The Herzliya Municipal Stadium hosted the Peres Center for Peace Mini Mondial on Tuesday where children from both the Jewish and Arab sectors came together for their pinnacle event of the season after training together all year long. Among the guests were Maccabi Tel Aviv players Eitan Tibi and Daniel Lifshitz who joined together with other players from across the Ligat Ha’Al for this special occasion
During the course of the exhibition match, Tibi played as a striker and also scored a goal. The central defender spoke to the Official Website about the experience: “I’m ready to play in this role. This was one of the few goals that I scored over the past four seasons. The event was a lot of fun and a great experience. It’s fantastic to see all of these children playing together and it’s an honor to be a part of this program. There were a number of good players and a few who were really superb. Who knows, maybe we will see them in the future.”
About his fitness after being out injured:
“I’ll see how I feel after the next match. I hope that everything will be ok.”
Lifshitz also gave his point of view about the activity:
“It’s a big honor to be a part of this project. To be able to do something good for these children and also support multiculturalism and co-existence is really important.”
The keeper also spoke about Tibi’s goal:
“His goal isn’t something to laugh at. Perhaps Vidigal has to take something from this match and change his role on the pitch.”
A group of teenagers from the Maccabi Tel Aviv Foundation also took part in the activity as referees for the children’s matches in the stadium and on their auxiliary pitches close by. The group of tenth graders came from the Gann Academy in Boston and Ironi Hei in Haifa who are currently participating in a week long Maccabi Sports Program through the Foundation. As part of their trip they enjoyed the Yellow & Blue’s 2:0 victory over Maccabi Haifa at Sammy Ofer Stadium, a tour of the Sport 5 Studios, met with Israeli Tennis prodigy Yishai Oliel and played tennis at the Israel Tennis Center in Jaffa. Of course, they participated in a training session at Kiryat Shalom as well.
In addition, the Ambassadors of China, Finland, Canada, Slovenia, Ireland and Lithuania were in attendance as well as representatives from USAID and the American, Australian, French, Belgium, Italian and British embassies. Local mayors and other district heads were also present including, Shimi Oliel from Kochav Yair, Mohamed Vated from Jatt, Tal Gorki of Pardesia, Taibe Mayor Shoa Mansour Masora, Herzliya Mayor Moshe Fadlon, Issa Jabber dean Abu Ghosh and Yigal Lahav the head of the Karnei Shomron District.
