Maccabi Haifa Fields New Signings Lounweike and Tsunami in Toto Cup Clash Against Kiryat Shmona

Maccabi Haifa faces Hapoel Kiryat Shmona on Tuesday evening in a Toto Cup match at 20:00, aiming to recover from their recent 3-0 derby loss to Hapoel Haifa. Despite the season just beginning and this being only their second game, the defeat has increased pressure on the team and coaching staff, including Barak Bachar and Lior Rafaelov, who stress the importance of a win to restore confidence and stabilize the squad.

The derby loss saw Maccabi Haifa field a weakened lineup, and although the strongest squad is still not fully assembled, new signings Nigel Lounweike and Wanderson Tsunami have been included in the starting defense. Midfielder Yarin Levi is absent due to illness, with Ali Mohamed stepping into the midfield role. Kiryat Shmona, coached by Shai Berada, is also experimenting with their lineup after losing key players Christian Martinez and Yair Mordechai over the summer. They hope to match or improve upon last season’s performance while maintaining greater stability.

The starting lineups for the match are: Maccabi Haifa with Omri Glazer, Tsunami, Nigel Lounweike, Noam Shtiefman, Itay Ehud, Ali Mohamed, Navot Ratner, Bruninho, Kenji Gora, Iyad Khalili, and Adam Grimberg; and Hapoel Kiryat Shmona with Daniel Tenenbaum, Ofir Benvenishti, Shai Ben David, Nemanja Ljubisavljevic, Ovadia Darwish, Rufat Abdulzade, Shai Sabach, Alexander Sola, Amadou Sané, Ariel Shartzky, and Niv Gabay.

In the Toto Cup standings for Group A, Hapoel Haifa and Ironi Tiberias lead with three points each after one game, while Kiryat Shmona and Maccabi Haifa have yet to earn points. Another Toto Cup match between Hapoel Haifa and Ironi Tiberias is also scheduled for the evening.