Recap
Hapoel Haifa underwent a major facelift during the offseason: only three Israeli players – Amit Simhon, Gur Lavi and captain Ofek Avital – continued after an unsuccessful season. The new coach Oren Aharoni has built a completely new team, with the last piece added to the puzzle, the American Dario Hunt, arriving in Israel yesterday and is not expected to take part in tonight’s game.
After a successful return season to the top league, Ironi Kiryat Ata organized quickly for this season despite only retaining JJ Kaplan and center Emin Stevens from the previous season’s squad. Stevens is a question mark for tomorrow’s game. The most fascinating name in Sharon Abrahami’s team is Ben Sharaf, the young star who chose the team after a long summer in which he held, among other things, an offer from the Spanish Joventut Badalona, ​​but he is doubtful for the opening game in the League Cup after spraining his ankle in training this week.
In my opinion, Hapoel Haifa is a better team at the start of the season and should cover the proposed line.