Maccabi Haifa’s winning goal in the first minute of tonight’s (Saturday) match against Bnei Sakhnin came with the help of the Bnei Sakhnin defense, but the one who was actually responsible for the goal was Kenny Seif, who finally started in his natural position – a left winger. A week ago and two weeks ago he played as a right back, and here he is in the right place and there is already a return for the fee. It’s not that the game was that big and Saif was huge, but first of all – let him play in his place.
Then I looked and thought, who else was involved in the goal? Of course, Mahmoud Jaber, who came out of his place like a missile, left several Sakhnin players behind and found Saif. The same jabber that Masai Degu pulled off in the 60th minute against Maccabi Netanya, in a move that ended Maccabi Haifa’s game and cup dream. And when the game continued and the Sakhnin players dared to reach the 16 of the Greens several times during the first half, the one who saved the champion was precisely the substitute and underprivileged stopper Lorenzo Shimich, who cleared any danger on the goal of Sherif Kiuf, whether it was in the air, on the ground or on one of the one. The Croatian was always in the right place at the right time.
And of course it continued in the second half, Shimich continued with his excellent ability, no tricks, no tricks and no posing. And the question that is asked is what will happen next week – will he continue in the lineup in light of his excellent ability today or will Abdoulaye Sek, who did not dress today due to accumulating yellow cards, return to his natural place and Shimich also return to his natural place, the bench? I promise you that Shimich won’t play, because I got to know Dego, I know how he works, and it’s a shame that it’s like this, because in professional football, certainly in a club like Maccabi Haifa, whoever is good has to play and it doesn’t matter what their name is.
It is sad to hear fans who claim that Maccabi Haifa has a chance for the championship and start calculating the chances and what will happen if and when. I say there is a limit to everything – the team looks bad, like a bottom playoff team. She doesn’t do anything right when she has the ball and also when she is without the ball, which is a huge omission. How can it be that a team like Bnei Sakhnin runs freely from the first minute to the last minute in Sami Ofer? The balls whistled near the net, entered the box, and only thanks to the goddess of luck and Sherif Kiof, who showed good ability and had a big part in today’s victory, Maccabi Haifa did not concede. If the stopper and the goalkeeper were the two best players in green tonight, that says it all.
Tonight, Maccabi Haifa started with 4:3:3 after all. She tried to play her football but the players on the field were tired, injured and out of shape, neither physically nor in terms of playing ability. Dean David for example, it seems as if his speed has left him following the injuries. And Franzi Pierro, who replaced him, raced on half the field, wanted to be a 60 meter sprinter and replace Carl Lewis. What about him and long distance races? This is what happens when the team is not standing well, the transitions are not planned, and in fact everything is not planned at all.
The greens have no order and organization, everyone does actions according to their own thoughts at that moment, there is no agenda for the group. What was the team’s style today? I will tell you – Maccabi Haifa has a new style called ‘Kick and Rush’. Every time the ball reaches Kif, he kicks it 70 meters forward as if he were an American football player, without thinking and thinking, and if this is the instruction he received from Dago, it means that the coach’s intention is not to move the ball from behind, which clearly conveys – ‘We are a mediocre team of a lower playoff, so why should we get into trouble against Sakhnin? Will they press us? Let them steal the ball from us and maybe also a goal?’ It’s just ridiculous. Maccabi Haifa has always, even in its most difficult years, moved the ball away from the goalkeeper. And when you see the goalkeeper flicking every ball, you say to yourself: ‘Lord of the world, where did Maccabi Haifa get to with this tactic?’
Anan Halaili has been talked about and written about a lot. What wasn’t said about him this year? But tonight, the way he looked on the grass didn’t match all the superlatives and compliments he’s received so far. He was confused and egotistical on the pitch. When he had to deliver, he kicked the goal, when he had to kick, he actually delivered. It would seem that he did not know where he was and what was happening to him. He was barely able to pass a player, but only throw the ball forward and try to use his speed. By and large, you could say he was the worst player on the field.
As for Bnei Sakhnin, they are definitely a very sympathetic and disciplined team, from whom Maccabi Haifa should learn how to move the ball from defense to attack without fear. Sloboden Drapić’s trainees came with their ball movement lightly to the center of the field, to the sides, into the 16 and tried to play football. Unlike Maccabi Haifa, in Sakhnin you can feel the fingerprint of a coach, you see a trained, practiced team that knows what it wants from itself. And she knows that Pierre Cornot is a defensive weak point of the Greens and tries to take advantage of it. There is no doubt that she deserved a draw today, and the goal she conceded in the first minute was completely accidental and a matter of bad luck.
I recommend and suggest to all the green fans who still dream of being able to win a championship, to stop dreaming, even if Maccabi Tel Aviv loses to Hapoel Beer Sheva, because with such sloppy and slow football it is impossible to win any title. And when you do nothing when the opponent has the ball – it’s a waste of your time. In soccer all over the world today, the emphasis is on what the team does when the ball is in the opponent’s possession, and when you are standing wrong, so far from your opponent, you will never catch the ball. The opposing players will pass it however they want and as much as they want and that is exactly what happened today at Sami Ofer.
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