Less method, more pressure: Hapoel Be'er Sheva's test
Hapoel Be'er Sheva is in a difficult position after a 2:1 loss to Vikingur Reykjavik in the first leg of the Champions League qualifiers. With the departure of star player Kings Kangwa and poor recent form, coach Ran Kozuch faces a critical test to keep the club's European campaign alive.
The entry of Israeli teams into the European qualifying matches last week was mostly successful: Maccabi Tel Aviv, Hapoel Tel Aviv, and Beitar Jerusalem recorded victories and are in a very good position to advance to the next round. But with all due respect to the Europa League qualifiers (Maccabi Tel Aviv) and the Conference League (Hapoel Tel Aviv and Beitar), the flagship of European football is the Champions League, and there the Israeli representative, Hapoel Be'er Sheva, is in a very complicated situation ahead of the decisive second leg. The team of Ran Kozuch, which on paper met an opponent significantly weaker than it, the Icelandic Vikingur Reykjavik, surrendered 2:1 to it in the first match held away, as part of the second qualifying round of the tournament. This evening (20:30, Hungary), Be'er Sheva has a chance to correct the situation in the second leg which it will host in Budapest, where any victory by a margin of two goals or more will be enough for it. The Israeli champion did not impress, but played better than Vikingur, and still managed to lose and make things difficult for itself ahead of this evening. A source in the professional staff admitted:
"There are many excuses for why we lost in the first match, but in the end, it's all excuses. We need to pass Vikingur and that's it. Ensuring qualification to the league stage in Europe is something that Hapoel Be'er Sheva must achieve for the sake of the club's future. We need to do this every year to stay at the top of Israeli football."
A professional hole in the midfield
But it is not only the annoying loss that makes things difficult for Be'er Sheva ahead of the second leg, but also the weak performance shown by Kozuch's players. In fact, this performance and especially the lethargic attitude have accompanied the team since that dreamy evening when it secured its championship title after a 3:1 home victory over Maccabi Tel Aviv on May 19, one round before the end of the season. Since then, the team has held four official matches, in all of which it lost: 5:2 at Toto Turner to Maccabi Haifa in the final round of last season, 2:1 to Maccabi Tel Aviv in the State Cup final, 3:1 at home to Maccabi Tel Aviv a week and a half ago in the Aluf HaAlufim (Super Cup) match, and 2:1 to the Icelanders last Tuesday.
In between, in the preparation matches at the training camp in Poland, Be'er Sheva recorded a 3:2 victory over Radomiak Radom, a 3:1 loss to the Polish Legia Warsaw, and a 2:2 draw with Omonia Nicosia. In all those matches, Be'er Sheva did not play the football that has so characterized it in the last two years since the arrival of Ran Kozuch, the one that made it the best team in Israel. It is about the intense pressing game alongside the smart and consistent ball movement that allowed it to exhaust opponents on both halves of the pitch. Since securing the championship, these characteristics in Be'er Sheva's game have simply disappeared.
And to all this is added the heavy professional blow that landed on the champion this past weekend. What had been in the air for a whole year has come to pass: Kings Kangwa, the team's star, has signed with Panathinaikos. Fortunately for it, Be'er Sheva will deal with the huge professional hole that is expected to open up with the departure of the best player in the league for the last two years only after this evening's meeting with the Icelanders, which will be his last game for the team. The team's other star, Lucas Ventura, envied his friend and may leave very soon, out of a desire to upgrade financially and professionally.
The recruits haven't clicked
It is easiest to claim that Be'er Sheva simply did not prepare for what happened this summer, but that would be very inaccurate. Instead of its best Israeli defender, Or Blorian, who left for the USA, it added an Israeli defender who broke through in the Premier League last season, Itay Rotman from Maccabi Petah Tikva. Instead of goalkeeper Niv Eliasi, who at the end of last season the professional staff decided was not good enough, Marco Wolff was brought in from Maccabi Petah Tikva. Instead of Shay Elias who was released, another player whom Kozuch knows from his days with the Luzons (Maccabi Petah Tikva) was added, Niv Yehoshua, one of the most promising young midfielders in Israeli football.
In addition, a foreign player arrived with a significant financial investment that ignited the fans' imagination, Joao Victor, who was purchased from the Hungarian Zalaegerszeg for 1.7 million euros. Instead of the veteran Portuguese defender Helder Lopes who left, another Portuguese defender is supposed to join this week, Pedro Amador. The decision to continue for another season with the captain and leader of the team, Miguel Vitor, also seems appropriate. All this is good and nice on paper. In practice, Wolff and Rotman have not yet gotten into the swing of things, Victor tore his hamstring in the Aluf HaAlufim match, and 37-year-old Vitor is struggling to replicate his past ability. Be'er Sheva has also so far avoided adding another right midfielder, as the club still hopes that Dan Biton will recover from his myocarditis and return to serve the team.
Thus, it turned out that except for Yehoshua, who was one of the few bright spots in the first match in Iceland, Be'er Sheva is currently presenting a lineup that is based almost 100 percent on last season's players, minus their senior defender and left-back of recent years. It is precisely Kangwa, on whom the team can no longer count, who looks like the only player in good form, and he scored both of the team's goals in the Aluf HaAlufim match and in Reykjavik.
Kozuch's challenge
And there is also the Ran Kozuch matter. The coach who established himself as a senior figure in Israeli football cannot afford a third consecutive qualifying campaign with Be'er Sheva that ends in failure. Barak Bakhar (twice), Yossi Abukasis, and Elyaniv Barda led the club to the group stages of the Europa League and the Conference League. Since then, the tournament format has changed (moving to leagues instead of groups), but another elimination and it will be possible to identify a stain on the ambitious coach's shirt.
Kozuch has managed nine matches in Europe as Hapoel Be'er Sheva coach and won only one of them, against the Bulgarian Cherno More two years ago. If one has to bet, it is likely that Kozuch will not reach the Champions League with Be'er Sheva. In the next stage, a difficult hurdle is supposed to await him in the form of Red Star Belgrade, and even after that, there is a playoff stage against an even higher-quality opponent. And yet, the coach must pass Vikingur to improve his dismal record in Europe. Moreover, a victory by a two-goal margin will ensure the champion at least a Europa League playoff, and in case it fails there, it will drop to the Conference League league stage. Even if it is eliminated, the Israeli champion will still have opportunities to correct things: it will move to the third round of the Europa League qualifiers, and if it is eliminated from there as well, it will move to the Conference League playoffs. Elimination from all three of these tournaments will not pass quietly with Be'er Sheva fans, and for owner Alona Barkat, it will be marked as a huge disappointment. Kozuch and Be'er Sheva have already proven that they know how to get out of deep holes. This evening, a big challenge awaits them in that direction.
