Stadium: Moshava (11,000)
The match will take place at Haberfeld Stadium in Rishon Le’Zion due to the winterization of the Petach Tikva stadium’s pitch.
Coach: Yakov Assayag
Assayag (57) who was one of Israel’s top keepers in the 1980’s & 90’s was the Bnei Yehuda shot stopper for their only league championship in 1988/89. At the beginning of 2000, Assayag joined Bnei Yehuda’s professional staff as the goalkeeping coach for the youth department along with the first team and also made a comeback in the 2000/01 campaign for three matches trying to stave off relegation.
He first stood on the sidelines as Bnei Yehuda’s Head Coach along with Hazi Shirazi upon the termination of Nitzan Shirazi z”l in the 2007/08 season. During the same campaign the pair also replaced Eli Cohen with only 8 matches remaining in the season and kept Bnei Yehuda from being relegated with 8 wins in 9 games.
Assayag was named Head Coach this season when the club decided to let go Arik Benado and will remain in the post until a new coach is appointed.
Comings & goings:
Benado along with new owner Barak Ambramov made numerous changes to the squad as veteran keeper Dele Aiyenugba, Dan Mori, Amir Agaev and Pedro Galvan all departed. Even Micki Siroshin who signed with the team over the summer left.
Some of the players who joined the ranks of the Orange include Dovev Gabbay, Saar Benbenishti, Alon Turgeman and Yonatan Cohen whom Maccabi loaned to the club.
What have we had up until now:
With only 7 points so far this season, Bnei Yehuda finds itself in the relegation zone and have lost two matches in a row under Assayag while collecting one point since he was named coach in a 2:2 draw against Beitar Jerusalem.
Up until now Bnei Yehuda have one win along with four draws and five defeats and have already faced Maccabi Tel Aviv in the Toto Cup beating the Yellow & Blue 2:1. In their first league match the Orange drew 1:1 versus Bnei Sakhnin which was followed by a loss to Hapoel Haifa and a draw against Maccabi Haifa. Matchday Four saw Bnei Yehuda pick up their only victory of the campaign defeating Hapoel Kfar Saba. Since then the club has only collected two points in six contests.
