Summary: Hapoel Beer Sheva - Maccabi Tel Aviv 0:1/Sport1
Was he or wasn't he different? We will never know, but in my opinion this is one of the most stormy affairs in history, and not only in football but in the annals of a nation and the world in general, something that ranges from the "dirty business" affair that has complicated the State of Israel since the 1950s, through Watergate to the embezzlement of Bernie Madoff . If this story is not investigated years ahead, there is no revival not only for football, but for world sports.
And after we finished intensifying one more moment of controversy among many in the history of the refereeing world, it's time to talk a little about Maccabi Tel Aviv and the football it plays. More correctly - not playing.
The confrontation at Turner brought us back, once again, to that game in the summer and the 1:6 that Maccabi Tel Aviv gave to Hapoel Beer Sheva. Beyond the desire of the hosts to regain even a little of the lost respect, this result is a mirror image for the leader. That 6-1 in the summer helped build the public's confidence in Robbie Keane's team, the 6-1 to Olympiakos shattered it. Maccabi Tel Aviv recovered nicely from that defeat and even increased the gap in the table, but it is far from instilling a sense of security among its fans. Even if she leads the table by 8 points with three rounds to go, the doubt in her ability to close the story will still linger.
That, right now, is Robbie Keane's legacy - he ran for the championship, and for some reason no one feels that way. He is mostly caught off guard when the opposing coach makes changes. Last week Massai Dego caused his team to freeze in the second half, yesterday it was Eliniv Barda with the substitution of Antonio Sefer who took Maccabi Tel Aviv off balance. We can continue to talk about Van Overeem's disadvantage in the center of the field, but this is not the problem of the leader, but the continuous fixation and stagnation of her coach.
The most problematic point, in my opinion, is the use, or rather the lack of use, of the Turgeman generation. Against Maccabi Haifa the striker entered in the 86th minute, last night he got an upgrade and came on in the 85th minute. Against Sakhnin, he came on the field in the 72nd minute. Next to Zahavi or in his place? Keane has already made tough decisions in the past, but it seems that after he finished reshaping the hierarchy at Maccabi Tel Aviv, he redrawn the boundaries and returned his developing striker to the incubator. It's not that Turgeman shone too this season and not once, like in the Cup, he didn't justify the credit given to him, but when the team is not functioning he is the man who can bring about the change. Well, that's hard to do when you're on the court for just a few minutes each game.
At least Zahavi made sure that on Saturday against Hapoel Haifa, Kane would not have a dilemma.
The 6:1 resonates with Hapoel Beer Sheva at every opportunity, and if it doesn't resonate there are always wicked people like us in the media who make sure to mention it. With zero foreigners in the lineup, Beer Sheva played for its honor last night. With three foreigners coming off the bench she earned it.
It was an important victory, for the simple reason that Beer Sheva is now fighting for consciousness. She got off to a very bad start, recording ten straight wins that took her within touching distance of the very high top, then faded again. At the moment she is not only with a significant advance in the battle for third place, but also within a reasonable range for second place.
The coming week may not definitively shape opinion about this confusing season, but it will give it some direction. On Saturday night a tough battle in Haifa, then a semi-final against Maccabi Netanya. With all due respect to the prestigious victory over Maccabi Tel Aviv, in the coming days another chapter will be written in Beer Sheva's strange season, which is divided into several episodes. Good, bad or surprising ending? One could declare that we are on the way to solving the mystery, but in this group things change all the time, and quickly, that it is better not to gamble.
August 25, 2015. Maccabi Tel Aviv has just created a sensation when it drew 1:1 in Bloomfield from P.C. Basel and promoted to the Champions League. Less than 48 hours passed and the club dropped a bombshell: the goalkeeper "the best in the world for his age" Frederic Rajkovic was purchased, Juan Pablo was released. It was Jordi Cruyff's most brutal move, a predatory and unscrupulous mate, while at the same time making professional sense. The checkbook was opened after the qualification, and Maccabi Tel Aviv went for the best investment for its taste, even at the cost of the cynical image that would stick to it.
I remembered this episode on Sunday. While Maccabi Haifa is still, at least theoretically and even more so, in the fight for the championship, the club issued a statement that Barak Becher has closed for two years. It was an official announcement of a move that wasn't even signed. The heart went out to Masai Dago, who at one point the carriage he was sitting in turned into a pumpkin again.
Conscientiously, Maccabi Haifa came out evil and cruel precisely against the man who won the hearts of football fans from one end to the other, but professional sports is first and foremost a business. There were too many indications at the club that Bachar should not be delayed. paranoia? Maybe, but just because you're paranoid doesn't mean you're not being chased. Maccabi Haifa needed Barak Becher. He was free, even too free. Now he's not, lock him up, end of story. With all the respect and sympathy there is for Dago - in the end you do what you have to do.
Which brings me back to the wonderful scene from "Moneyball", where Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) teaches his apprentice Paul DePodesta (Jonah Hill) how to announce to a player that he is being traded in the middle of the season.
A theory I adhere to is that Hapoel Tel Aviv and Beitar Jerusalem cannot be relegated to the National League this season without significantly dropping points, because there will always be two worse. Hapoel Petah Tikva will be relegated if nothing dramatic happens, and right now the money is on MS Ashdod as relegation The second
thing is that the two big ones make sure to shake the foundation on which they stand, what's more, both of them did drop points this season. Like the delusional characters who caused themselves stupid catastrophes in "1,000 Ways to Die", Hapoel Tel Aviv and Bitar do not let go of the fear of relegation. themselves again and again in the mud.
Beitar's loss to the improving team was taken into account. Although 15,000 spectators at Teddy (Saturday afternoon football is the real thing) expected an easy trio, but Haim Silves injected a different spirit into his players and gave a nice sting. The more significant thing is Hapoel Tel Aviv, which entered a destructive loop With Avi Rikan's golaso, the confidence that was on the floor dropped to minus 3.
Hapoel Tel Aviv is now embarking on a series of three sick games - away against Maccabi Petah Tikva which itself did not guarantee a stay, at home against Beitar, and in Netanya. Then it hosts Ashdod, and who knows what the situation will be at the bottom. In the last round, she meets Silves in Netanya. Just like then, on May 13, 2017. Is history repeating itself?