For Maccabi Haifa, the road back to the top of the Israeli Premier League passes through Bloomfield Stadium
Last season
A quick glance at the Israeli Premier League table at the end of 2013/14 will tell you all you need to know about the kind of season Maccabi Haifa had. An unprecedented 31 points separated this renowned club, and virtual masters of the first decade of the new millennium, from league champions Maccabi Tel Aviv. They had already made an earlier than expected departure from the European stage, but then proceeded to add to that ignomy an exit from the prestigious domestic State Cup competition in first premier league round, losing no less than thirteen league matches during the course of the season. The club's only consolation came at the very end, when they bad farewell to their legendary Kiryat Eliezer Stadium to take up residence in their new, state-of-the-art quarters, "Sammy Ofer".
Status Quo
With their first three league matches behind them, Maccabi Haifa seem to be fluctuating between agony and ecstasy. While it may be too early to declare a trend, the statistics speak for themselves: Two decisive victories at home with one disappointing defeat on the road. Matchday 1 was a triple celebration: Their opening league match at "Sammy Ofer" palace, a persuasive 4-2 win against Bnei Sakhnin and the return to form of last year's summer signing, Spanish attacking midfielder Ruben Rayos. This was followed on Matchday 2 by a far less persuasive and much criticised performance, a stinging 1-0 defeat at last year's strugglers Beitar Jerusalem. A week later, Israeli international and returning Maccabi Haifa superstar Yossi Benayoun made his maiden appearance at "Sammy Ofer" as they sailed past premier league new boys Hapoel Petach Tikva 3-1. The fact that next week they will again be playing away from home may not necessarily give home side Maccabi Tel Aviv the advantage, but still it will be interesting to see what Benayoun and the rest of the Maccabi Haifa squad will have in their arsenal when they turn up at Bloomfield on Monday night.
Head coach: Aleksandar Stanojevic
Aleksandar Stanojevic is only Maccabi Haifa's third foreign head coach in the last fifty years, following in the footsteps of Englishman Jack Mansell, who coached the side in 1982, and Slovak Dusan Uhrin, who brought the club into the new millennium. The Serbian Stanojevic began his coaching career in 2000 as the youth coach at OFK Belgrade before taking on the dual assistant's role with both Partizan Belgrade and the Serbian national side in 2007. A year later he would carry the Serbian Under-19s to the third spot in the European U19 championships before returning to Partizan as head coach for an additional two years, winning the title in the 2009/10 season and the league and cup double a year later. Before arriving in Israel, Stanojevic spent two seasons in China coaching local sides Dalian Aerbin and Beijing Guoan.
Players out:
In addition to releasing three players – Itzik Cohen, Andrey Pilavski and Tamash Prishkin – and seeing Ayal Golsa sign for Greek side PAOK Thessaloniki after his contract expired, Maccabi Haifa last summer engaged in what the Israeli sports press described as "excommunication", three players who were set aside without finding new clubs to play for: Avichai Yadin, Chen Azriel and Boyan Saranov. Two players, Shuval Gozlan and Sari Fallach, were sent off on loan to Hapoel Tel Aviv in exchange for defender Orel Dgani and, on a more honourable note, one of the symbols of the club's prior fame, sixteen-year veteran Yaniv Katan, retired from active duty.
Players in:
In contrast to recent years, this summer the Maccabi Haifa management resolved to change course and limit their outlays on new players without damaging the quality of the squad. Following the arrival of a Serbian coach, the club also acquired the Serbian national goalkeeper Vladimir Stojkovic as well as Cameroonian international striker Mohammadou Idrissou, former Getafe midfielder Miguel Marcos Madera (Michel) and midfielder Kobi Moyal (after his contract expired at Moldavian side Sheriff Tiraspol), all on free transfers. But their headline summer signing was most certainly bringing back (also on a free transfer) former Maccabi Haifa favourite Yossi Benayoun, whose stints in the English Premier League at West Ham, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal have made him unquestionably Israel's most internationally well-known footballer of the past decade. Also notable returnees are strikers Weaam Amasha and Mohammed Kalibat, from loanspells at Ironi Kiryat Shmoni and Bnei Sakhnin respectively. Finally, defender Matan Ohayon signed from Ironi Kiryat Shmona and in addition to loanee Dgani goalkeeper Ohad Levita was also brought in on loan from Maccabi Netanya.
Player to look out for: Ruben Rayos
With three other foreign players arriving during the summer, Ruben Rayos could easily have faded into the background, but it would seem that quite the opposite has occurred. The Spanish midfielder spent a year with current Barcelona boss Luis Enrique in Team B in 2008 but his big breakthrough came after leaving Spain and joining infamous (for Maccabi Tel Aviv fans at least) Greek side Asteras Tripoli in 2011. He joined Maccabi Haifa in the summer of 2013 as the great Spanish hope and his sixteen goals in all competitions certainly gave credence to those expectations. But he will best be remembered for his unconscionable challenge in a match against now relegated side Bnei Yehuda on former Maccabi Tel Aviv player Rafi Dahan that earned him a straight red card and put Dahan on crutches for his own wedding. This season, however, he seems to be in top form, having played all 90 minutes in the team's first three league matches, scoring a brace and creating two more goals in the season opener. He's also scored three goals in the "Toto" (League) Cup so far.
