Summary: Maccabi Haifa - Bnei Sakhnin 0:1/Sport1
Throughout history, Maccabi Haifa has not tended to make a future change in the coach's position as early as the beginning of April, but this morning (Sunday) the club officially announced the end of Masai Dago's career at the end of the season and the appointment of Barak Becher for two years - starting next season.
In Haifa, Dego is greatly appreciated and many in the club feel that he had a good season, but the fact that it was already clear to everyone that the team was far from winning a fourth consecutive championship, led Yaakov Shahar and the other club captains to immediately decide on a change next season. Shahar's decision was made after the loss to Bnei Rayna at the start of the top playoffs, when the gap from Maccabi Tel Aviv grew to 10 points.
In those days, Barak Becher was very hesitant about whether to accept the offer to coach the Israeli national team, but a phone call from an official in Haifa made it clear to him that the Greens wanted him back. Bacher understood the hint and refused the team due to his strong desire to coach a team. In Haifa, they feared that Maccabi Tel Aviv would also turn to the successful coach, so a principled decision was made to speed up the contacts and close the story. After the expulsion from the State Cup, the efforts were accelerated and in principle closed for two years.
Becher received a promise from the club's leaders that he would receive significant reinforcements and a green light to add valuable players especially when names such as Neta Lavi, Omer Atzili and Shawn Weissman are on the agenda. In addition, at least three new foreigners will be added to the group. Bacher even spoke with professional manager Gal Alberman and the two began working, with Haifa convinced that they would be able to reproduce the success of the previous three years.
In Haifa they made it clear that there is no disappointment with Dago, but in a season in which the team is so far from the championship fight already in April, it is not a season that Shahar can award a new contract to the coach - just as was the case with Marco Belbul.