeper. "I have two goalkeepers that I really appreciate. This is not the place to say who will play, I respect my players. We'll wait until tomorrow and see who plays," the coach said.
Defender Sean Goldberg added: "Confidence is important and it is unequivocally there. After losing against Sheriff Tiraspol we knew how to come back and win with a lot of character. We'd love to show that soon on the pitch."
Goldberg was asked about the difficult entry into Itamar Nitzan's team and Lorenzo Shimic said: "We are one team, one unit and we will help those who are in a bad period and lift them up. Sometimes we enter not the most successfully, but our ability as a group will help everyone on a personal level as well. We are Maccabi Haifa and we want to win all the titles, yes, even a fourth championship."
Masai and Shawn Goldberg, Photo: Liav Nachmani
The hottest sports articles and updates on your Telegram
Join
On the subject of the audience tomorrow. The lower north stand will be closed following a penalty imposed on the team. The South Stand, which was opened to women and children up to the age of 13, sold about 3,000 tickets out of about 7,000 seats. It is estimated that more than 4,000 fans will occupy the stand, which was closed to the public until the appeal to the Supreme Court earlier this week.
Wrong? We'll fix it! If you find a mistake in the article, please share with us
