Maccabi Haifa vs Hapoel Haifa
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Today’s free tip is in the Israeli Ligat Ha’al derby between Maccabi Haifa and Hapoel Haifa. It’s worth remembering that these two teams share the Sammy Ofer Stadium so there’s no real home advantage to be found in such games, especially not with the fan restrictions at the moment. It’s something to keep an eye out for in general when it comes to Israeli football, actually. I’ve lost count of how many teams have used the Winner Stadium in Netanya as a base this season!
To understand today’s fixture, you have to understand the situation of both teams in the Ligat Ha’al hierachy. Maccabi Haifa are the giants; the big brothers. They’ve got the money, the players, and even a touch of prestige, albeit some time ago. By contrast, Hapoel Haifa are the nobodies, the team with no real financial backing to speak of. Subsequently, you’ll almost always find that Maccabi Haifa are favourites to win this derby, which is absolutely correct, as they really, really should.
However, bearing in mind the consistent quality gap between the two teams, Maccabi Haifa really don’t win enough Haifa derbies. They tend to get riled by their noisy neighbours, failing to win eight out of their last nine meetings with Hapoel Haifa in all competitions. For Hapoel Haifa, these derbies are what they live and breathe for. It doesn’t matter if they achieve nothing else in the Ligat Ha’al; this is what they wait for, and what they want the most. By contrast, Maccabi Haifa don’t treat this derby with the respect it deserves, often considering that they have bigger fish to fry, although rather comically they end most seasons with the same amount of trophies as Hapoel Haifa anyway.
Even non-Haifa clubs don’t dare enter matches against Hapoel Haifa without being prepared to put in a good shift against them though, because you can’t beat them otherwise. They’re as annoying as hell in that respect, even with a decidedly limited squad. This Hapoel Haifa squad is nothing on what it was 1-2 years ago, and they’re missing some regulars today too, but I still trust them to give more than enough to get something from this match because it’s their lifeblood. They’ve got some quality in their squad, though – Sylvestr is a proven poacher at this level, for example, and Zamir is having a terrific campaign too. They welcome back midfield all-rounder Junior today too, which helps. Hapoel Haifa is all about the collective output though, and when it comes to this derby, their output is generally at 110%.
Therefore, Maccabi Haifa need to work their socks off to beat them, which they seldom can be arsed to do. Let me be quite clear in saying that they can do it, and that they should do it. I don’t remember the last time I watched them actually outplay Hapoel Haifa though, although admittedly I didn’t get the chance to watch them when they won this fixture 3-0 back in December. I’ve seen nothing from Maccabi Haifa lately to suggest that they’ll be interested in winning today though. They were the worst I’ve ever seen them against Hapoel Tel-Aviv, considering that they’ve had a reasonably good campaign, and yet another insipid display saw them lose at Maccabi Tel-Aviv last time out.
I know they’ve had some problems with absentees lately, Maccabi Haifa, but this is more than that. They just don’t look interested, and I can’t say I’m really surprised by that. They’ve had an air of complacency about them since the Yakubu days, but they’ve even more of a reason for it to exist now because there’s nothing really left to play for. They cannot catch Maccabi Tel-Aviv so the title race is basically over. They’re not going to get caught by Beitar Jerusalem, who can barely string a few passes together at the moment, let alone win games, so second place belongs to Maccabi Haifa. The Ligat Ha’al is pretty much finished, basically, even though there are games left to play.
Subsequently, Maccabi Haifa enter this game with complacency, no real motivation to win in general, and some important players on the sidelines (namely Lavi and Ashkenazi) it’s hard for me to take the bookies’ odds on the ‘home’ win seriously here. Yes, Maccabi Haifa still have some excellent individuals to call upon, my favourite of which is Rukavytsya, but other than that, there’s no reason to believe they can beat their neighbours today.
Therefore, I find value in backing minnows Hapoel Haifa to win with a +0.5 Asian Handicap at 23/20.
Verdict: Hapoel Haifa to win with a +0.5 Asian Handicap at 23/20.
Sunday’s Thoughts
As ever, if there are any explanations required then please feel free to post a comment! For the remainder of my thoughts on today’s games, see below, although I feel compelled to write that the below are not necessarily my tips but merely my thoughts. For confidence ratings, you’ll need to go to the members section here.
Austrian Bundesliga:
Wolfsberger AC vs LASK
Hartberg vs Salzburg
Rapid Vienna vs Sturm Graz
Bulgarian A PFG:
Beroe vs Cherno More Varna
Croatian Prva Liga;
Istra 1961 vs Rijeka
Lokomotiva Zagreb vs NK Osijek
Czech Republic Liga 1:
Opava vs Slovacko
Karvina vs Ceske Budejovice
Sigma Olomouc vs Banik Ostrava
Teplice vs Baumit Jablonec
Slavia Prague vs Viktoria Plzen
Danish Superligaen:
FC Copenhagen vs Randers
SonderjyskE vs Silkeborg
Aalborg BK vs AGF
OB vs Esbjerg
AC Horsens vs Brondby
FC Nordsjaelland vs FC Midtjylland
Hobro vs Lyngby
Estonian Meistriliiga:
Tulevik vs Kuressaare
Nomme Kalju vs Flora Tallinn
Tammeka vs Flora Paide
Faroese Meistaradeildin:
IF vs AB
EB/Streymur vs Skala
KI vs NSI Runavik
Vikingur Gotu vs B36 Torshavn
German Bundesliga:
Werder Bremen vs VfL Wolfsburg
Union Berlin vs Schalke 04
Augsburg vs Koln
German Bundesliga 2:
VfB Stuttgart vs Osnabruck
Hannover 96 vs Heidenheim
Erzgebirge Aue vs Karlsruher SC
Hungarian Liga 1:
Zalaegerszegi TE vs Puskas FC
Ferencvaros vs Diosgyori VTK
Icelandic Super Cup:
KR vs Vikingur Reykjavik
Israeli Ligat Ha’al:
Maccabi Haifa vs Hapoel Haifa
Sektzia Nes Tziona vs Maccabi Netanya
Lithuanian A Lyga:
Riteriai vs Banga Gargzdai
Portuguese Liga 1:
Rio Ave vs Pacos de Ferreira
Enjoy your free betting tips!