Hapoel Petah Tikva Prepares Defense for Disciplinary Hearing

The Football Association prosecutor, Adv. Gilad Bergman, has requested that Hapoel Petah Tikva manager Eliran Bernstein and player Roi Levy be summoned to a hearing on Wednesday. The incident in question occurred during a match against Maccabi Netanya, where the team was left with 11 outfield players after Levy remained on the field despite being slated for substitution. Levy is expected to argue that he only briefly saw the substitution signal and was attending to a teammate, Eyal Billa, who was injured. Bernstein plans to contend that he alerted referee Yigal Fried to the player count before a penalty kick, but was ignored. Fried and the chief referee, Gal Leibovitz, have not yet been summoned. Leibovitz is unavailable due to an overseas tournament. Hapoel Petah Tikva intends to demand Fried's presence, as the team's defense will focus on the referees' responsibility for the situation. "We will not accept a technical loss, there is no chance," stated club officials.

On the professional front, Hapoel Petah Tikva will not stay at a hotel before their upcoming match against Bnei Sakhnin and will arrive directly at the stadium. Player Roi David has returned to training after recovering from a stomach ailment. The starting lineup from the Netanya match will largely remain the same, with Karim Kimwidi returning to the starting eleven. There is a decision to be made between Itay Ehud and Tomer Altman for another position. Hamido Keita has resumed full training and will be included in the squad, with hopes he can play to regain fitness before the league break next month. A projected lineup includes Omer Katz, Stav Israeli, Or Israelov, Alex Musonda, Yazan Nasser, Itay Ehud (Tomer Altman), Boni Amin, Karim Kimwidi, Roi Levy, Roi David, and Eyal Billa.