Finally! After a decade of suffering - Maccabi Haifa is a champion!
Before publishing an article/column, the editor and I think about what title to put at the beginning.
To be honest, today is easy. No need to think and struggle.
Ladies and gentlemen, after 10 years, the championship is back in Carmel!
10 years of unending heartache!
Sometimes thoughts arose... that maybe the empire in green would disappear and slowly crumble and crash, like past empires in Israeli football. For evidence, in a season when a magnificent club like Hapoel Petah Tikva is relegated to League A, we need to congratulate: that we lived and existed and reached this time... A-moooo!!!
First of all: respect to Yaakov Shahar
First and foremost, we need to stand up and applaud the head of the system - Yaakov Shahar, who did not give up and continued to invest his personal money for the success of the club, and did so without listening to background noises that tried to divert him from the path. The living proof is the signing of Omar Atzili who was the fuel additive for the Honda, with non-stop involvement of goals and especially cooking that does not embarrass the contestants of Master Chef.
Barak Becher - the right man in the right place
The 41-year-old coach is currently in the status of a senior Israeli coach.
This championship is his fourth, but it is the biggest of them all.
As a fan in stand C, he became the coach of the club he supported.
True, it is true that Hapoel BS's first championship came thanks to him after a drought of 40 years in the Negev, but it is impossible to ignore the large amount of money that Alona Barkat poured into the project she built at the time in the south, while the other league teams stood speechless in the face of the brilliant and uncompromising management of the new boss at home the red.
The story in the championship of Maccabi Haifa is different, magical, exciting, exhausting and also painful quite a bit of the time.
By the way, he was also last night in the coronation game, when towards the end it became an inexplicable and incomprehensible thriller.
Becher, with the professional beehive he built and which was constantly cheered by him, hoisted a championship plate with a club that was broken up and did not believe in itself.
When we were children we were told "There is no can't, there is no want", but I am sorry to disappoint the teachers of Israel, as far as the greens are concerned, this was not so true.
They really wanted to, but really couldn't, until the new teacher at the school, Mr. Becher, arrived, who changed everything.
In this championship, we must mention Marco Belbul, who had a significant part in building the infrastructure last season, when at the end of the game, it was fun and honoring to hear the current coach admit this to his predecessor in the position. inhale
A cohesive and unified team of players
During almost the entire season, the dressing room in Kfar Galim was quiet and connected. This is a very important element in a championship race. Rarely was there background noise from players who didn't play much, but it was absolutely minor. The squad of players lacked experience in championship fights and over time this was evident quite a few times. But now, after the win, to the joy of the club and its fans, this excuse has been deleted from the lexicon.
I will not mention specific names of players thanks to whom the championship came, because it is definitely a successful mix of all of them. Some stood out more, some less, but in the end - they all created the whole. The combination between the local players and the foreign players was conducted in a wonderful combination of arms.
It is said about this: together we will win.
Respect between the rafters
Josh Cohen, who arrived as a second goalkeeper, slowly became a joker and stabilized the defensive game, with an excellent goalkeeping display that manifested itself, among other things, in a fantastic penalty save.
Josh was crowned as the player of the season and entered a small and limited club of goalkeepers who win such a title.
After many years, a replacement for Nir Davidovich has finally emerged.
A fairytale ending
The images and voices that came last night from Sami Ofer were chilling and filled with a multitude of emotions of all kinds and species.
The championship celebrations were soaked in tears. Tears of happiness burst forth. An entire generation of Maccabi Haifa fans who did not get to see a championship, when last night, this chapter was complete and complete, when it arrived in the form of a fairytale ending.
The journey was completed after a long and arduous season of Corona and fighting, with the club's 13th championship.
eat the hat
I stand, cheer and eat my hat, even in these very moments.
During the season I claimed that there would be no championship, and now I admit my mistake and apologize to the Maccabi Haifa players.
Yeruham thanks and leaves... no?
As someone who witnessed the championships of the previous decade, I must admit that it is a great pleasure to end a football season with a champion in green, and not in yellow or red, and it seems that the whole league, except for Maccabi Tel Aviv, wanted it.
After all, even at the traffic lights, everyone is waiting for the green...
next season:
The Greens must, first and foremost, sign Barak Becher, before he disappears to Belgium with a magical coaching offer. Let's not forget that his agent is the ruler of Belgian football - Dudu Dehan.
After the signing of the agreement, one has to deal with leaving almost 90 percent of the staff, with the first items on the to-do list being: Abu Fani, Lavi, Rukavitsa and Menachem, whose contract/departure matter is hovering over their heads.
Regarding the reinforcement, high-level substitutes should be brought in instead of Wildschot and Maboka because it has been proven that good foreigners bring titles, see the value of Donio, Sherri, Rodrigues and Palanich.
In addition, the signing of a senior substitute goalkeeper, a stopper and a striker of stature.
On the issue of the Israelis, every local star must, immediately, enter the register of the head of the scout system Gal Alberman, because this breaks a proven equality (Haziza, Azili) in our league.
The slogan is: the best players in Israel wear green.
History is already here
This was completely routine in the past years, but was completely erased with the bitter reality of the green club, which was a wet dream for every player in the country, and became one that no good player wants to get close to.
Now, history is back and it's already here and with it the stars will return.
Maccabi Haifa is going on a short break, it will resume its training in about two weeks and then it will start the preparations for the journey to defend the title in the 21/22 season above it is written:
Well done for the victory but why the repulsive songs and this behavior?
You turned the celebrations into a display of hatred.