45 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The terraces14 Feb 2028
The mood at Hapoel Acre has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hapoel Acre can pretend not to have heard.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Hapoel Kfar Saba moved on, Shalev Ovnish reports back to Hapoel Acre, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hapoel Acre this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
17 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Words at Hapoel Acre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Junior Traoré is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Hapoel Acre, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deal with Maccabi Tel Aviv is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Omer Dahan and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
This is not rotation. Diaa Lababedy has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Hapoel Acre is pretending otherwise.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Words at Hapoel Acre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Junior Traoré is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Hapoel Acre asked and Hapoel Beer Sheva said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Position 14 and 4 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
1‑5 against Hapoel Haifa, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Hapoel Acre, and it is not being withdrawn.
Everything agreed with Hapoel Tel Aviv, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Hapoel Acre offered $520.0K; Hapoel Tel Aviv said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Omer Dahan was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Hapoel Acre and Hapoel Haifa in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
40 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hapoel Acre can pretend not to have heard.
Hapoel Acre asked and Hapoel Tel Aviv said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Junior Traoré falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 13 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Hapoel Acre, and it is not being withdrawn.
This is not rotation. Diaa Lababedy has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Hapoel Acre is pretending otherwise.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Junior Traoré falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Hapoel Acre asked and Hapoel Beer Sheva said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Hapoel Kfar Saba left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout3 Jan 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Uri Cohen left the room before anybody could ask which.
38 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
1‑4 against Hapoel Raanana, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Hapoel Acre, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Hapoel Acre have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Words at Hapoel Acre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Omer Dahan is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
37 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Omer Dahan was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Words at Hapoel Acre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Junior Traoré is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Both clubs in the mire, one fixture between them, and a ground that will be louder and more frightened than at any point in the season. Hapoel Acre know what is at stake and so does everybody in the away end.
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Omer Dahan and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Words at Hapoel Acre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Junior Traoré is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Hapoel Acre can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
34 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Position 14 and 3 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hapoel Acre can pretend not to have heard.
6 goals in one match, Raz Twizer on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Hapoel Acre and Maccabi Netanya.
Maccabi Netanya left with the points after a 2‑4 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Words at Hapoel Acre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Junior Traoré is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
33 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Hapoel Acre has to find a result from somewhere.
The terraces22 Nov 2027
The mood at Hapoel Acre has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
20 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hapoel Acre lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
0‑6 to Maccabi Tel Aviv, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Hapoel Acre have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match20 Nov 2027
Nobody could stop scoring
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Hapoel Acre and Maccabi Tel Aviv in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Words at Hapoel Acre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Junior Traoré is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
28 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hapoel Acre lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Omer Dahan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ginjiro Ikegaya was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Nobody at Hapoel Acre will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Omer Dahan trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Roei Shukrani's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Osama Khalaila’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Hapoel Acre needing him to play as if none of it matters.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Hapoel Acre would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
35 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hapoel Acre lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Hapoel Acre and Bnei Sakhnin in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Words at Hapoel Acre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Junior Traoré is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Uri Cohen after 1‑5, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
42 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hapoel Acre lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Hapoel Acre, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hapoel Acre this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Junior Traoré was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
30 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The words a physio says slowly. 49 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
1‑3 to Beitar Jerusalem, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Omer Dahan falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hapoel Acre this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Uri Cohen to a room that had heard them before.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Roei Shukrani has his answer from Hapoel Acre; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The words a physio says slowly. 56 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Player ratings18 Oct 2027
Up for the corner, and Junior Traoré delivers — 7.34
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Junior Traoré scored, was marked 7.34, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Omer Dahan and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Junior Traoré was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Uri Cohen was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Hapoel Acre dressing room was either.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Nitai Greis's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The words a physio says slowly. 63 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hapoel Acre can pretend not to have heard.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Words at Hapoel Acre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Junior Traoré is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Hapoel Acre are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Osama Khalaila is on it.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
Roei Shukrani is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Hapoel Haifa next, and one man in the Hapoel Acre dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Hapoel Acre know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
28 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
70 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hapoel Acre lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Words at Hapoel Acre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Omer Dahan is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
27 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
78 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hapoel Acre lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Hapoel Beer Sheva go through and Hapoel Acre go home, 2‑7 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
0‑3 to Maccabi Petach Tikva, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
Ange Messi, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.37
A mark of 8.37 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
2-7, and long before the end the away end had switched from encouragement to something considerably more pointed. Nobody rings a phone-in about losing narrowly.
9 goals in one match, Ange Messi on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Hapoel Acre and Hapoel Beer Sheva.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Junior Traoré was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The words a physio says slowly. 85 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Words at Hapoel Acre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Junior Traoré is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 10 combined actions and a mark of 6.58, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Uri Cohen was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Hapoel Acre dressing room was either.
41 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hapoel Acre lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hapoel Acre can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets6 Sep 2027
$310.0K settles it between the clubs for Shahar Piven
Hapoel Tel Aviv have accepted the money. What Hapoel Acre do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Hapoel Acre close the window on a squad of their own making
13 in and 6 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Words at Hapoel Acre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Junior Traoré is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hapoel Acre this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Hapoel Acre can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
The words a physio says slowly. 48 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
7.68, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
The offer went to Hapoel Tel Aviv this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
The deal with Maccabi Tel Aviv is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Boardroom30 Aug 2027
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Hapoel Acre
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
63 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hapoel Acre lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The deal with Maccabi Tel Aviv is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
$520.0K on the table at Hapoel Tel Aviv. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
$520.0K was the most the club would pay and Hapoel Tel Aviv were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words at Hapoel Acre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Junior Traoré is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Maccabi Tel Aviv have kept their man, and Hapoel Acre go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
70 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hapoel Acre lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The deal with Hapoel Beer Sheva is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Hapoel Acre have gone to Hapoel Tel Aviv with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yadin Lugasi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Hapoel Acre asked and Hapoel Beer Sheva said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Hapoel Acre are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Nobody at Hapoel Acre will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
The words a physio says slowly. 79 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hapoel Acre can pretend not to have heard.
$520.0K on the table at Hapoel Tel Aviv. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yadin Lugasi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Hapoel Acre asked and Maccabi Tel Aviv said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Hapoel Acre have made the call to Hapoel Tel Aviv. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Roei Shukrani is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
21 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hapoel Acre lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Hapoel Acre, and it is not being withdrawn.
Hapoel Tel Aviv wanted more than $320.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Hapoel Tel Aviv have kept their man, and Hapoel Acre go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words at Hapoel Acre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Junior Traoré is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Hapoel Beer Sheva have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Romi Cohen
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
108 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hapoel Acre lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The deal with Maccabi Haifa is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Hapoel Acre have gone to Hapoel Tel Aviv with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Junior Traoré falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
133 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hapoel Acre lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Hapoel Acre, and it is not being withdrawn.
Hapoel Acre have gone to Hapoel Tel Aviv with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Michael Merenstein and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Words at Hapoel Acre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Junior Traoré is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
A loan enquiry to Hapoel Beer Sheva: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Maccabi Tel Aviv have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
In brief
The dugoutOfek Antman has become a man the manager trusts
The dugoutOfek Antman asks for a word with the manager
Nobody at Hapoel Acre will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at Hapoel Acre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Romi Cohen is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hapoel Acre this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Junior Traoré trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words at Hapoel Acre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Romi Cohen is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
What was a back-page story is now a matter for the terraces, and the terraces do not do nuance. Hapoel Acre would like it dealt with before it becomes the only question anybody asks.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Yadin Lugasi falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Emmanuel Solomon and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Hapoel Acre can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Hapoel Acre, and both men came out saying it was fine.
20 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Hapoel Acre are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at Hapoel Acre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yadin Lugasi is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Michael Merenstein and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Uri Cohen after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Successful dribbles: 15. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
In brief
The dugoutYadin Lugasi knocks on the manager's door
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 18 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 9 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Junior Traoré falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Nitai Greis has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
1‑4 against Hapoel Kiryat Shmona, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 7 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Junior Traoré was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Hapoel Acre, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at Hapoel Acre until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
The deal with Hapoel Tel Aviv is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Junior Traoré was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Hapoel Acre asked and Maccabi Netanya said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
0‑3 against Maccabi Haifa, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
The deal with Maccabi Netanya is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Junior Traoré falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Maccabi Tel Aviv have kept their man, and Hapoel Acre go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Hapoel Beer Sheva have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hapoel Acre can pretend not to have heard.
Everything agreed with Maccabi Tel Aviv, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Junior Traoré was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Hapoel Tel Aviv have kept their man, and Hapoel Acre go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Osama Khalaila had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Hapoel Raanana were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.85 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Hapoel Acre have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Junior Traoré was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Diaa Lababedy and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Ofek Antman is on it.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 5 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Junior Traoré falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Romi Cohen was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Uri Cohen after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
Levan Kutalia is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Bnei Yehuda? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
0‑4 to Hapoel Tel Aviv, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 5 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Hapoel Acre can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Junior Traoré falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Hapoel Acre know it.
7 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Hapoel Acre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Junior Traoré is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Hapoel Acre can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Nobody at Hapoel Acre will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Junior Traoré was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Osama Khalaila’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Hapoel Acre needing him to play as if none of it matters.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ange Messi signs something — a contract at Hapoel Acre or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Hapoel Acre will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Hapoel Acre and Bnei Sakhnin, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Junior Traoré falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
5 saves does not settle the argument about whose fault it was, and the argument will run all week. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines whoever caused them.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hapoel Acre this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom9 Nov 2026
Nobody left the Hapoel Acre dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑6 defeat, delivered by Uri Cohen to a room that had heard them before.
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Ofek Antman knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Uri Cohen after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
Ofek Antman is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Romi Cohen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Yadin Lugasi has moved up it.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Hapoel Acre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Junior Traoré is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Raz Twizer was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 11 actions, 6.60, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
13 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Uri Cohen after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Levan Kutalia's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Tomi Tzizoshvili is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
1‑3 to Hapoel Haifa, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Junior Traoré falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Uri Cohen to a room that had heard them before.
Romi Cohen and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ange Messi signs something — a contract at Hapoel Acre or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Hapoel Acre will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
1‑4 against Maccabi Haifa, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Hapoel Acre know it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Junior Traoré was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The young player of the month award goes to a 19-year-old at Hapoel Acre who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
109% of the income goes out in wages at Hapoel Acre
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Nobody left the Hapoel Acre dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Four weeks in which nobody in the division did his job better. The award goes on a shelf and the player goes back into the side, which is the order Hapoel Acre prefer.
At 37 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.94, and nobody on the pitch better.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Up for the corner, and Junior Traoré delivers — 7.85
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Junior Traoré scored, was marked 7.85, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Osama Khalaila. 3‑1 against Maccabi Petach Tikva, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Junior Traoré was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Junior Traoré has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Maccabi Petach Tikva spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
Marked 8.07 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.01, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Up for the corner, and Roei Shukrani delivers — 7.75
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Roei Shukrani scored, was marked 7.75, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Vasco da Gama is saying, and nobody at Hapoel Acre is enjoying the guessing.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Hapoel Acre and Hapoel Raanana, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Hapoel Acre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Junior Traoré is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Successful dribbles: 13. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
19 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hapoel Acre lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 13 signed and 3 gone
That is the business done at Hapoel Acre until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Junior Traoré was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Goiânia have kept their man, and Hapoel Acre go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hapoel Acre this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Roei Shukrani has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Hapoel Raanana in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Hapoel Acre know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
MarketThe window shut and Ashraf Rabbach is still in the building
34 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hapoel Acre lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Hapoel Acre, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Junior Traoré was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Athletico Paranaense have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
41 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hapoel Acre lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Junior Traoré falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Junior Traoré was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Hapoel Acre, another week without a signature from Junior Traoré.
13 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
A loan enquiry to AS Saint-Etienne: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.