Sheikh buys into Beitar, Maccabi’s got problems, Haifa chalking up wins & more! All the Stories from Israel Football Gameday 9

1) Obviously Beitar Jerusalem’s agreement with Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Nahyan from the United Arab Emirates trumps all the local soccer news from this week. We will have to see how his investment of over 300 million NIS will influence the club both on and off of the pitch including will be put into youth academy development but it’s certainly a bold move by owner Moshe Hogeg. The issue that will have to be dealt with is a certain element of the fan base that still believe that the club will become impure should an Arab-Israeli or Muslim player feature for Beitar. Well, now they have a Sheikh for an owner and they will just have to deal with it. It’s time for the racist fan element that exists to disappear and understand that the behavior that they exhibit is a desecration of God’s name, Chilul Hashem. Time for them to go Bye-Bye.

On the field Beitar needs lots of help that’s for sure after Josue and Hapoel Beer Sheva carved them up and sent coaches Slobodan Drapic and Shay Barda to yet another disappointing performance and another loss. Add to the fact that Beitar has scored only 9 gaol (they’ve conceded only 9 as well) isn’t enough fire power at this point and that they’ve got to start filling the back of the goal or else they will be battling against relegation as they sit in 11th place.

2) Maccabi Tel Aviv has been quite disappointing this season in domestic league play to say the least. A 3-2 loss at Ashdod set coach Giorgos Donis on fire as he spoke about the disappointment in his team. The bigger problem here is that the Yellow & Blue are facing a HUGE, MASSIVE, ENORMOUS game on Thursday for a ticket to the Europa League Round of 32 on the line. Maccabi has got to be primed and ready to go in that game as their entire European campaign hinges on this one game. What a blow it would be if they don’t advance after working their way through qualifying and group play to be left at the alter. Putting that aside, Maccabi better start playing up to their expectations in league play or else they may not even make it into the Championship Playoffs as the regular season continues to roll along because right now they are on the outside looking in.

3) Maccabi Haifa chalked up another win which certainly will make coach Barak Bachar happy especially traveling up to a difficult pitch at Kiryat Shemona. In took time, but the Greens were able to score there kate goals to take the win and as they say a win is a win. Tjraon Chery was masterful and showed the quality he has and what he can do in the right system. Of course, Nikita Rukavytsya scored yet again (when doesn’t he score) and with ten goals leads the league by far in finding the back of the net. The win also propelled Haifa into second place just two behind first and the fans couldn’t be happier.

4) The first place team is Maccabi Petah Tikva as they were able to pull off a “Houdini” as time wound down finally beating a 10-man Bnei Yehuda. Guy Luzon’s squad had a man to the good for almost an entire half and they just couldn’t find a way to beat the stingy defense that they faced. However, Tai Baribo pounced on a ball that rebounded off the bar and put it home to take the 3-points. A very gutsy win for Petah Tikva who have certainly been overachieving this campaign especially for a young team.

5) Bnei Sakhnin is on a roll and a good one at that. Another win for Niso Avitan as his squad took full advantage of an extra man after Hapoel Haifa’s Ben Vahaba was sent to the showers. Osama Khalaila is developing into a star and he scored the first goal for Sakhnin while Moti Barshatzky added the insurance marker as the club continues to climb up the table slowly but surely and now find themselves in 9th place.

6) Hapoel Tel Aviv continued with their struggles and with only 6 points in 8 eight games they find themselves in the relegation zone. Nir Klinger has a big problem and it’s not just the budget issues he was talking about after the game; he doesn’t have anyone to score goals. With only 3(!) goals in 8 games the Reds need to find someone that can put the ball into the goal. It’s actually miraculous that they even have 6 points up until now with that type of offense. On the bright side they’ve only given up 7 goals.

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