Maccabi Haifa's pre-season is turning into a public reckoning. Four days after conceding three in the Haifa derby, Barak Bachar's side were taken apart 3–0 by Ironi Kiryat Shmona in Netanya on Tuesday night — and this time the damage was done inside 33 minutes.
The night began with the cruellest possible subplot. Niv Gabay, the forward Maccabi Haifa loaned to Kiryat Shmona this summer, needed only seven minutes to score against his parent club. Amadou Sagna doubled the lead on 23 minutes as Haifa's back line parted again, and when Ariel Sheretsky lashed in a third on 33, the contest was effectively over.
Kiryat Shmona coach Shai Barda did not hide his satisfaction — or his perspective. "In the first half there was only one team on the pitch," he said. "All three goals came from things we work on. It's Maccabi Haifa, but we must not get carried away by the result."
For Haifa the evening carried echoes the supporters refused to ignore. Sections of the travelling crowd whistled the team through the second half, and as the final whistle approached the chant from the away end was "busha, busha" — disgrace, disgrace. This is a club that expects to contest titles, watching a second 3–0 defeat in one week of Toto Cup football.
Bachar faced it head-on afterwards. "We are too soft and we break too quickly," the coach admitted. "You cannot concede three goals — not in a derby and not here. I promise the fans we will look different when the league starts."
There was worrying news beyond the scoreline: goalkeeper Omri Glazer went off injured after a collision, though he sounded a note of calm afterwards — "the initial examination shows good results," he said.
The result leaves Maccabi Haifa bottom of Toto Cup Group A with no points from two games, needing wins over Bnei Sakhnin and Ironi Tiberias plus a string of favours elsewhere to reach the semi-finals. Only the group winner advances. For Kiryat Shmona — starting a fourth successive season playing 'home' games away from their own ground — captain Sheretsky summed up what the night meant: "You dream of moments like this before every match. The night before, you cannot sleep."
