After a long break, the Israeli Premier League is back with a match between the two Europa League representatives - Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Be'er Sheva.
While the teams played poorly, the question is how the return of the rest of league’s clubs would be?
The recent coronavirus outbreak in Israel affected domestic football significantly. It began when matches were cancelled during September. A few weeks later, the government called for a lockdown at the end of the month. The lockdown decision included a large scale of limitations, including the prohibition of training.
Only two teams got an exemption, Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Be'er Sheva. The two needed to keep their preparation for the Europa League group stage. Things were not perfect, as Maccabi Tel Aviv players were recovering from a significant infection among the squad. Hapoel Be'er Sheva faced the same situation before the international break when eight players and the manager were tested positive.
Recently, the government reversed the decision, and teams were allowed to train again. The league was getting ready to be resumed. Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Be'er have already made their first match on the opening day of the Europa League. Maccabi Tel Aviv defeated Qarabağ 1-0, while Hapoel Be'er Sheva won 3-1 against Slavia Praha. With the good vibes from the Europa League, the teams were ready for their first league match after more than a month.
Unfortunately, both teams were ready, but not enough. Without regular football, the teams couldn't handle playing two matches in a short time. The players were tired and barely managed to make decent plays. The statistics showed it well. Each team made only two shots on target.
The future in doubt
After such a bad match, the teams need to prepare for their next European missions – Maccabi Tel Aviv will play in Turkey against Sivasspor, and Hapoel Be'er Sheva will travel to Nice. For Maccabi, the challenge will be much more difficult. The reigning champions didn't win in their first three league matches, their worst record since 2008. Now they have to think about how they can get back to the title race quickly. On Monday, they will play a crucial match against the main title contender, Maccabi Haifa.
This match is rising another critical question – what will be the level of the other teams? Maccabi Haifa, who played in the Europa League and made a training camp in Serbia, was the only team trained during the lockdown. The rest of the teams barely trained or played during this time. Even before the lockdown, some teams didn't play for a while. For example, Beitar Jerusalem and Hapoel Hadera played their only match in August.
The teams' and players' ability to return is in doubt, but at least the league is being played again. Yet, everyone hopes that the last break was the last disturb of the season.
Players had to produce a tremendous effort after playing last Thursday. Maccabi’s Tibi on the grass (Photo: Shaul Greenfeld)
