Stadium: Sammy Ofer (30,000)
Head Coach: Rene Meulensteen (Holland)
The Dutch manager arrived at Sammy Ofer after Roni Levi was relieved of his duties. Meulensteen had a rich playing career in Holland along with a lengthy career on the sidelines as a coach for youth departments in Holland and Qatar. He also served as youth side boss at Manchester United under the tutelage of Alex Ferguson between 2007-2013 and also coached Fulham. Right before landing in Haifa he worked as a consultant for the Philadelphia Union of the MLS.
Muelsteen’s first match with the Greens was a 1:0 Toto Cup Derby win against Hapoel Haifa while he also picked up a victory by the same score by defeating Hapoel Tel Aviv in league action. His club also scored a 2:1 win over the defending champions Hapoel Beer Sheva and sit with 9 points overall.
Comings & Goings:
Even before the Dutchman arrived on the scene, Maccabi Haifa’s Sports Director Tor-Kristian Karlsen made a fair number of changes to the squad. The team bid adieu to the likes of Taleb Tawhatha, Hen Ezra, Yossi Benayoun, Vladimir Stoykovich, Orel Degani, Romario Pires and Ofir Kriaf.
In their places the Norwegian brought aboard Australian-Jewish striker Nikita Rukavysta from Beitar Jerusalem who has scored 4 goals in 14 appearances. Former Yellow & Blue product Roie Kehat also arrived from the Austrian league while Kamil Vacek from the Czech Republic, Gary Kagelmacher, Croatian defensive back Mario Musa and Firas Mugrabi from Bnei Sakhnin who has scored five goals all joined the squad. Second choice keeper Omri Glazer also made the trip up north from Hapoel Raanana giving Haifa some insurance in goal.
Familiar Faces:
If there is any club that should be familiar to Maccabi fans it’s got to be Maccabi Haifa. With three former Yellow & Blue players in Gili Vermouth, who joined Haifa in the middle of last season and already has faced his former team, Roie Kehat who grew up in Maccabi’s Youth Department and played for the First Team, returned from Austria and of course fan favorite, striker Eliran Atar is slated to make his debut next week’s match after returning from injury.
Opening the season:
Following a disappointing start to the season where Haifa was bounced from the first round of Europa League qualifying and an additional loss led to the firing of Roni Levi, Rene Muelsteen was named in his stead.
Under the new coach, the Greens have actually had one of their best starts in a while with 9 points after 6 matches and sit in 5th place. Other than a 1:0 win over Hapoel Tel Aviv and a 2:1 victory against Hapoel Beer Sheva, Muelsteen’s crew lost to Sakhnin 1:0 and have drawn their last two contests against Maccabi Petach Tikva (2:2) and Kiryat Shemona (0:0:).
Under the magnifying glass: Firas Mugrabi
There’s plenty of quality attacking players plying their trade for Haifa and once Eliran Atar returns they will have an even more potent offense. But one player that Maccabi Tel Aviv need to keep a close eye on is striker Firas Mugrabi who found plenty of holes in the Yellow & Blue defense last season and scored.
The speedy Mugrabi leads Haifa in goals with five along with one assist so far this season and will look to take advantage of deep balls coming his way against a Maccabi defense that must be alert.
