After Maccabi Haifa returned from Italy after a flattering result against Fiorentina, 1:1, which in the end was not enough for them to get the ticket to the quarter-finals stage of the Co-Conference League, the team will return tomorrow (Sunday, 20:30) to Sami Ofer when they host Hapoel Tel Aviv in the closing game of the regular season.
30,000 spectators, most of them green, will try to push the team to victory in the hope of going into the break with a calm mind, to relieve most of the players from the load that has been their lot in the last few months and to return with new energies to try and storm the championship title.
Ahead of the match against Hapoel Tel Aviv, Anan Halaili and Gadi Kinda, who did not start against Fiorentina, should return to the lineup. Coach Masai Dago has not yet decided whether to change his formation and play with a line of four defenders or to continue with a formation of three defenders as in the last games.
The club says that Dago is aware of the great need to win and for that he will have to strive to try and achieve a decision already in the opening with the best attacking tools at his disposal, including the captain Lior Rafalov who longs for a break to heal the injured area of the foot, Kinda, Halaili and Franzi Piero.
The squad is supposed to return Shaw, whose casual dismissal in the first game against Fiorentina managed to anger quite a few of his teammates, and Tomer Hamed, who was not registered in Europe and is supposed to share minutes with Piero, on whom all the load was recently due to the ongoing injury of Dean David, who should gradually return for the playoffs.
In Maccabi Haifa, Daniel Sondgren’s return to the team is very encouraging: “It was important to return and earn Sondgren again. Daniel is one of our most important players and we need him in playing form now more than ever,” said the team.
Sherif Kif’s good ability against Fiorentina also has something to encourage the professional team in view of the less convincing ability of the goalkeeper to say the least in the losing game against Benny Reina, following which the Greens worked mentally with the goalkeeper knowing that the game against the Italians could get him back on track.
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