Ashdod beat Hapoel Kfar Shalem 4-0 in the Liga Leumit's fourth regular season round on 6 September 2026. The hosts took all three points comfortably, with two goals before half-time and two more after A. Salifu's red card. It was exactly the kind of result we expected, and here's the thing — the confidence level we flagged beforehand held up.
I. Tamam put Ashdod ahead in the nineteenth minute, then N. Dabush doubled the lead just after twenty-eight. To be fair, Kfar Shalem didn't look particularly dangerous in those opening exchanges. The home side controlled the tempo, worked the ball into dangerous areas, and took their chances when they came.
By then the match had shifted. Salifu received a red card in the fifty-third minute, leaving the visitors a man down for the remainder. Ashdod saw it out with composure, not rushing but making their superiority clear. Dabush added his second in the sixty-seventh, and H. Boahen sealed it in the seventy-fifth.
The statistics tell the story too. Ashdod registered 57 attacks against 68 for Kfar Shalem, but the quality of chances told a different tale. The hosts had six shots on target and nine off; the visitors managed zero on target from two attempts. Possession was marginal at 52-48, but the shots on target made the difference.
Ashdod sit third with nine points from four games — three wins and a defeat — while Kfar Shalem remain eighth on six points after two losses. The gap between them grows, and the visitors' form looks increasingly fragile. Things came to a head in this fixture, and the result reflects where both sides stand.
We had called for a home win with 85 per cent confidence, and the performance justified that. Ashdod were the better side from start to finish, and Kfar Shalem had no answer when the game opened up.
