On Oct 15th, Hapoel Haifa and Ashdod will play a match in Ashdod in a meeting of these two Ligat ha’Al teams. Weather on match day is looking like a cloudy but warm day with daytime temperatures of 24 degrees, which is great football weather. In their last match, 6th placed Ashdod, recorded a 1-1 draw against Ironi Kiryat Shmona. Lucas Salinas struck first for Ashdod in the 20th minute on a feed from Mohammad Kna’an, then in the 1st minute of the second half’s stoppage time, Joseph Mbong sent in a beautiful pass which was converted by Roy Kehat earning Ironi Kiryat Shmona a comeback draw. Ashdod is looking for direction having earned 13 points in their last 10 matches, while 9th placed Hapoel Haifa is fresh off their 2-2 draw against Hapoel Be’er Sheva. Hatem Abd Elhamed struck first for Hapoel Haifa in the 26th minute, but Hélder Lopes got the equalizer for Hapoel Be’er Sheva in the 37th minute . Hapoel Haifa is looking for direction having earned 11 points in their last 10 matches.
These two teams have not yet played each other this season, so it will be interesting how the match turns out. Last season Hapoel Haifa won the head to head battle with 2 wins and 1 losss.
Hapoel Haifa’s most prolific scorer has been Alon Turgeman. He has netted two goals over the last five matches. Nenad Cvetković and Shalev Harash are the top scorers for Ashdod in the last five matches, but unfortunately they only have one goal. It’s hard to imagine having success with those stats.