Four weeks after the great victory of Maccabi Haifa in Bloomfield, which brought it back in a big way to the championship fight, yesterday (Monday) we got game number 2 of the season, with the yellows from Tel Aviv coming to it after an important victory over Hapoel Jerusalem and returning to a gap of two games on the champion, who lost for the first time after 16 games against the hottest team in the league, Hapoel BS.
The main matchup was actually on the lines, where the onus of proof was on Robbie Keane, after in the first game Masai Dago played him chess with the formation and the pressure game and also completely neutralized him when, with the help of proper game management, he prevented the Yellows from threatening to score in the second half.
Robbie Keane came to the game with some of the new reinforcements in the squad, but still without Milson, every game the Yellows play without him, strengthens his importance to the team.
Unlike the game in Bloomfield, where he started with a 3:3:4 and was unable to cope with the pressure on his defensive line at the start of the game, Cain decided to change his formation and play in a 2:5:3, with Raz Shlomo starting as a central defender, a position that is less comfortable for him (he prefers to play as a left brakeman), Dor Turgeman is placed next to Eran Zahavi and Dan Beaton starts on the bench.
Cain basically gave up playing on the wings and hoped that in this way he would be able to control the center, take control of the second balls, pressure the center of Maccabi Haifa's defense and Dor Peretz would take advantage of the attention that the brakes would give to the two 9 strikers, to make the movements from the second line and be a significant threat from the link line, But those plans were correct for the game in Bloomfield, not for what Dago prepared for Cain in Sami Ofer.
Dego correctly read the plans of the yellows and came up in a formation of 1:2:2:5 as he loaded another player in the center, completely neutralizing the link of Maccabi Tel Aviv, creating a numerical advantage over the strikers and also succeeding in effectively pressing the uncoordinated brakes of the guests.
Maccabi Tel Aviv players are desperate, photo: Alan Shiver
Robbie Keane didn't react well again, even during the first half when he didn't make a change that was definitely requested, after Maccabi Haifa's overwhelming start in the first 25 minutes and in the half, where he froze on the guards and returned with the same 11 for the second half.
Later, when he made substitutions, he did not change the formation in the first beat and took out early precisely the player who advances the ball in the best way, Joris van Overeem.
All these led to the fact that Maccabi Tel Aviv was very milky in the last third despite having priority in possession of the ball, threatening the frame twice in 89 minutes (until the only significant threat from Usher David), when both threats were weak and did not really bother Sherif Kiuf.
Haifa, on the other hand, did everything right, perfectly used the tools it had, decided the game early, with its coach once again proving that he is more than suitable to coach the national champion.
Dago controls the team no less than Bakar, changes formations, maximizes the squad and deals in an awe-inspiring way with an unusual amount of absences (Charon Sherry and Dia Saba who left, Dolev Haziza, Pierre Corneau, Ilai Hajjaj, Franzadi Piero, Mahmoud Jaber , Eric Shuranov).
Haifa finished the game with Daniel Sondgren, Goni Naor and Lior Kassa in the midfield, a trio that can easily be imagined in a team competing for entry to the top playoffs.
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The fact that Maccabi Haifa beats Maccabi Tel Aviv for the second time this season in a convincing manner, without conceding, with a thin plus squad and absolute tactical superiority, is actually the most impressive thing for Dago and Maccabi Haifa and what currently puts them as favorites to retain the title.
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