Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Liam Hermesh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
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 Kfar Saba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Noam 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Hapoel Kfar Saba, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
In brief
SquadQuestions about Roy Harel on the training pitch
Liam Hermesh 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Noam Cohen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Razi Abu Hamdan is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Sarel Cohen trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Saar Elkayam signs something — a contract at Hapoel Kfar Saba or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The table has started to be checked before the results are in, and that is always the tell. Nobody at Hapoel Kfar Saba says the word out loud, and everybody in the building is thinking it.
In brief
SquadThe training reports on Sarel Cohen are not good
Position 13 and 11 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.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Omer Abada has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Liam Hermesh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Yoav Koren 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 squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Adi Zur is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Hapoel Kfar Saba is running low.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Noam 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Hapoel Kfar Saba know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
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 most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Hapoel Kfar Saba will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Omer Abada is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Dor Dabbur is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Noam Cohen 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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Noam Cohen's mistake
Amit Lemkin 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 Liam Hermesh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
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 Razi Abu Hamdan is on it.
The table is being checked before the results are in, which is always the tell. Nobody at Hapoel Kfar Saba says the word and every senior player in the building is thinking it.
In brief
The dugoutRoy Harel asks for a word with the manager
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Omer Abada has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Hapoel Kfar Saba have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Liam Hermesh 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Noam 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.
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Liran Sardal was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
“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 Kfar Saba, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The table is being checked before the results are in, which is always the tell. Nobody at Hapoel Kfar Saba says the word and every senior player in the building is thinking it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Gilbert Bandama signs something — a contract at Hapoel Kfar Saba or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Hapoel Kfar Saba is running low.
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 Kfar Saba 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 Noam Cohen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Liam Hermesh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Sarel Cohen trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Liam Hermesh
Liam Hermesh 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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Hapoel Kfar Saba told Liam Hermesh something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
7 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Noam Cohen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Hapoel Kfar Saba 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Hapoel Kfar Saba, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Omer Abada has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Liam Hermesh 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Noam 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.
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Eden Cohen was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
“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 Kfar Saba, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Hapoel Kfar Saba may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Liam Hermesh 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.
Gilbert Bandama 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Roy Harel has his answer from Hapoel Kfar Saba; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Eden Cohen is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
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 last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 11 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Noam 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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Omer Abada after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
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.
“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 Kfar Saba will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
26 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Hapoel Kfar Saba has to find a result from somewhere.
0‑5 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.
Liam Hermesh 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.
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑5, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Noam Cohen 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.
In brief
Player ratingsAn own goal to forget for Niv Vaknin
25 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Hapoel Kfar Saba has to find a result from somewhere.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Hapoel Kfar Saba can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
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.
Amit Lemkin 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Liam Hermesh 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. Maccabi Haifa have kept their man, and Hapoel Kfar Saba go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
24 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Hapoel Kfar Saba has to find a result from somewhere.
“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 Kfar Saba can pretend not to have heard.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 7 arrived, 0 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
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 Kfar Saba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Hapoel Haifa have kept their man, and Hapoel Kfar Saba go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
23 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Hapoel Kfar Saba has to find a result from somewhere.
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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Hapoel Kfar Saba have done the hard part with Hapoel Tel Aviv, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Noam Cohen 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 Kfar Saba have made the call to Bnei Yehuda. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
22 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.
There were 8 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Gilbert Bandama, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.19
A mark of 8.19 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Hapoel Tel Aviv is saying, and nobody at Hapoel Kfar Saba is enjoying the guessing.
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 Kfar Saba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is 20 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Noam 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.
Hapoel Haifa 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.
Hapoel Kfar Saba have made the call to Bnei Yehuda. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
In brief
The dugoutThe team sheet said everything about Hamza Shibli
21 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Hapoel Kfar Saba has to find a result from somewhere.
Everything agreed with Maccabi Haifa, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Maccabi Netanya keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Gilbert Bandama and Hapoel Kfar Saba agree another 5 years.
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.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Hapoel Kfar Saba is running low.
“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 Kfar Saba can pretend not to have heard.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Hapoel Kfar Saba have done the hard part with Maccabi Netanya, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Gilbert Bandama 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.
A goal on 94 minutes turned three points into one and a good afternoon into an argument about game management that will run until Saturday.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Noam Cohen 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 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.
0‑3 to Bnei Yehuda, 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.
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 dugout28 Dec 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 0‑3 defeat, delivered by Omer Abada to a room that had heard them before.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Noam Cohen 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.
He is 20 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
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 Kfar Saba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 Razi Abu Hamdan is on it.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Liam Eissat 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.
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.
17 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.
7 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Hapoel Kfar Saba can tell you which week it ends in.
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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Guy Shechter has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Uri Levy has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
16 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.
0‑3 to Hapoel Beer Sheva, 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.
6 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
“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 Kfar Saba can pretend not to have heard.
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 Kfar Saba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Roy Harel and Hapoel Kfar Saba agree another 4 years.
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 dugout7 Dec 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 0‑3 defeat, delivered by Omer Abada to a room that had heard them before.
In brief
SquadWords at Hapoel Kfar Saba training over how hard people work
15 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.
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.
0‑3 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.
5 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout30 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 0‑3 defeat, delivered by Omer Abada to a room that had heard them before.
14 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Hapoel Kfar Saba has to find a result from somewhere.
Successful dribbles: 23. 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.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Hapoel Kfar Saba can tell you which week it ends in.
Yoav Koren 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.
19 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Half the programme played, position 13, 6 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
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 Razi Abu Hamdan is on it.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Noam Cohen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
13 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 13, 5 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Match14 Nov 2026
Nobody could stop scoring
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Hapoel Kfar Saba and Maccabi Tel Aviv in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Beaten 7 times, with 5 saves for company. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines on their record whoever actually caused them, which is the quiet injustice of the job.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Hapoel Kfar Saba can tell you which week it ends in.
Yoav Koren 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Omer Abada after 0‑7, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
In brief
SquadWords at Hapoel Kfar Saba training over how hard people work
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Noam Cohen
12 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Hapoel Kfar Saba has to find a result from somewhere.
0‑4 to Bnei Sakhnin, 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 team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“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 Kfar Saba can pretend not to have heard.
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 Kfar Saba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Yonatan Refaelov has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
11 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Hapoel Kfar Saba has to find a result from somewhere.
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.
21 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Saar Elkayam 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.
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Omer Abada chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Successful dribbles: 30. 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.
Minute 90, against Beitar Jerusalem, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
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 Kfar Saba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 dugout26 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Omer Abada chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Noam Cohen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Dan Kaduri
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Hapoel Kfar Saba has to find a result from somewhere.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Hapoel Kfar Saba can tell you which week it ends in.
Yoav Koren 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.
8 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 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.
“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 Kfar Saba can pretend not to have heard.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of 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 Kfar Saba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Adi Atzili has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Successful dribbles: 32. 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.
7 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.
Yoav Koren and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Oct 2026
15 new faces, and Hapoel Kfar Saba are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Saar Elkayam is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Omer Abada chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Noam Cohen 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.
6 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.
Yoav Koren 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.
At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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.
Yoav Koren 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.
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Omer Abada was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Hapoel Kfar Saba dressing room was either.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Noam 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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Hamza Shibli’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Hapoel Kfar Saba needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Eitan Melikson is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Eden Shechter has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Saar Elkayam 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.
17 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Omer Abada was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Hapoel Kfar Saba dressing room was either.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Niv Vaknin 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.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 18 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Rudes keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Saar Elkayam 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Podbrezova is saying, and nobody at Hapoel Kfar Saba is enjoying the guessing.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Hapoel Kfar Saba and Hapoel Tel Aviv in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Yoav Koren 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.
15 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.
Hapoel Kfar Saba offered $2.6M; Maccabi Haifa 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.
Everything agreed with Podbrezova, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Lior Kasa was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $1.7M. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
Yoav Koren 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.
Lior Kasa is 20, and Hapoel Kfar Saba have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
He is 18, and nobody at Hapoel Kfar Saba signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Hapoel Kfar Saba and Hapoel Haifa have settled on $150.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
The offer went to Maccabi Haifa 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.
$1.8M was the most the club would pay and Maccabi Haifa 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.
Hapoel Kfar Saba asked and Bnei Yehuda said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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 Kfar Saba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Liam Eissat 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 Kfar Saba have gone to Maccabi Haifa 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.
Hapoel Kfar Saba offered $490.0K; Maccabi Netanya 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.
Yoav Koren 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Tal Levy has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Amit Levy has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
$430.0K on the table at Maccabi Netanya. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Konadu Yiadom and Hapoel Kfar Saba agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Bnei Yehuda have kept their man, and Hapoel Kfar Saba go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
12 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.