Maccabi Haifa will get their European season underway as they welcome Olympiacos to Sammy Ofer Stadium for a UEFA Champions League second round, first leg qualifying matchup. The Greens under the direction of Barak Bachar played in the Conference League group stages last year but will attempt to return to the top flight competition after over a decade.

However, prior to playing the Greeks, Hapoel Beer Sheva defeated Maccabi Haifa 1-1 (4-3) on penalties to capture the Super Cup, Israel soccer’s first title of the season. Tomer Hemed who just returned to Israel after more than a decade playing abroad, scored the decisive penalty at Sammy Ofer Stadium to hand the Southern Reds their second straight trophy win over the Greens after having closed out the last campaign with the Israel State Cup.

Omer Atzily opened the game with a quick strike from 20 meters to give the Carmel Greens a 1-0 lead in the first minute. However, Beer Sheva came back to draw even on a Eugene Ansah goal from in close in the 70th minute. As the match moved to spot kicks after 90 minutes of play, Atzily and Frantzdy Pierrot both had their penalties saved by Omri Glazer while Hemed slammed home his opportunity to send the traveling Beer Sheva fans into ecstasy.

“You can say that we were lucky but you can also say that we played very well in the second half,” Beer Sheva coach Elyaniv Barda said after his team hoisted the trophy. “The result reflected the actual game but at the end of the day when you get to penalties it’s just a lot of luck.”

“We began the game in fine fashion with plenty of opportunities and misses,” Bachar began. “When you don’t take advantage of this chances then who concede and unfortunately we lost on penalties but we now have to lift our spirits up and take the positives to Wednesday’s game.”

Tomer Hemed who made a triumphant return to Israel didn’t hide his excitement, “This is my first game back and one for a title that I had the decisive penalty, you couldn’t script it any better. I’m not going to lie it was very exciting and I am happy that we won. Many people were surprised that I came back and signed with Beer Sheva who really wanted me. After 11 years abroad it was great to be an important part of the victory.”

Israeli clubs playing in Europe will have a busy week as Beer Sheva will ready for their Conference League second round qualifying tie against Dinamo Minsk from Belarus, while Maccabi Tel Aviv takes on Zire from Azerbaijan and Maccabi Netanya play Turkish side Başakşehir.

As there clubs will try their luck to advance to the Conference League Group Stages, Maccabi Haifa readies to face Olympiacos in Champions League qualifying action.

Maccabi Haifa won the Israeli League championship over the past two seasons and are looking to win their third in a row but also want to make some noise in Europe as well. Last campaign was the first time since 2013/14 that Haifa participated in the group stage of a continental competition and are trying to not only do the same this season but advance to the Champions League which they have not done in over a decade.

Head Coach Barak Bachar is in his third season at the helm of the “Greens” and has made sure to strengthen his squad ahead of their second round qualifier against Olympiacos. The club has brought in a number of veteran players to complement the stars that are already in place and are owed by Dutchman Tjaron Chery. The Netherlands native is the engine that makes Haifa run thanks to his football intelligence, his deft play and his ability to always find the one man but also score a key goal when called upon.

The two past players of the year in the Israeli league, winger Omer Atzily and keeper Josh Cohen are critical players in the success of the team. Atzily topped the goal scoring chart last season with 20 goals as well as being the assist leader with 10 can also deliver a dangerous ball with 43 accurate key passes. The American born Cohen provides quiet in goal and is a leader on the pitch as well.

Other players who could cause issues for Olympiacos will be Dolev Haziza who also was an important contributor on the offensive side of the ball, defensive player of the year Sean Goldberg as well was Muhammed Abu Fani who can change the game in an instant with his ability to dribble through a tough defense or free up one of the attackers. In addition, Bogdan Planic was critical for Bachar’s back line and had a superb season for Haifa.

Newcomer Daniel Sundgren will shore up the right back position while Pierre Cornud will do the same at left back and Frantzdy Pierrot will also be counted on to help out with the goal scoring.

Haifa fans are cautiously optimistic about their chances against Olympiacos but also know that the Greek powerhouse has been playing in top European competition for years and that they will be a tough opponent.

However, Olympiacos enter the tie as the champions of Greece and as George Stogiannos from zougla.gr explained have also gotten even better than in the previous season.

“The coach of the Reds, Pedro Martins not only has the luxury of having the main contributors to the success of last year’s team but they have also significantly strengthened by acquiring four new players.”

“The top addition is defender Sime Vrsaliko who had played in Spain for Atlético Madrid as well as having starred with the Croatia national team. The Greek team also announced the signing of another right-back, Gonzalo Avila Gordon from Huddersfield, midfielder Philip Zinkernagel from Watford, while the most expensive transfer was former Aris striker Aboubakar Kamara, who cost a sum close to 5 millions of euros.”

Stogiannos explained that the key player and stalwart is Moroccan striker Youssef El Arabi.

“The striker has played 151 games across all competitions and has scored 78 goals. While he is the top scorer in the club’s history in European competitions, he was also the top scorer in the Greek league in both the 2019/20 and 2020/21 seasons.”

On the defensive side of the game Stogiannos feels that his team is solid across the backline, “Keeper Tomas Vatslik stood out at EURO 2020 while the central defenders are the two Greeks, Kostas Manolas and Sokratis Papastathopoulos and a third who often starts is the ferocious Pape Abou Cisse. Mandi Kamara and Embila dominate in the center of the field, while the wingers Giorgos Masouras and Agibou Kamara have good speed with the ball at their feet.”