Maccabi Haifa Faces Defensive Doubts Ahead of Derby Against Hapoel Haifa

Maccabi Haifa is preparing for its season opener against Hapoel Haifa in the upcoming derby on Saturday. The team will hold a press conference on Friday at 12:30 PM featuring sporting director Lior Rafaelov and coach Barak Bachar, which will be broadcast live. Coach Bachar is facing challenges in central defense as Nigel Lonwijk is not registered to play, and although Tsunami has returned to training, he still needs to regain match fitness.

Pedroau, who suffered a groin injury in a recent match against Hapoel Kfar Saba, has missed the last two training sessions and remains doubtful for the derby. Young player Ard Geist is being considered for the starting lineup alongside Noam Shteifman due to these defensive concerns. Additionally, Bronninio, who is not fully fit, is expected to start on the bench and may be introduced in the second half. Players Yila Btayi and Kenny Saif are also unavailable.

The match will mark the renewed debuts of Omri Glazer and Yarin Levi, while Yair Mordechai is set to make his official debut. Meanwhile, Rafaelov and Bachar are expected to decide on the team captain for the derby, with candidates including Kenji Hora, who captained the team against Kfar Saba, as well as Eitan Azulai, Sean Goldberg, and Ali Mohammed. However, the latter two are currently not in the starting lineup.