Maccabi Haifa ended last night (Sunday) with a home draw against Hapoel Tel Aviv and the gap with the leader Maccabi Tel Aviv grew to seven points, but that was not the only bad news for the Greens last night.
The top scorer of the league, Frantezdi Piero complained of sensitivity in the hamstring and because of that he was replaced already at half time. He will be tested in the coming days with a concern for a hamstring strain. Piero, who has already scored 14 goals this season and was there for the Greens in the absence of the injured Dean David, is in great doubt for the start of the top playoffs that started at the end of the month.
The good news for the top playoffs comes from the direction of Mahmoud Jaber and Ilai Hajj, who have increased the pace of training and are expected to be at the disposal of Masai Dago for the opening game of the playoffs against Bnei Raina. Exactly two months ago, Jaber was injured and is now recovering from a torn hamstring, Hajj has been absent from the courts for three and a half months due to inflammation of the abdominal muscles.
Rest is needed (Maor Alxalsi)
In the meantime, Masai Dago decided to give the players a week of rest. The team played 33 official games in 130 days, some of them in European football and required flights. This is an average of a game once every four days, unusual in Israeli terms.
The Haifa players will start the preparations for the match against Rayna on the next Sunday. “We need rest,” said the group. “Success in Europe and the tight schedule in the league following the break has a price. It’s a shame that the break wasn’t before the game against Hapoel Tel Aviv.”