It’s clear to all that Bruninho is the best player on Maccabi Haifa hands down and arguably tops in the Israel Premier League. The Brazilian can do it all and once again single handedly helped the greens to a 2-1 victory over Hapoel Petach Tikva. With a sweet assist on Andrija Novkovich’s header and then a stunner of a strike for a late winner he’s absolutely a treat to witness.

When given room to operate, operate he can and that’s what he did to will his side to victory. When he doesn’t have the space to move and groove which was the case in the loss to Maccabi Tel Aviv it can be a frustrating match from top to bottom.

While Head Coach Barak Bachar knows the two wins to his name have Bruninho’s fingerprints all over them, he is also fully aware that he needs to figure out how to get more of his players involved in the goal scoring and to help carry the load that the Brazilian has thus far. With the signing of Pedro Brazao, Bachar will definitely have more firepower on the wing which should also provide for a more potent offense.

When looking at Haifa, it’s clear that against the middle of the table the greens will be able to take points and wins while versus the top flight clubs they will struggle. That is the case right now, but that may not be the situation later on in the season once the squad continues to understand how to play with one another and fortunately for Haifa they should be able to collect points a plenty in the near future.

A favorable schedule against the likes of Kiryat Shemona, Tiberias, Hapoel Jerusalem, Maccabi Petach Tikva before hosting Hapoel Beer Sheva at the end of October gives Bachar a very good opportunity to pack away the points and the victories in order to compete for a spot near the top of the table. One couldn’t have asked for a better chance to win games and continue working on the squad at the same time. But should Haifa not be able to sweep those four games, which is not as easy as it may seem then the supporters, who are already a bit in edge will be even more vocal after having booed sports director Lior Refaelov and called for his resignation.

Patience is a virtue but the fans will not have any should the greens begin to falter with such a soft schedule coming up. They jeered to their heart’s delight when Bachar brought on Silva Kani instead of fan favorite Guy Melamed who is rumored to be heading to Maccabi Tel Aviv. When #18 did enter the match, the supporters were thrilled to see him as the thought of Melamed’s departure and his departure to the yellow-and-blue nonetheless made their stomachs turn inside out and upside down.

There are more than 20,000 season ticket holders at Sammy Ofer Stadium and they expect to see results and rightfully so. They want to see their team compete with the best of the best and who could disagree with that. Every home game is a celebration and there is no reason why it shouldn’t be as Bachar will continue to mold the side into one that will be able to play toe-to-tow with the top of the top, there’s no reason to think that he won’t be able to.

However, he’s got to really get the maximum out of each and every player that he has. Whether it’s Cedric Don who played 90 minutes, Novakovich who is still not fit to play a full match, Kenji Gorre, Ali Mohammed, Kani or the likes of Yair Mordechai and Yarin Levy who have yet made an impact on the team, Bachar now has a few games to get some of his players into the swing of things while working in Brazao into the team.

That’s going to be his biggest challenge over the next couple of months which will also see an extended national team break coming up after Yom Kippur through the end of Sukkot which could be a make it or break it time for the greens and for many other teams. With probably very few players who will be called up to play for the blue-and-white, Bachar could have a mini training camp in order to get his squad into tip top shape.

Perhaps the only players he may be missing during this time is going to be keeper Omri Glazer and Gorre which will provide Bachar a chance to really get down to business and make up for the training camp he held in the summer which was way too early to really get the entire squad onto the same page considering he did not have close to a full complement of players at his disposal.

The bottom line is, Maccabi Haifa has a chance to compete for a European spot which is where the greens should always be no matter what the situation is with the club. Can they really battle for the championship, most probably not, but can they finish in third of fourth place or win the State Cup? No question.

That can be the case for this season but next campaign they need to be back fighting it out for Israeli football supremacy. There should always be expectations for Maccabi Haifa, a team that has featured in the UEFA Champions League and one that has collected plenty of league titles over the past twenty or so years.

This is where the greens need to be. The fans will relish seeing the likes of Bruninho leading the way to the promised land with a proper complement of players beside him just like Tjaron Chery had done just a few short years ago.

The future can be bright for Haifa, but that will be up to Bachar and how he can mold the team into one that will be there game in and game out, making the franchise proud once again. If not it will be back to the drawing board and that’s the last place anyone around the club wants to see happen yet again.