Local Soccer: Matthaus's Netanya hosts Hap TA aiming for fifth straight league win

Championship credentials will come under scrutiny once more on Saturday evening.

By ALLON SINAI
maccabi netanya 88 (photo credit: )
maccabi netanya 88
(photo credit: )
Maccabi Netanya's championship credentials will come under scrutiny once more on Saturday evening. Lothar Matthaus's team hosts Hapoel Tel Aviv and can prove all the doubters wrong yet again by claiming a fifth consecutive league victory. Netanya has been far from convincing so far this season, but the players have proven their ability to grind out victories, and the team has already built up a nine-point cushion over two-time defending champion Betar Jerusalem. Like Netanya, Haopel also had high hopes coming into this season. Eli Gutman's team, however, has struggled desperately, winning just once in five matches. Meanwhile, Maccabi Tel Aviv, which lost 1-0 to Netanya in its last league match, will look to rebound from its first defeat of the season when it hosts Hakoach Amidar Ramat Gan on Saturday. The club's Canadian-Jewish owner Alex Shnaider will attend his first match of the season on Saturday and will surely be hoping his presence will help to inspire Ran Ben-Shimon's side to an improved performance. Maccabi has won just twice in five matches and will be in danger of losing touch with the top of the table if it fails to defeat a Hakoach team yet to win a game this season. "We should definitely be playing better by this stage of the season," Ben-Shimon said on Thursday. "I believe that as our confidence grows we will play better. I hope Alex Shnaider enjoys the team's performance." Maccabi Haifa hosts Tel Aviv next week, and will be hoping to enter the big match on the back of a win against Bnei Sakhnin this Saturday. Haifa has impressed so far and will be looking to keep the pressure on Netanya with a victory against a weak Sakhnin side, which will finally play its first match of the season at the Doha Stadium on Saturday. Haifa coach Elisha Levy guided Sakhnin to fourth position last season and is looking forward to returning to Doha. "It's very exciting to return to Doha for the first time," he said. "I had two wonderful years at Sakhnin, but I'll put all my emotions aside and try and guide my side to the win. It won't be easy, but I hope we can claim three points." Also Saturday, rock-bottom Bnei Yehuda hosts Ashdod SC and Ironi Kiryat Shmona visits Maccabi Petah Tikva. On Sunday, Betar will look to win for just the second time in six matches when it hosts Hapoel Petah Tikva.